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In this study normative data on the College Adjustment Scales (CAS) were gathered from university counseling center clients. Counseling center clients differed significantly from two nonclient student comparison groups, especially in reported problems with anxiety, depression, and self-esteem. Undergraduate and graduate students also differed on most CAS scales.
Researchers have documented that ever-expanding numbers of students with increasingly serious psychological problems are served each year by college and university counseling centers (Bishop, 1990; Gallagher, 1996; Heppner et al., 1994; Stone & Archer,1990). For some counseling centers, this increasing need for services and the greater severity of psychological problems have occurred along with losses of financial support, necessitating restrictive measures such as session limits and the charging of fees to students (Gallagher, 1996). The threat of dwindling resources and the contracting of mental health services to external providers underscore the need to improve evaluation procedures and accountability for counseling center services. Improvement would include identifying an appropriate assessment device, supported by adequate psychometric data, that focuses on the variety of problems faced by college students.
Psychotherapists in many different settings receive increasing pressure to account for the cost and quality of the services they deliver (Goldfried & Wolfe,1996; Steenbarger, Smith, & Budman,1996; Wells, M., Burlingame, G.,Lambert, M., & Hoag, M., 1996; Whiston, 1996). Despite the growing need to demonstrate the efficacy and value of their services (Bishop & Trembley,1987; Lewis & Magoon, 1987; Stone & Archer, 1990), many counseling centers have been slow to use reliable and valid instruments to assess clients' concerns and measure therapy outcomes. Efforts in this area have traditionally been hampered by the use of evaluative devices with poor or unknown psychometric qualities and by the lack of validated instruments that measure more than a single problem area or construct (Lambert, Ogles, & Masters, 1992). In addition, frequently used multidimensional assessment and outcome measures such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 and the Symptom Checklist-90-R tend to be time intensive to administer, score, or interpret (Piotrowski & Keller, 1989) and do not include some of the problems unique to college students.
The College Adjustment Scales (CAS), developed by Anton and Reed (1991a), may be useful in addressing the issues described above. A multidimensional inventory designed specifically for use in college and...