TPC Journal V7, Issue 2 - FULL ISSUE

134 The Professional Counselor | Volume 7, Issue 2 participants who had teaching experience, had been practicing for three or more years, and were trained in and used the ASCA National Standards reported higher levels of self-efficacy. The total scale SCSE alpha in the current study was .96. Experiences in Close Relationships Scale (ECR)-Short Form. The ECR-Short Form (Wei et al., 2007) is a 12-item self-report measure designed to assess a general pattern of adult attachment. The ECR-Short Form is based on the longer Experiences in Close Relationship Scale (Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998). Factor analysis revealed two dimensions of adult attachment, anxiety and avoidance, which have received professional consensus (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991; Mikulincer & Shaver, 2003). High scores on either or both of these dimensions are indicative of an insecure adult attachment orientation. Low levels of attachment anxiety and avoidance indicate a secure orientation (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991; Brennan et al., 1998; Lopez & Brennan, 2000; Mallinckrodt, 2000). Internal consistency was adequate with coefficient alphas from .77 to .86 for the anxiety subscale and from .78 to .88 for the avoidance subscale, and confirmatory factor analyses provided evidence of construct validity with a two-factor model (i.e., anxiety and avoidance), indicating a good fit for the data. Reported test-retest reliabilities averaged .83. For the current study, ECR-S alphas were .75 for the anxiety subscale and .81 for the avoidance subscale. Data Analysis Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 18), with multiple hierarchical regressions used to answer both research questions. Hierarchical regression was selected to determine the relative importance of the predictor variables, over and above that which can be accounted for by other previously identified predictors regarding school counselor service delivery (i.e., years of experience, ASCA National Model training and ASCA National Model use). Predictor variables included self-efficacy beliefs (SCSE total score), attachment anxiety (ECR-Short FormAnxiety subscale) and attachment avoidance (ECR-Short FormAvoidance subscale). Outcome variables included actual (SCARS total Actual scale) and preferred (SCARS total Preferred scale) intervention activities, “other” non-counseling activities (SCARS Other Activities scale) and the discrepancy between actual and preferred intervention and “other” activities. Prior to analysis of the research questions, correlations were conducted among the predictor and outcome variables. Identified predictors (i.e., years of experience, ASCA National Model training and ASCA National Model use) were also correlated with the SCARS criterion variables. For the hierarchical regression, identified predictors were entered first as a block, followed by the new predictors included in this study (Field, 2009). This predetermined order of entry is congruent with Cohen and Cohen’s (1993) recommendations for using hierarchical regression and entering the demographic variables in the initial step. Additionally, the order of entry reflected the principle of presumed causal priority (Cohen & Cohen, 1993; Petrocelli, 2003). For the second step, we decided to enter attachment anxiety prior to avoidance, as we anticipated it would be more important in predicting the outcome variables (Field, 2009). Reported effect size estimates reflect the following guidelines: r of .1 (small), .3 (medium) and .5 (large); and R2 of .01 (small), .09 (medium) and .25 (large; Cohen, 1988). Results We first examined the correlation among the identified school counselor demographic variables (control variables) and the actual and preferred SCARS variables. Years of experience showed a small but significant positive correlation with actual intervention activities ( r = .20, p < .05). ASCA National Model use showed a moderate positive correlation with actual intervention activities ( r = .44, p < .05), but smaller relationships with preferred intervention activities ( r = .15, p < .05). Additional correlation