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This article introduces the special edition by providing an overview of how policies and attitudes have influenced the experience of multiple heritage couples, individuals, and families in the American context. This history is linked to the developmental tasks of multiracial individuals and families in contemporary context. This paper also discusses the counseling implications emphasizing the importance of delivering culturally competent and sensitive services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the importance of authenticity in counseling psychology, we used a collaborative autoethnography approach to explore our experiences of authenticity as counseling psychology doctoral students. Six (3 women, 2 men, 1 gender flexible man; 3 European American, 2 Asian American, 1 Asian; 5 3rd-year students, 1 2nd-year student) students in one counseling psychology doctoral program in the Mid-Atlantic United States reflected on the factors that facilitated and hindered our ability to be authentic by writing four one-to-five page journal entries, reading the journals in four three-hour group meetings, receiving non-judgmental feedback, and editing the journal entries. In the journals, we explored our understanding of authenticity, the development of our authentic selves, our experience of authenticity in graduate school, the role of authenticity in our relationships, the way in which our authenticity has been shaped by external forces, and our process of balancing the costs and benefits when deciding whether or not to be authentic in a given situation. Themes that emerged from the data revealed that we had received mixed messages about authenticity in our graduate program and that our ability to be authentic varied depending on whether we were in the role of therapist, teacher, researcher, or student. Further, family and peer relationships, hierarchical structures, and privileged and marginalized social identities enhanced or inhibited our experiences of authenticity in graduate school. Implications for graduate students and recommendations for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the relationship between personal identity development and in-group/out-group identities within the sociopsychological context of the USA. Specifically, the study examined the relationship between Bowen’s construct of differentiation of self and Helms’ construct of racial identity for an American sample of 309 undergraduate and graduate students. Insofar as both models refer to a progression from an externally defined sense of self to an internally defined sense of self, it was hypothesized that higher levels of more sophisticated racial identity statuses would be positively associated with higher levels of self-differentiation for both white participants and participants of color. Overall, the findings suggest that for white students, attitudes associated with a more differentiated sense of self are also associated with a more sophisticated racial identity statuses, increased awareness of how white privilege and racism operate, and less internal conflict about one’s own racial identity. The results of this study also indicated that, in general, participants of color who have a more differentiated sense of self endorse attitudes associated with higher statuses of racial identity development, more awareness of societal racism, and less ambivalence about their racial identity. Implications of the findings for the practice of counseling and the training of counseling psychologists are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]