아동상담자의 공감적 이해와 내담아동과의 정서적 유대의 관계에서 진정성의 조절효과

The Moderating Effects of Authenticity on the Relationship Between Child Counselors’ Empathic Understanding and Emotional Bonds with Children

This study examines the moderating effect of authenticity on the relationship between child counselors’ empathic understanding and emotional bond with a child. The subjects were 182 child counselors that completed a questionnaire including the Korean Authenticity Scale, empathic understanding, and the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI). The collected data was then analyzed by frequency analysis, reliability and correlation analysis, and hierarchical regression analysis by means of the SPSS 23.0 program. The results are as follows. First, empathic understanding, emotional bonds with children, and authenticity showed positive correlations. Second, as a result of analyzing the moderating effects of authenticity on the relationship between child counselors’ empathic understanding and emotional bond with a child, only congruence and sincere attitude showed significant moderating effects on empathic understanding. These results suggest that the counselor’s own professional counseling skills are important for a child counselor to form an emotional bond with a child. However, in order to be more effective, the counselor’s personal characteristics must be based on authenticity.