Transcript Cultural Diversity: A Primer for the Human Services

Cultural Diversity:
A Primer for the
Human Services
{
By Jerry V. Diller
Chapter 9
{
Mental Health Issues
Racial Identity
and Group Belonging

Identity is the inner sense of who a person
is, formed by the integration of experiences
of the self
Ethnic identity is the part of one’s identity that
contributes to self-image as an ethnic community
member
 Ethnic identity is formed by personal
experiences and external messages about
ethnicity

Racial Identity
and Group Belonging

Positive identity
Acceptance of ethnic-related experiences and
ethnic self
 Ethnic-related reactions are conscious
 Positive group attachment
 Celebration of ethnic ways and attitudes

Racial Identity
and Group Belonging

Negative identity
Rejects and disowns ethnic-related experiences
and ethnic self
 Ethnic-related reactions remain unconscious
 Avoids group membership
 Adopts majority attitudes and ways

Racial Identity
and Group Belonging

Ambivalent identification:

Alternates between exhibiting a positive or
negative identification and/or compartmentalizes
areas of ethnic content
Models Of Racial
Identity Development

Five stages of racial identity development
(Cross, 1995)

Pre-encounter



Not consciously aware of race and ethnicity
Tend to assimilate and prefer dominant cultural values
Encounter

An event or experience shatters denial of ethnicity and
sends the person into confusion due to having to deal
with differentness for the first time
Models Of Racial
Identity Development

Five stages of racial identity development
(Cross, 1995)

Immersion-Emersion



First-time desire to immerse in ethnicity
Anger of second stage lingers while increased focus
moves to self-exploration
Internalization



Increasingly secure and positive about ethnic identity
Attitudes become less rigid and defensive
More open with greater willingness to relate to Whites
and members of other ethnic groups
Models Of Racial
Identity Development

Five stages of racial identity development
(Cross, 1995)

Internalization-Commitment

Translating personal ethnic identities into sense of
commitment to social justice and change
Models Of Racial
Identity Development

Four dimensions of change universally
occur in people of color as they move
through five stages

Conformity, Dissonance, Resistance and
Immersion, Introspection, and Synergetic
(Atkinson, Morten, and Sue, 1993)
Models Of Racial
Identity Development

Four dimensions of change
Attitudes about the self change from selfdepreciating to self-appreciation
 Attitudes about others in the same ethnic groups
change from group-depreciating to groupappreciation

Models Of Racial
Identity Development

Four dimensions of change
Attitudes about members of different ethnic
groups move from discriminatory to acceptance
and appreciation
 Attitudes about dominant group members move
from identifying with the majority, through
rejection to selective appreciation

Identity Development
and the Helping Process

Counseling needs differ as clients move
through the stages of racial development

Stage 1


Clients seek help for issues unrelated to ethnic identity,
prefer White providers, feel threatened by exploration
of race and ethnicity
Stage 2

Clients are pre-occupied with race issues, seek
providers who are knowledgeable about their cultural
group
Identity Development
and the Helping Process

Stage 3



Stage 4


Clients are less likely to seek counseling and tend to be
absorbed in engaging in ethnic ways
Providers of color are preferred as white providers are
seen as symbols of oppression
Clients seek counseling to deal with conflict between
group and personal perspectives
Stage 5

Clients are less in need of counseling as they have
developed skills to balance personal needs and group
obligation
Assimilation
and Acculturation

Ethnic assimilation is the coming together of
two distinct cultures to create a unique third
culture
Assimilation
and Acculturation

Forms of ethnic assimilation (Gordon, 1964)
include:
Acculturation: Taking on another culture,
usually mainstream
 Structural Assimilation: Gaining entry into
institutions of society, also called integration
 Marital Assimilation: Large-scale intermarriage
with majority group
 Identification Assimilation: Developing sense of
belonging with dominant society

Assimilation
and Acculturation

Acculturation is important to working with
culturally diverse populations in two ways:
Being able to assess the amount of acculturation,
in order to determine the form of helping that is
most appropriate
 Acculturative stress, or the emotional strain that
acculturation can create, is often felt when
traditional ways are lost or compromised as a
result of acculturation

Views Of Acculturation

Uni-dimensional view
As an individual moves toward a dominant
culture, they must give up traditional ways
 Marginal person is an ethnic group member who
tries to acculturate to majority but does not gain
acceptance into majority or own cultural group


Multicultural view
Believes it is possible to live in two cultures
 Problems arise when aspects of the two cultures
are in clear conflict

Views Of Acculturation

Third view suggests impact of acculturation
can be discovered by what they have gained
or lost through acculturation

Superficial Level


Learning and forgetting facts that are part of a cultural
tradition
Intermediate Level

Gaining and losing central aspects and behaviors of a
person’s social world (language, ethnicity of
spouse/friends, etc.)
Views Of Acculturation

Third view suggests impact of acculturation
can be discovered by what they have gained
or lost through acculturation

Significant Level

Core values, beliefs, and norms essential to the cultural
paradigm are lost and adopted
Immigration
and Acculturation

Acculturative stress is most pronounced
during and after immigration
Immigration
and Acculturation

