Provides social workers, counselors, mental health specialists, and parent educators the necessary tools to increase their awareness and understanding of the many different cultures composing American society today. Respect for cultural traditions based on clear information will more effectively enable these professionals to help families learn new patterns of parenting and interacting that both uphold the principles of their culture and operate within the laws of the land. This series of culture-specific guides describes salient characteristics of African American, Mexican, Puerto Rican, El Salvadoran, Chilean, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Hmong, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, Filipino, and Hawaiian families. Information about each culture includes: (1) history; (2) important values; (3) family life, including role models and status, gender differences, and living arrangements; (4) parenting and childrearing traditions and practices; (5) acceptable and unacceptable expressions of emotion; (6) ways to encourage families to participate in parenting classes, (7) unique characteristics and customs, such as holidays, games and songs, cuisine, and dress; and (8) special topics, such as drug use, and cultural strengths and challenges. Many of the chapters also list basic foreign words and phrases with their English translation.
