Abstract
The psychology of work has increasingly recognized the importance of job satisfaction and role perception upon workers. This study investigated these two work dimensions among secondary public school counselors of Puerto Rico.The hypotheses tested in this investigation examine (1) the differences between the counselors' actual and ideal role perception, (2) the relationships between job satisfaction and counselors' discrepancy in their perception of actual and ideal role, (3) the correlation between discrepancy in perception of actual and ideal role among counselors and years of experience in the job, (4) the differences in perception of ideal role between more experienced and less experienced counselors, and (5) the differences in job satisfaction between more experienced and less experienced counselors. The study also explores the level of satisfaction that counselors experience with different aspects of their job.A proportional stratified random sample of 108 subjects was selected from a population of 376 counselors from six different school regions. Job satisfaction ratings of these counselors were determined from the counselors' responses to the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) and their roles perception from their responses to the Counselor Attitude Inventory (CAI).The findings reveal that counselors significantly differ in their actual and ideal perception of those roles having to do with (1) maintaining consultive contact, (2) serving in the curriculum committee, (3) dealing with vocational problems, (4) conducting follow-up studies, (5) conducting faculty studies, (6) using research, (7) dealing with social-psychological problems of students, (8) scoring group intelligence tests, (9) disciplining students, and (10) arranging for ill children to go home. Counselors perceive that they should be performing the duties inherent to these roles more frequently than they actually do, except for the role relating to social-psychological problems of students where they believe should be doing less than they do at present. Of the above roles number 8, 9, and 10 are inconsistent with the ASCA "Statement" and "Guidelines" on counselors' role.Significant negative correlations were found between discrepancy in perception of actual and ideal roles and the following job satisfaction areas: Ability utilizations, Activity, Creativity, Security, Social status, Variety, and General job satisfaction. In general, Puerto Rican secondary public school counselors express a higher level of satisfaction with the intrinsic rather than with the extrinsic aspects of their work.No significant correlations were found between discrepancy in actual and ideal role perception and years of experience in the job, except for one out of twenty-two sub-hypotheses, namely the one having to do with the counselor being responsible for school assembly programs, which showed a significant negative correlation.More experienced as opposed to less experienced counselors perceived the following roles as ideal for them to perform: (1) supervising the noon hour program, (2) conducting corridor supervision, (3) serving on the curriculum committee, (4) monitoring study halls, (5) conducting follow up studies, (6) and disciplining students. Roles number 1, 2, 4, and 6 are inconsistent with the ASCA "Statement" and "Guidelines". No significant differences were found between the level of job satisfaction of "more experienced" and "less experienced" counselors.