Diagnosis as a Function of Race Pairing and Client Self-Disclosure

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of "therapist" observer-client race pairing and client use of self-disclosure on observers' descriptive and attitudinal ratings of clients. Results indicated that (1) client disclosure produced variations in observers' judgments on five out of nine dimensions;(2) client race produced variations in favor of black clients on the Friendliness and Attitude scales; (3) a significant interaction of observer race and client race occurred on the Depression scale, revealing observers' bias in favor of their own racial grouping; and (4) a significant interaction of client race and client disclosure occurred on the Assessment Scale such that high-disclosing clients of both races were evaluated more favorably than low-disclosing clients, and the low-disclosing black client was evaluated more favorably than his or her low-is closing white client counterpart.