Culture, Identity and Wellbeing in Children and Young People

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Culture, Identity and Wellbeing in Children and
Young People

• Shanti Raman
• Area Community Paediatrician-CP
• Sydney South West Area Health Service

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Proposed Structure of Presentation

• Background
• Definitions
• Hypothesis
• Critical theories identity, acculturation
• Culture and child rearing
• What needs to be done

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Context

• Migration universal phenomenon
• Unprecedented ?internal/ external migration
• Australia today dynamic multicultural society
• Globalisation
• Rapid social change
• Positive and negative results
• Differential effects on the poor

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Why cultural identity and wellbeing?

• Global burden of mental health problems in
  Australian children 1 in 6
• Cultural influences on child development and
  behaviour
• Little scholarly work on cultural identity and
  links to wellbeing in Australia
• Emerging literature about protective role of
  ethnic identity

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Culture(Frisby, 1992)

• As a pattern of living, customs, traditions,
  values, attitudes
• as significant artistic/humanitarian/scientific
  achievement of the group
• as race consciousness -guide individual
  identification
• as values, norms of the immediate context (eg of
  the family, streets, etc)
• as refers to superficial differences between
  macro and micro groups (ie clothing, music,
  speech)
• as refers to outer appearance (culturally
  different)

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Definitions

• Ethnicity
• ethnic self-identity
• ascribed ethnic identity
• cultural identity
• racial identity
• Nationality
• descent
• Race measure of social exclusion/ inclusion

Helms J, 1997
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Distinctions racial and ethnic identity

• Identity models
• Racial reactions to societal dynamics of
  racial oppression based on physical
  characteristics assumed to be racial or genetic
  in nature
• Ethnic if acquisition or maintenance of cultural
  characteristics (eg language, religion) are
  defining principles
• Helms 1996

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Cultural Identity

• captures change, uncertainty and ambiguity
• incorporates diversity and pluralism
• there are a number of different selves at
  different levels and their true psychological
  integration will lead to better psychological
  functioning
• Incorporates any factor that may account for
  differential patterns of learned or shared
  behaviour

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Acculturation

• Those phenomena which result when groups of
  individuals with different cultures come into
  continuous first hand contact subsequent changes
  in both groups (Redfield et al, 1936)

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Acculturation
Phinney 1990, based on Berry et al 1986
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So how does this relate to Childrearing.....

• And child development, behaviour?

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Child Development .Complex.

• Change is constant
• Difference is the norm
• Context is central

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Culture.....Complex!

• Change is constant
• Difference is the norm
• Context is central

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Relationship between Culture, Moderator Variables
Nondominant Cultural Influences
Dominant Culture Influences
Acculturation
Enculturation
Ethnic/Racial Identity
Moderator Variables
Moderator Variables
Psychological functioning
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Moderator Variables

• Type of acculturating group (voluntary or forced)
• social characteristics
• oppression and legal constraints
• racism, prejudice and discrimination
• cultural characteristics
• language used and fluency
• individual characteristics

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Where does that leave us?

• Examining children and development in their
  cultural context..complex
• More problematic definitions behaviour,
  disorder, illness, mental health,
• Need to consider multiple levels family, school,
  peers, society, health services

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Culture and child development

• The biological immaturity of children is the
  only fact with any certainty that can be said
  about childrens development.

Sami Timimi 2005
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Parenting is a universal, but highly variable
behaviour

• Feeding
• sleeping
• discipline and moral reasoning
• toilet training
• teaching
• communicating
• giving affection

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• It is known that childrearing practices influence
  the rate and expression of childrens development

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The Milestone Approach
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The Age Range Approach DDST
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Not all children develop according to the
commonly used guidelines
Methodical problems in many studies prevent
generalisation of findings

• Motor precocity of African infants who sit, crawl
  and walk at least two months earlier than
  caucasian infants (Ainsworth, 1977 Geber and
  Dean, 1957 Capute et al, 1985)
• Fine motor precocity but delayed walking of
  Yucatecan Mexican infants compared to US norms
  (Solomons and Solomons, 1975)
• Advanced attainment of pencil skills in Japanese
  children compared to British norms (Saida and
  Miyashita, 1979)
• Slight motor delay of Mayan Indian infants
  compared to US norms (Brazelton, 1972)

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Cultural Differences in Skill and Behaviour

• Early motor development
• Obedience
• Toilet training
• Verbal Skills
• Temperament
• Feeding
• Crying
• Independence
• Learning
• Sleeping

