NCJ Number
204314
Journal
Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 25 Issue: 2 Dated: February 2001 Pages: 231-248
Editor(s)
Richard D. Krugman,
John M. Leventhal
Date Published
February 2001
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This paper proposes guidelines to both parents and professionals for the prevention and reduction of risk associated with cultural differences, conflicts, and misinterpretations.
Abstract
The literature on families in changing cultural contexts indicated many potential sources of risk for children. This is because such families may experience sociocultural and socioeconomic change and a loss of their former support networks that may result in poverty, social isolation, unemployment, and low self-esteem that may impact on parent-child relationships and increase the risk for maltreatment. This paper proposes guidelines to both parents and professionals for the prevention and reduction of risk associated with cultural differences, conflicts, and misinterpretations. These guidelines are based on a conceptual framework derived from the multicultural reality of Israeli society and are supported by a growing body of studies on cross-cultural child development, immigration, and minority families. The paper begins with a summarization of the conceptual framework upon which the guidelines are based. Central to the framework is the concept of the “adaptive adult” which serves as a guiding image for the organization of socialization goals, child-rearing ideologies, perceptions, and values of socializing agents in a given culture or group. The paper describes different types of “adaptive adult” metaphors (e.g., past and future oriented), and discusses images held by groups who have experienced either a duality of private and public culture or changes in their cultural context. This summarization is followed by a discussion of a five-step intervention process for use with immigrant parents and for training of professionals who deal with immigrant parents. These steps include: 1) apprehending the image of the “adaptive adult;” 2) discussing the differences between participants’ images of the “adaptive adult;” 3) discussing the cultural lag and cultural change in the images of the “adaptive adult;” 4) exposing possible conflicts and misunderstandings; and 5) coping with cultural conflicts. This research found that mutual exploration of the image of the “adaptive adult” held by parents and professionals is an effective method for gaining the essential understanding to bridge cultural differences and avoid misinterpretations and misdiagnosis. References