Counselors' attitudes regarding bisexuality as predictors of counselors' clinical responses: An analogue study of a female bisexual client

Ninety-seven counselors read a fictitious intake report about a bisexual wo man who was seeking counseling services for several psychological concerns. Counselors then rated the woman's psychological functioning and their own anticipated reactions to having the woman as a client. As the authors hypot hesized, counselors with the most negative attitudes regarding bisexuality were more likely than others to have negative reactions to the client, anti cipate responding to the client in a biased and judgmental manner, believe the client had problems in areas related to bisexual stereotypes, and rate the client as having a low level of psychosocial functioning. Attitudes reg arding bisexuality were significantly related to counselors' clinical judgm ents and reactions even after controlling for attitudes toward lesbians and gay men.