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Early Emotional Learning in Infants A
Cross-Cultural Examination

• Emotional and interactive behavior learnt in the
  1st year of life much of this learning takes
  place subcortically
• Wide review of published literature Richman,
  Miller Solomon, Le Vine et al, Barr, Brazelton,
  Sigel
• 2 widely divergent parental models
• Pedagogic
• Child centred

Commons and Miller 1998
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Cultural differences in Parental Goals

• Pedagogic major goals are for children to learn
  to feel emotionally independent from their
  parents and to develop interactive and language
  skills
• Child-centred a model in which the most
  important goal is protecting the health and
  survival of the infant

Hallmark study Le Vine et al 1994, Child care
and culture Lessons from Africa.
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Pedagogic Model
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Pedagogic Model (Western model)

• Independence and Sleeping Patterns
• infants in their own beds and often in their own
  rooms
• lack of co-sleeping
• Other Separation
• relatively tolerant of other separations eg
  infants left with unrelated nonresident
  babysitters, weekend away
• Verbalizing and face to face interaction
• parents believe infants are active participants
  in interactions
• they talk to, look at, smile at and interact with
  infants from birth
• ?emphasis on verbal interaction, ? emphasis on
  physical contact
• Consoling
• mothers relatively tolerant of infant crying

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Child-Centred Model
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Child Centred Model largely non-western

• Independence and Sleeping Patterns
• Co-sleeping and breastfeeding on demand
• High physical contact
• Consoling
• respond rapidly to crying, high rates of holding
  and touching
• increased holding by mothers tends to result in
  infants who cry less
• Verbalizing and face to face interaction
• do not typically talk to their infants
  extensively
• do not see infants as capable of communicating or
  of understanding language
• do not engage in stimulating face-to-face
  interactions

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Cultural differences in Goals of Development

• Western world career, marriage, house, car, TV
• Traditional (Aboriginal) achieving full tribal
  status
• Immigrant families children better off than
  parents, security, pride in childrens success
• Factors influencing
• Parents own status
• Migration story refugee, economic, push/pull
  factors
• Religious affiliations
• Political environment
• Gender

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Contrasting Cultural Practices Communication
Mainstream
Non-Western
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Contrasting Cultural Practices
Mainstream
Non-Western
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Contrasting Cultural Practices
Non-Western
Mainstream
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What about psychological wellbeing?
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?? Wellbeing difficult to measure

• Meta-analysis of acculturation and adjustment
  (1992)
• No consistent unidirectional effect
• SES very important
• Low SES groups ? symptoms and conflict with
  acculturation
• High SES groups with ethnic social support
  networks high self esteem and coping (eg Asians)
• Ethnic social network SES sense of efficacy
  and adaptation

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Ethnic Identity and Wellbeing in Chinese and
Turkish teens in Netherlands (Verkuyten 1994)

• 4 types of identification dissociative,
  acculturative (bicultural), assimilative,
  marginal
• Majority were dissociative or acculturative
• Turkish those who identified with own group and
  biculturals had positive self esteem
• Girls who were dissociative had higher self
  esteem than boys
• Chinese assimilative and marginal group had more
  negative feelings, correlated with low
  collectivism scores

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Ethnic Identity in ethnocultural youth and
Wellbeing (Roberts, Phinney et al 1999)

• 5,500 students in high school, Houston AA, Euro,
  Hispanics, Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, PI, mixed
• Measures Ethnic identity, self esteem, coping,
  optimism, mastery, loneliness, depression
• MEIM overall reliable across diverse groups
• High ethnic identity scores associated with
  self-esteem, coping, mastery and optimism
• Correlation of ethnic salience with MEIM high
• European Americans lowest scores on ethnic
  identity
• Indian and Pakistani teens highest scores on
  ethnic identity

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Where does that leave us?

• Culture, Identity, Wellbeing, Development..
• complex
• Comprehensive assessment of effects of culture on
  childrens wellbeing may not be possible
• but worth giving a shot
• Need to consider multiple levels family, school,
  peers, society, health services
• also age, gender and language

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Recommendations

• Socio-cultural/political background of immigrant
  gps
• Acknowledge importance of culture in childrens
  behaviour and development
• Understand benefits of cultural capital
• Assessment of cultural identity
• language use
• cultural practices and pride
• Perceived prejudice/discrimination
• religious affiliation
• socialisation with in-group