White Privilege and Multicultural Counseling Competence: The Influence of Field of Study, Sex, and Racial/Ethnic Exposure

This study explores the association between white privilege attitudes and multicultural counseling competencies among white European-American graduate students (N = 298) in clinical psychology and social work. Results revealed a significant positive association between white privilege attitudes and multicultural counseling competencies. Social work students reported significantly greater levels of white privilege awareness in comparison to clinical psychology students. Female participants reported greater levels of multicultural awareness. The results of this study confirm the assertion that white privilege attitudes are associated with multicultural counseling competencies. Implications of these results for theory, clinical practice, and training were reviewed. (Contains 4 tables.)