Perceptions of therapist competence as a function of therapist age.

Abstract

A study was conducted to examine the effect of therapist age on ratings of a therapist's competence by undergraduate students. The participants were 77 female and 54 male college students enrolled in introductory psychology courses at a midwestern university. Two groups of participants each viewed a brief videotape of a female therapist and a client in a counseling session. The video and procedure for each group were identical except for the description of the therapist's age: 45 years old and 29 years old. After viewing the videotape, students rated the therapist on 11, 7-point Likert-type scales designed to reflect the therapist's competence and credibility. A separate analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed on each of the 11 items measured by the rating scale. The results were broken down by gender of the participants. The results of the ANOVA for Item 11 (Likelihood of Subject to Consult the Therapist Personally) did produce a statistically significant difference for the main effect of gender with women being more likely to consult the therapist personally. No effect was found for the age of therapist for the remaining 10 items.