COUNSELOR CONTENT ORIENTATION, COUNSELOR RACE, AND BLACK WOMENS CULTURAL MISTRUST AND SELF-DISCLOSURES

Black women were exposed to Black or White female counselors who used verbal statements reflective of either a cultural or a universal conte nt orientation. The effects of counselor content orientation, counselo r race, and participants' cultural mistrust levels on the frequency an d depth of participant self-disclosures, ratings of counselor credibil ity, and willingness to self-refer were examined. Counselor content or ientation related significantly to depth of disclosure and willingness to self-refer, with participants revealing more intimately and report ing a greater willingness to return to counselors when exposed to the cultural as opposed to the universal content orientation. Lower cultur al mistrust levels also were related to a greater number of disclosure s with Black counselors. Implications of these findings for future res earch are discussed.