Willingness of Korean‐American Elementary School Children to Participate with Counselors in a Developmental Guidance Program

Abstract

Questionnaire responses from 103 Korean‐American and 106 Caucasian elementary school students compared student willingness to participate in six areas of a developmental guidance program, and included student self‐perceptions of family encouragement to discuss personal problems with the school counselor. With the exception of a greater Korean‐American student comfort in discussing personal problems and a greater Caucasian student comfort in classroom participation, both ethnic groups were similar in their self‐reported willingness to participate in elementary school counseling activities. Gender comparisons indicated a high Caucasian female and Korean‐American male willingness to participate in academic counseling. Korean‐American males were less willing to discuss problems concerning friends, but were more willing to discuss personal issues than the Caucasian children were. Korean‐American females reported the most comfort of the gender groups with discussions of interpersonal and intrapersonal problems. Group counseling was highly endorsed by both Caucasian and Korean males. The self‐reports of the Korean‐American elementary school students were not consistent with expectations based on the anticipated influences from traditional Korean values, traditional obedience to the family, and culturally encouraged internalization of personal feelings. Perceptions of family encouragement to participate in guidance programs were similar for all of the gender groups, with the exception of the Caucasian males who reported a higher frequency of perceived family encouragement. The results of this study suggest that Korean‐American elementary school children are generally as willing to participate in school guidance programs as their Caucasian counterparts.

Key words:

• Developmental guidance
• participation
• Korean‐American
• elementary school children