Femininity and therapist success and potential

The search for the ideal psychotherapist has a long history. Salient in the descriptions of the successful therapist is a trait of support, nurturance, acceptance, and unconditional positive regard which seem to describe feminine rather than masculine traits, as measured by personality inventories. A group of 49 student psychotherapists was studied and rated on the CPI scale of Femininity, with the hypothesis that there would be a significant correlation between Femininity scores and independent supervisors’ ratings on two scales of therapist success and therapist potential. Results confirmed the hypothesis for the total sample; however when Ss were divided into male and female groups, the correlation was significant for the female, but not for the male group.