Leah M Berger, Psy.D.
Incoming Class of 2007
Internship: Long Island Jewish Medical Center
September 2012 Conferral
Psychotherapy Supervision: What Personality Factors Drive Student Preferences?
Chair: Camilo Ortiz, Ph.D.
This study addressed the elements of clinical supervision valued by students and assessed the relevance of the student’s Big Five personality profile in predicting these supervision preferences. Participants were clinical and counseling psychology doctoral students from all training levels who completed a survey containing demographic information, the Big Five Inventory-10 (BFI-10), and the Supervisor Questionnaire-Modified (SQ-M). The SQ-M was factor analyzed; the final solution showed three factors: Relational Supervision (RS), Skills Building (SB), and Evaluation (EV). It was hypothesized that student Openness, Extraversion, and Agreeableness would be associated with the supervision preference for EV and that student Conscientiousness and Neuroticism would be associated with the supervision preferences for SB and RS. It was also hypothesized that the student’s personality traits would predict unique variance in supervision preferences over and above the student’s developmental level, theoretical orientation, and gender. Consistent with the above hypothesis, student Extraversion was positively associated with the supervision preference for EV and, controlling for the other student variables above, student Neuroticism predicted the supervision preference for RS. In contrast to the above hypothesis, student Agreeableness was positively associated with the supervision preference for RS. Student Openness and Conscientiousness were not related to supervision preferences. Supporting the final hypothesis, student personality made a significant unique contribution to the explained variance of the supervision preference for RS, controlling for the other student variables. Regarding SB and EV, however, student personality did not make a significant unique contribution. Irrespective of the predictors involved, students valued RS and SB to a greater degree than they did EV. Results suggest that the student’s personality is a variable that should be taken into account when assessing the student’s goals in supervision.