How To Become A Psychology Associate: What It Is and Career Path

What is a psychology associate and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Dr. Jim Sliwinski Ph.D.

A psychology associate is a specialist psychic health professional whose duties cover evaluating, formulating and handling patients within specified ranges. These conditions include age, either in primary care/adult mental health perspectives or a degree of areas involving children and young people. They administer and score psychological evaluations and assist in required remedial procedures for clients with standard conditions.

Typically, you need to possess a master's degree in psychology followed by four years of working in the field to be a psychology associate. However, years of experience will help you in higher positions.

According to BLS, the graduates who approach this field end up laying claim to annual earnings at $48,670. The current median pay for a psychology associate ranges from $45,000 to $60,080 in the U.S. However, this figure can vary significantly depending upon your experience, skills, or organization.

What general advice would you give to a psychology associate?

Dr. Jim Sliwinski Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Psychology, Defiance College

I encourage all undergraduate psychology majors to consider graduate school. A bachelor's degree in psychology is becoming much more of a pre-professional program. That's not to say that there are not many jobs out there for individuals who only have a bachelor's, but full-time jobs, with benefits, are becoming harder to come by.

ScorePsychology AssociateUS Average

Salary

5.7

Avg. Salary $73,152

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.6

Growth rate 14%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.20%

Asian 3.34%

Black or African American 6.18%

Hispanic or Latino 10.44%

Unknown 3.44%

White 76.39%

Gender

female 72.31%

male 27.69%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress level

8.6

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.9

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a psychology associate

Explore psychology associate education requirements

Most common psychology associate degrees

Bachelor's

47.0 %

Master's

41.3 %

Doctorate

9.3 %

Start to develop specific psychology associate skills

Skills	Percentages
Social Work	16.17%
Group Therapy	13.41%
Patients	11.97%
Crisis Intervention	11.05%
Mental Illness	7.89%

Complete relevant psychology associate training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New psychology associates learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a psychology associate based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real psychology associate resumes.

Research psychology associate duties and responsibilities

Provide comprehensive clinical psychological services in the form of provision of evidence based psychotherapy for mental health patients.
Provide psychological services at the largest AF clinic in the busiest DoD community in the command.
Administer psychological testing including ADHD, cognitive functioning, and psychoeducational batteries.
Connect with community service boards in reviewing rehabilitation reports for developmentally challenge individuals.

Prepare your psychology associate resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your psychology associate resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a psychology associate resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable psychology associate resume templates

Build a professional psychology associate resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your psychology associate resume.