Chapter 10: African American Graduate and Undergraduate Male Students’ Attitudes Regarding Counseling: A Comparative Analysis

There has been a preponderance of literature indicating that African American males are reluctant to utilize the counseling center at their university or college even though they have expressed a need to seek help for their vocational, environmental, and emotional concerns (Duncan & Johnson, 2007). To understand the reluctance of Black males underutilizing counseling services, one must focus on Black male students’ attitudes toward counseling in relationship to their racial consciousness (Duncan & Johnson, 2007). In this chapter, African American/Black and graduate/postbaccalaureate are used interchangeably. In this exploratory research, the authors will present a comparative analysis of the attitudes of African American graduate and undergraduate male students regarding counseling services in order to gain further insight concerning the differences between students 18 to 24 years old and students over age 25. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between selected demographic factors, counseling factors, and factors that contribute to the underutilization of counseling services. Recommendations to make counseling more comfortable and available to African American males on college campuses will be presented.