White therapists' differing perceptions of black and white adolescents

The literature provides evidence that therapists' misunderstanding of minority cultures may be responsible for higher dropout rates and difficulty in forming congruent problem conceptualization. In this study, therapists' perceptions of the behaviors of black and white adolescents were examined. One group of 20 psychotherapists was presented with a scenario involving a white adolescent and a second group of 20 psychotherapists was presented with an identical scenario involving a black adolescent. The therapists rated the clinical significance of each of the behaviors that were present in the scenario. The behaviors of the black adolescent were rated overall as less clinically significant than the behaviors of the white adolescent. In addition, there were differences in the perceptions of specific behaviors. It is suggested that findings from this type of study can help identify misperceptions about a client's culture, which can aid in designing curricula for training therapists to be culturally sensitive.