Casting No Shadow: Assessing Vocational Overshadowing

Vocational overshadowing has been defined as an underemphasis on career concerns when personal problems coexist. This study explored whether vocational overshadowing occurred based on observers' perception of the setting (i.e., either career counseling center or mental health counseling center). Clinicians in-training viewed an analogue counseling session in which the only difference between the two vignettes was whether the session was conducted in a career counseling center versus a mental health counseling agency. The participants then completed measures of the working alliance, evaluation of session process, and level of client's neuroticism. Clinicians in-training perceived the working alliance, session factors (i.e., depth, smoothness, and arousal), and client's level of neuroticism similarly, regardless of the setting of the session. The only slight difference was in the participants' perceptions of the session conducted in a career center. Implications of these findings for research, practice, and education were discussed. (Contains 1 table.)