Ethnic identity, multicultural training, and White racial attitudes

This descriptive and analytical study investigated ethnic identity, multicultural training, and White racial attitudes in a sample of 140 graduate students in 70 APA approved programs in counseling psychology. Whereas the relationship between multicultural training and White racial attitudes has been studied, the effect of ethnic identity on attitudes has not been explored. The salience of ethnicity was measured by the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEW; Phinney, 1992). Types of White racial attitudes were determined using the Oklahoma Racial Attitude Scale-Preliminary (ORAS-P; Choney & Behrens, 1996). A typical graduate student in counseling psychology was outlined in terms of a number of descriptive variables. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to explore the relationship between ethnic identity, multicultural training, and two categories of White racial attitudes. Analyses did not reveal significant relationships between these three variables. Due to the number of unsolicited comments, a qualitative analysis of subjects\u27 reactions to the survey was included in the results. Overall some White students seemed to have difficulty with the concept of ethnic identity. There appeared to be little uniformity in multicultural training across programs. A restricted range on the dependent variable suggested that the types of White racial attitudes endorsed may have been influenced by social desirability