In line with these findings, one type of cultural adapta-
tion that might lead to increased counseling effectiveness
with Asian Americans is in the realm of culturally congruent
communication style by the counselor. In their meta-analysis,
Griner and Smith (2006) found that studies examining communication styles focused only on language match between
clients and counselors. However, most counseling profession-
als do not speak the language of their Asian American clients;
thus, it could be useful to study whether there are other com-
munication styles that could lead to counseling effectiveness.
Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to examine
whether Asian Americans would view a communication style
that is congruent with Asian culture more favorably than a
communication style that is incongruent with Asian culture.