Written to explore the lives and potential counseling problems of African American, Asian American, European American, Hispanic American, and Native American populations, this text considers the powerful influences of a client's developmental stage and cultural background. It maintains that integrating multicultural and lifespan considerations is crucial to counseling effectiveness. The authors also advocate an understanding of individual differences cultural, ethnic, racial, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic, and individual in order for counselors to use existing strategies to their best advantage. Intervening with clients from diverse backgrounds, understanding and counseling specific groups during various lifespan stages, and professional issues/future directions of the multicultural counseling field are also covered.