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Ego Development, Ethical Decision-Making, and Legal and Ethical Knowledge in School Counselors

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Abstract

School counselors require high levels of ego development, sound ethical decision-making processes, and significant knowledge regarding legal and ethical practice to provide effective services to their clientele. The authors report the findings of a descriptive, correlational study of 186 school counselors’ levels of ego development (Hy and Loevinger in Measuring ego development, 2nd edn. Sage, Thousand Oaks, 1996), ethical decision-making (Dufrene in Dissertation Abstracts International, 61(10):3906, 2000), and ethical and legal knowledge (Lambie et al. in Counselor Education & Supervision, 49, 228–246, 2010). Higher ego maturity was associated with higher legal and ethical knowledge scores. Implications for counseling and adult development are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child, Family, and Community Sciences; Counselor Education Program, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 32816-1250, USA

    Glenn W. Lambie, Kara P. Ieva, Patrick R. Mullen & B. Grant Hayes

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  1. Glenn W. Lambie
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  2. Kara P. Ieva
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  3. Patrick R. Mullen
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  4. B. Grant Hayes
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Correspondence to Glenn W. Lambie.

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Lambie, G.W., Ieva, K.P., Mullen, P.R. et al. Ego Development, Ethical Decision-Making, and Legal and Ethical Knowledge in School Counselors. J Adult Dev 18, 50–59 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-010-9105-8

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