TPC Journal V7, Issue 2 - FULL ISSUE

138 The Professional Counselor | Volume 7, Issue 2 Discussion To date, few studies have examined how school counselor personal characteristics are linked to successful programs (Scarborough & Luke, 2008). Using a nationwide sample, we examined how self-efficacy is related to a range of school counselor activities in elementary schools and introduced attachment style as a potential variable related to school counselor practice. Years of experience working as a school counselor as well as the training in and use of the ASCA National Model in program implementation were identified from the literature as variables of importance and were included in our analyses. As anticipated the number of years of experience was related to actual performance of intervention activities by school counselors. Also, school counselors in this sample who had received more training in the ASCA National Model were more likely to perform the intervention activities of counseling, consultation, curriculum and coordination. These activities are considered core activities for effective program implementation. Furthermore, counselors who endorsed more fully implementing the ASCA National Model within their program were significantly more likely to perform these core intervention activities and also indicated a preference for spending their time in these activities. This result is in line with previous findings supporting that counselors who incorporated the National Standards for School Counseling Programs (Campbell & Dahir, 1997) into their programs were more likely to have preferences that aligned with professional standards and actually practiced as they preferred (Scarborough & Culbreth, 2008). It is promising that over 75% of school counselors in the current study reported some use to extensive use of the ASCA National Model. The large number of counselors who reported ASCA National Model use could be indicative of a recent focus to define standards of practice and increase positive student outcomes through systematic and programmatic delivery. With regard to non-counseling activities, results did not support a relationship with ASCA National Model training and use. Looking beyond the demographic variables, the findings of the current study support previous research that found important links between school counselor self-efficacy beliefs and program implementation (Bodenhorn, Wolfe, &Airen, 2010). In the current study, overall school counselor self- efficacy beliefs predicted the delivery of activities aligned with the ASCA National Model above and beyond the demographic variables analyzed. School counselors who believed they were capable of performing in accordance with activities aligned with the ASCA National Standards were more likely to actually perform and want to perform school counseling intervention activities consistent with the ASCA National Model. It is interesting to note that school counselors with higher self-efficacy beliefs were more likely to perform non-counseling activities when compared to counselors with lower self-efficacy. These results suggest that counselors with higher levels of self-efficacy beliefs may not discriminate between intervention and “other” non-counseling activities, by performing both more frequently. Highly efficacious school counselors may simply do more, whether or not the activity aligns with ASCA recommendations. As demands for school counselors increase and current expectations for school counselors do not perfectly align with professional best practices (Cinotti, 2014), highly efficacious school counselors may tackle all duties earnestly in order to address their responsibilities. In the current study, attachment anxiety negatively predicted school counselor preferred engagement in intervention activities (i.e., counseling, consultation, curriculum, coordination), indicating that anxiously attached school counselors actually preferred to perform fewer intervention activities. Additionally, school counselor attachment anxiety predicted a discrepancy between actual