Research on the effects of race or ethnicity matching of client and therapist on dropout rate and treatment duration has been somewhat inconsistent. In Atkinson's review of research conducted prior to 1982, there was very little support for the superiority of ethnic matching of client and therapist. It must be noted that the studies reviewed by Atkinson primarily focused on African Americans. Research on the benefits of gender matching has been less clear. It is critical to note, however, that the majority of the clients in the above-mentioned studies were white, middle class clients.
Studies using minority clients report contradictory findings.
In Vail's study of black clients, more people dropped out of treatment if assigned a therapist of the same sex. Asian male clients stayed in treatment longer if assigned to a male therapist than if treated by a female therapist. These studies, across racial groups, on the impact of gender matching on treatment duration, point to the importance of considering both gender and race when making assignments to treatment. However, most of the past empirical studies have typically focused separately on the impact of race or gender in service utilization and have failed to consider the additive effects of race and gender matching. In a recent study, we examined the treatment records of black patients and white patients, both women and men, who initiated outpatient therapy at a large Midwestern department of psychiatry.