Adult Helping Qualities Preferred by Adolescents Descriptors: Focus group, content analysis

ABSTRACT. Most studies of therapeutic alliance have focused on adult populations and been written from the therapist's perspective. Thus, there is a clear need for studies of therapeutic alliance that focus on adolescent populations from the perspective of the adolescents. The current study is an exploratory process investigation using a focus group methodology with a nonclinical sample of adolescents to determine which traits in adults might foster alliance, with the assumption that the same traits would apply to therapeutic settings. A content analytic approach was used, and 12 adult qualities found to be preferred by adolescents from most to least cited were: respect, time shared, openness, role characteristics, recognition, guidance, identification, trust, freedom, like/dislike, responsibility, and familiarity.