Family and cultures reseach paper

Culture and Family: Different Perspectives

Culture is characterized as a way of life that includes things such as the marriage consumer, dress code, religious festivals, leisure practices, family routines, and occupational pursuits that are relevant in a specific environment (Awde 2).

Since the family is the central entity that continues to exist as a cohesive segment of the population, it is directly influenced by the cultural principles that characterize the society under consideration. The actions that parents maintain within the family situation, as well as the parent-child relationship, are characterized by the ease with which the family incorporates cultural values.

Parenting Practices in Japan and the Middle East

One of the significant findings is the establishment that different cultures nurture varying childbearing beliefs based on the inherent values that are shared in the social context. An important element that is worth noting is the role of the western and the more traditional middle east culture. In Japan, it is thought that during infancy, children are inherently good and as such, parents should strive to ensure that they promote harmonious relationships (National Child Traumatic Stress Network 1). It is advised that the parent ought to provide the child with basic needs with premature training being supposed to yield more and better results. Still within the Japanese context, it is supposed that during early childhood, the responsibility of the training process is the shared responsibility of the community. It is also thought to follow models as opposed to questioning, which means that adults are rarely involved in punishing the child as the belief is centered on self-regulation.

Cultural Influences on American Families

Meanwhile, in contrast to the Japanese context, the cultural influences of the American family and establishment of familial relationships. At infancy, an infant in the American culture is perceived to be in need of socialization art a tender age hence the need to focus on self-care and emotional independence. Women are also expected to be in a position to balance their roles act not only as wives but also mothers (Roopnarine and Carter 33). Overall the child and the parent are expected to learn to be obedient to the societal norms. The cultural values also apply to the way a parent is expected to relate to their child when they are in the early childhood developmental phase. The primary consideration is that children are in need of continual discipline and are reliant on the guidance of the parent.

Cultural Values and Child Upbringing

Another related relationship between the cultural values of a given setting and the influence that they have on the upbringing of the child are applied in the context of the Hindi and Tami mothers. Research has shown that family recognition through the achievement process provided by the parents play a key role in defining the way the child grows. Tamil and India parents are thus more likely to use negative evidence obtained from the surrounding in influencing the child to develop better behavior (Head Start National Research Conference 3). It is thus expected that the parent should train the child to perform several tasks and chores at a tender age. The basic upbringing is perceived to be the role of the parent, which is a sharp contrast to the way the Japanese culture considers the upbringing of a child (Bernstein, et al. 254).

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy

One key intervention that is widely used in many societies to enable families considers the relevance of cultural values is the Parent-Child Interaction Therapy or PCIT. The primary focus of the PCIT is to advance the quality of the relationship between the child and the parent and change the interaction patterns. It is a program that teachers parent to adhere to the specific skills that improve the child’s behavior and that ensure that every family stays relevant to the overall goals of the community. It, therefore, relates to two significant models, the social learning theory and the attachment theory. Research that has been focused on the families has shown that it is imperative that the parent enables the child to adjust to the social context and follow the needs of the child as they develop (Bornstein 216). For example, it has been noted that the environment and cultural values play a crucial role in influencing family-centered therapy. One significant way in which this concept applies is from the consideration of the need for parents to allow their child to flourish and share their best moments based on what they perceive in the social context (Awde 7). The findings underscore the need for appreciation the cultural norms as they are crucial in understanding the societal values that are passed to the family setting.

In summary, it is worth emphasizing that the family and culture within a given communal setting ensure that important traits are passed to the child. It has been shown that because of the variations in which the values that different communities have, children are more likely to develop different perceptions about life. Therefore, it is important for the parent to uphold the values of the community as they help in the nurturing and development of the child.

Word Count: 832

Works Cited

Awde, Nadine. “The influence of cultural values on the parent-child interaction patterns of families from an asian background.” Arecls, vol. 6, no. 1, 2009, pp. 1-17. Accessed 24 Apr. 2017.

Bernstein, Victor, et al. “Issues in the multi-cultural assessment of parent–child interaction: An exploratory study from the starting early starting smart collaboration.” Applied Developmental Psychology, 2015, pp. 241-275.

Bornstein, Marc. “Cultural Approaches to Parenting.” Parent Sci Pract, vol. 12, no. 2, June 2012, p. 212–221. Accessed 24 Apr. 2017.

Head Start National Research Conference. “Parent-Child Interactions.” Head Start National Research Conference, 2008, Accessed 24 Apr. 2017.

National Child Traumatic Stress Network. “Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) Culture-Specific Information.” National Child Traumatic Stress Network, 2010, www.nctsnet.org/nctsn_assets/pdfs/promising_practices/PCIT_Culture_4-30-07.pdf. Accessed 22 Apr. 2017.

Roopnarine, Jaipaul, and Bruce Carter. “Parent child socializaion in diverse cultures.” Educational testing service, vol. 5, 2003, Accessed 24 May 2017.

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