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Abstract
The demographics of children in the United States are rapidly changing (US Census Bureau, 2020). Play therapists working with diverse children carry the responsibility of embracing and providing services that demonstrate their respect for their client’s cultural differences. Researchers have documented the importance of attachment style (Bruck et al., 2006: Degan et al., 2016; Mikulincer et al., 2013), cultural humility (Hook et al, 2013; Owens et al., 2014; Chase & Post, 2020; Zhu, 2021) and years in the field of play therapy, but there is limited research on the impact of these concepts as related to attitudes aligned with child-centered play therapy. This study aimed to address the existing gap in current literature. As child-centered play therapy is increasingly acknowledged and used as a theoretically grounded and evidence-based intervention that recognized the relationship between the play therapists and children as the primary healing factor, it is imperative to better understand these concepts and their influences on play therapists. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between attachment style, cultural humility and years in the profession to attitudes aligned with child-centered play therapy. A multiple regression was used to examine the impact of attachment style, cultural humility and years in the profession on play therapists (N=207). Results indicated that attachment style and cultural humility contribute significantly to attitudes aligned with child-centered play therapy, accounting for 9.6 % of the variance. Implications, limitations, and recommendations for future research are discussed.