Counselor’s non-verbal self-disclosure and fear of intimacy during employment counseling: an aptitude-treatment interaction illustration. C. Carrein, J-L. Bernaud and A. Di Fabio University of Rouen, France

Introduction World of work in change  more need of help to develop a career or to change career choice. And 97.5% of an employment counseling sessions are interviews (Laberon & Lagabrielle, 2005).  Necessity to know what are the critical ingredients susceptible to explain the success of counseling sessions (Brown, Ryan & al., 2003, Dik & Steger, 2008).

Self-disclosure: Personal information disclosed by a counselor during a counseling session. Nonverbal self-disclosure: Personal information disclosed by a counselor to a client by means of visual object unverbalized. Introduction: definition

Watkins (1990): His meta-analyse conclude to a positive general effect of self-disclosures. Collins & Miller (1994): The share of intimate informations encourage the build of a positive link between the client and the counselor. Barrett & Berman (2001): Clients appreciate more professionnals who do self-disclosures than those who don’t. The level of client distress is more reduced when counselor self-disclosed than when the counselor doesn’t self-disclosed. Introduction

Multon, Ellis-Kalton, Heppner, & Gysbers (2003): The number of self-disclosures is negatively correlated with the working alliance. Bernaud & Leblond (2005): They can’t separate the effect of condition « with » and « without » self- disclosure when they study the counselor rating and help-seeking intent. Dik & Steger (2008): When counselor discloses career problems that he has already experienced, it provokes a modeling effect benificial for the client. Introduction: Inconsistent results in career counseling literature

All studies led are about « verbal » self-disclosures but none weigh self- disclosures that are « nonverbal ». In addition, not many studies consider client’s personality as a moderator factor. 1)What is nonverbal self-disclosure influence on employment counseling client? 2)In accordance with past researche, we think that nonverbal self- disclosures effect depend on fear of intimacy level. So we assume that we will observed an aptitude-treatment interaction. Problem

- The participants were recruited from a high-school in a western region of France. -The students were divided into three groups (34, 33 et 27 students), for a total of 94 individuals (39 mens, 55 women, M age = year, SD = 0.71 ; range year) -Among the 94 participants the majority (84.04%) had already experienced a meeting with a career counselor; among the 84.04%, 43.03% said they were satisfied with their services. Participants

-In a preliminary study we asked the students to indicate, within the context of career counseling, objects or elements that reveal personal information about the counselor. 90% mentioned family pictures, 80% mentioned art. -A video of 8 min. was filmed exclusively for our research. : a career counselor face-to-face with a client. -We used Adobe After Effects to edit and create three separate films and three separate experimental conditions. Research materials

Condition A: With no nonverbal self-disclosure.

Condition B: with moderate nonverbal self-disclosure

Condition C: with nonverbal self-disclosures evident

We chose FIS as a moderator for this experimental design it was adapted specifically for this research project. The scale has 35 questions and assesses the anxiety a person faces when revealing personal information (i.e. : I would be afraid that 0 would be more invested in the relationship than I would be). In our experimental group (N=94) the Cronbach Alpha is 0.87, the same as in the original study, no difference can be seen between men and women (t (1, 92) = 0.06 ; N.S.). Instruments: Fear of intimacy scale Descutner & Thelen (1991)

12 items were created (Corrigan & Schmidt, 1983) mesuring expertness (i.e. the counselor knows how to use their resources), attractiveness (i.e. the counselor seems nice), and trustworthiness (i.e. the counselor respects their engagements). The Cronbach Alpha for our French sample (N = 94) is The varimax rotations brought out 2 factors; attractiveness, and expertness. Due to the short running time of the video the participants weren’t able to accurately evaluate the trustworthiness criteria; it is therefore not considered for our statistical analyses. Instruments: Counseling Rating Form Barak & Lacrosse (1975)

Experiment lasting 30 minutes: Étape 1: The color film was shown after a short description of the research project. Étape 2: Then we asked them to fill out questionnaires: a scale evaluating the counselor (CRF-S de Corrigan & Schmidt, 1983). Étape 3: a demographic questionnaire: questions about their perception of the experimental elements manipulated in the video, their feelings about evaluating the counselor, their sex, their age. Étape 4: Self-evaluation of the fear of intimacy (FIS de Descutner & Thelen, 1991). Procedure

Group A No self- disclosure N=34 Group B Moderate self- disclosure N=33 Group C Obvious self- disclosure N=27 Sex (percentage) Men Women 38.2 % 61.8 % 45.4 % 55.6 % 40.7 % 59.3 % Age M SD Range FIS M SD Results

A non-verbal self-disclosure and sex ANOVA doesn’t show a significant difference between the three experimental conditions: F (2, 88) = 0.07; N.S. Graph 1 : Rating average of the counselor according to experimental conditions ABC Results: Effects of nonverbal self-disclosure

A, B, and C were compared with weak and strong fear-of-intimacy conditions (the limit done with the median scores): the participants afraid of intimacy evaluated less favourably the counselor showing her personality whereas the opposite phenomenon is observed for people with a weak fear of intimacy. Graph 2 : Interaction between the three experimental conditions and the level of fear-of-intimacy Results: Effects of the aptitude-treatment interaction

T o study the moderating effect of the fear-of-intimacy variable, two hierarchical multiple regression analyses were done according the procedure recommended as an effective way to test moderating effects by Frazier, Tix, & Barron (2004). The results, show a moderating effect when the A and C conditions are compared. Condition A versus Condition BCondition A versus condition C BSe B95% CI  R²BSe B95% CI  R² CRF-total Step 1 FIS Condition Step 2 FIS x condition , , , , , , * Results: Effects of the aptitude-treatment interaction

- Because they don’t be afraid to share intimacy, they are not affect by the presence of nonverbal self-disclosure. - Clients have the impression that they better know the professional. -Presence of family pictures shows that family is important for the counselor. Discussion The professional who uses nonverbal self-disclosure is more appreciate by individuals who don’t have fear of intimacy.

- Presence of family pictures is seen like an improper thing. - This presence shows that counselor confounds professional and private life. Moderator effect of the fear of intimacy on nonverbal self- disclosure impact. So we observe an aptitude-treatment interaction. The professional who uses nonverbal self-disclosure is less appreciate by individuals who have fear of intimacy. Discussion

 Participants don’t have really experimented the interview.  The film shows a fictive interview.  The place of nonverbal self-diclosures must be discussed.  The help-seeking intents don’t have been assessed. Critiques

The fear of intimacy has a moderator effect on nonverbal self- disclosures impact. It’s a necessity to weigh individual variables in research on self- disclosure effect. Future research : To help create guidelines for counseling practices and to better contribute to the development of adaptive counseling. Conclusion

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Thank you for your attention Cindy Carrein, Jean-Luc Bernaud and Annamaria Di Fabio University of Rouen, France