Adult helping qualities preferred by adolescents.
Most studies of therapeutic alliance have focused on adult populations and been written from the therapist's perspective. Thus, there is a clear need for studies of therapeutic alliance that focus on adolescent populations from the perspective of the adolescents. The current study is an exploratory process investigation using a focus group methodology with a nonclinical sample of adolescents to determine which traits in adults might foster alliance, with the assumption that the same traits would apply to therapeutic settings. A content analytic approach was used and 12 adult qualities found to be preferred by adolescents from most to least cited were: respect, time shared, openness, role characteristics, recognition, guidance, identification, trust, freedom, like/ dislike, responsibility, and familiarity.
Martin
June
J
Fielding Graduate University, 2112 Santa Barbara Street, Santa Barbara, California 93105, USA.
Romas
Michael
M
Medford
Marsha
M
Leffert
Nancy
N
Hatcher
Sherry L
SL