Student educator sex in clinical and counseling psychology doctoral training

This study assessed reported rates of sexual liaisons between students and educators during doctoral training in clinical or counseling psychology. One thousand American Psychological Association members (600 women & 400 men) were anonymously surveyed with a mailed questionnaire; response rate was 51%. Though only 2% of the male respondents reported sexual contact with an educator, 15% of the female respondents reported having had such contact. The modal liaison was between a 40-year-old, married male educator and a 30-year-old, single female student in her 2nd year of graduate training. No sexual contacts occurred in the absence of a working relationship. Respondents were, in retrospect, more likely to view the sexual relationship as coercive, ethically problematic, and a hindrance to the working relationship compared to how they viewed it at the time it occurred. The authors suggest changes in professional training and revisions to the ethics code.