An Investigation of Multicultural Counseling Competence Development among Graduate-Level Counseling Students through Mindfulness, Cognitive Complexity, and Cognitive Flexibility

This study aimed to explore the potential association of mindfulness, cognitive flexibility, and cognitive complexity with multicultural counseling competency (MCC), while controlling for race and mindfulness practice, among counseling trainees. Seventy-eight graduate-level counseling students from multiple campuses within the U.S. completed an online survey study. Results indicated significant positive correlations among mindfulness, cognitive flexibility, cognitive complexity and MCC. Results also found significant differences in self-perceived ratings of MCC based on race and engagement in mindful practice. Additionally, cognitive flexibility, cognitive complexity and mindfulness practices explained a large amount of adjusted variance (r2 = .52) in MCC. Implications for research and practice are discussed