School counselors' perceptions of biracial children: a pilot study

Professional School Counseling, Dec, 2002 by Henry L. Harris

Regardless of race or ethnicity, when biracial children are raised in a nurturing environment with psychologically and emotionally involved parents, "they can be expected to acquire stability and cohesiveness of the self, and those attributes (e.g., self-confidence, capacity for empathy, self-approval, self-resiliency) intimately associated with healthy self-structure," (Brandell, 1988, p. 180). However, Brandell further contended that biracial children operating between two cultures may have additional issues to contend with solely because of their unique racial status. Biracial children must routinely cope with glares, strange looks, and comments from people who in addition to rejecting their family structure (Steele, 1995), picture the family environment as pathological and unstable (Shackford, 1984). Even today it remains safe to assume that some social workers, psychologists, and school counselors often see problems associated with biracial individuals as a direct result of their cultural heritage.

SCHOOL COUNSELORS' PERCEPTIONS OF BIRACIAL INDIVIDUALS

In recent years, some writers in the counseling profession have specifically called upon school counselors to better address the counseling needs of biracial children in the school setting (Herring, 1992; Nishimura, 1995; Wardle, 1991, 1992). Responding to this call, Nishimura and Bol (1997) collected data from 120 school counselors investigating their perceptions of the counseling needs of biracial children. They discovered school counselors did not perceive biracial children experiencing any more or fewer problems than other children. An overwhelming majority (90%) of them indicated they were able to meet the counseling needs of biracial students without changing their current counseling program.

While Nishimura and Bol (1997) investigated school counselors' perceptions of the counseling needs of biracial children, no studies reported to date have specifically examined school counselors' personal perceptions of biracial children. Personal perceptions that school counselors hold of biracial individuals will inevitably influence their views on the severity and types of problems biracial individuals encounter. Therefore, the goal of this study was to examine school counselors' personal perceptions of biracial individuals. The following research questions were addressed:

* What personal perceptions do school counselors have concerning biracial individuals?

* What personal counseling experience do school counselors have with biracial individuals?

* Is there a relationship between school level, years of counseling experience, and school counselors' perceptions of individuals?

* Is there a relationship between gender and school counselors' perceptions of biracial individuals?

* Is there a relationship between the existence of promoted cultural diversity programs in schools and school counselors' perceptions of biracial individuals?

METHOD

Participants

Initially, 900 school counselors from 16 public school districts, ranging in size from less than 1,000 students to more than 75,000 students, were invited to participate in the study. The participants were located in nine states from the Southeastern region of the United States. Overall, 328 school counselors comprising 201 Caucasians, 122 African Americans, 3 Asian Americans, and 2 American Indians completed surveys, resulting in a 37% response rate. There were a total of 176 school counselors employed in elementary settings, followed by 89 at the middle school level, and 63 in the high schools. Eighty-seven percent (n = 285) of the sample consisted of women and 13% (n = 43) were men. The years of school counseling experience varied with 32% (n = 104) having 1 to 5 years of experience, 24% (n = 77) with 6 to 10 years of counseling experience, 21% (n = 71) with 11 to 15 years of experience, and 23% (n = 76) with 16 or more years of experience.