GENDER SALIENT ATTRIBUTE X TREATMENT INTERACTION EFFECTS ON RATINGS OF 2 ANALOG COUNSELORS

One-hundred one women and 109 men participated in a test of M. N. Russ ell's (1984) assertion that exploring gender themes in counseling is m ost therapeutic when the client also considers gender issues relevant for understanding personal experience. This matching hypothesis was ex amined with an Attribute X Treatment interaction design. Scores on the Real Events Salience of Gender Scale (RESOG) operationalized the attr ibute variable of perceptions of gender salience. The treatment variab le was an analogue counselor making either high gender salience (HiGS) or low gender salience (LoGS) interventions. It was hypothesized that the HiGS counselor would be given higher evaluations by participants who reported more gender salient transactions. Results indicated small interaction effects, whereby (a) ratings on the Attractiveness subsca le of the Counselor Rating Form-Short of the HiGS counselor increased and the same ratings of the LoGS counselor decreased as perceived gend er typicality increased, and (b) willingness to see the HiGS counselor increased and willingness to see the LoGS counselor decreased as the perceived unfavorability of a same-sex transaction increased.