Level of stress is dependent on five factors
(Landau, 1982):
Reason for migration and whether expectations
and hopes were met
 Availability of community and family support
 Changes to family structure required after
migration
 Degree of similarity between old and new
culture
 Family’s ability to be flexible and adaptive

Immigration
and Acculturation

When stress is high, support is unavailable,
and family is unhealthy, it will compensate
in one of three ways:
Family isolates itself and remains separate from
new environment
 Family closes boundaries to outside world and
rigidifies traditional ways
 Family becomes disengaged, members become
isolated from each other


Situation can be especially problematic
when family members acculturate at
Immigration
and Acculturation

When stress is high, support is unavailable,
and family is unhealthy, it will compensate
in one of three ways:
Family isolates itself from new environment
 Family closes boundaries to outside world and
rigidifies traditional ways
 Family becomes disengaged, members become
isolated from each other


Can be especially problematic when family
members acculturate at different rates
Acculturation And
Community Breakdown
Acculturation can lead to the breakdown of
community support
 Group members feel less attached to
traditions and leave the community to avoid
hatred and animosity often directed in the
group


Often end up at greater risk of being the objects
of prejudice without the ability of the
community to protect the individual
Stress

External and internal factors mediate the
subjective effects of stress and stress-related
illness (Myers, 1982):

External


Economic conditions decide whether race- and socialclass-related experiences are sources of greater or lesser
stress.
Internal

Individual temperament, problem-solving skills, sense
of internal control, and self-esteem reduce likelihood
that an event or situation is experienced as stressful
Psychological Trauma

In extreme case of trauma, stress can
completely shut down basic psychic
adaptation systems
Psychological Trauma

Four major symptom-groups are associated
with trauma:
Hyperarousal: Internal biology of selfpreservation goes on permanent alert
 Intrusion: Reliving of traumatizing event as if it
were happening in the present
 Constricting/Numbing: Deadening or
dissociation from reality
 Disconnection: Shattering of the self and its
connection to others and human experience

Psychological Trauma

Source and type of trauma dictate the
impact on the individual
Trauma resulting from natural disasters tend to
be less debilitating than trauma caused by other
humans
 Trauma that occurred in the past is considered
“lived memory” and involves the reliving of
trauma by the individual

Psychological Trauma

Source and type of trauma dictate the
impact on the individual

Historic trauma refers to cumulative trauma that
occurs across generations and reflects a broader
range of social consequences


Children manifest their own response to parents’
trauma
Substance abuse and dependence often occur as
a means of self-medicating
Psychological Trauma

Therapeutic work with trauma victims is
challenging for multiple reasons
Trauma events are painful to relive and difficult
for therapist to hear
 Clients fear that the therapist will not believe
him or her
 Clients project feelings about perpetrator onto
the therapist
 Work with trauma survivors can be traumatizing
to the therapist

Psychological Trauma

Additional considerations for working with
clients who have experienced trauma
include:
The presence of insidious trauma,
microaggressions, and implicit racism, which can
eventually trigger full-blown complex trauma
reactions that can be life-threatening
 Assessment of trauma should be made from
within the context of a client’s cultural life
history and minority status

Psychological Trauma

Additional considerations for working with
clients who have experienced trauma
include:
Clients may wait to disclose trauma until after
trust has been developed
 Use of empowerment to balance exploration of a
traumatic experience

Drug And Alcohol Use

Three important points must be made about
substance use and ethnicity:

Myths about substance abuse among people of
color are based on comparison to beliefs about
white consumption


In reality, people of color tend to use substances less
frequently than white Americans
Cultural differences exist about socially
acceptable levels of drinking and substance use

As do the meanings of abstinence and recovery
Drug And Alcohol Use

Research findings on substance use and
abuse in youth of color reflect similar
patterns to those of adults within the same
culture
With the exception of Native Americans, young
ethnic populations have substance use patterns
that are significantly less than young whites
 Less acculturated African Americans, Latinos/as,
and Asian Americans have lower rates


May reflect protective factors in traditional cultures
Drug And Alcohol Use

Research findings on substance use and
abuse in youth of color reflect similar
patterns to those of adults within the same
culture
Bicultural youth tend to exhibit low levels of
alcohol and drug use
 Youth of color generally show lower rates of
substance use, but their use tends to lead to more
behavioral and health problems

Comparing Latinos/as
and Asian Americans

Illicit drug use increases dramatically with
acculturation among Latino/a youth and
Asian males
Comparing Latinos/as
and Asian Americans
Latino/a youth consume heavier quantities
and experience more drinking problems
than other adolescents
 Asian Americans have low levels of use
compared with other ethnic groups


Drinking in Asian society is governed by social
norms that condemn excessive use and
encourage moderation
Comparing Latinos/As
and Asian Americans

For Latinos/as, prevention efforts must:
Encourage biculturalism and bilingualism
 Involve the community in community
development efforts
 Involve the community in public awareness
campaigns

Comparing Latinos/As
and Asian Americans

For Asian Americans, prevention efforts
must:
Encourage biculturalism
 Involve youth in community prevention
 Provide indigenously owned family counseling
and support services

The Cultural
Meaning of Recovery
Substance abuse should be viewed as
symptomatic of other underlying
psychological conditions
 Recovery for people of color should
acknowledge the impact of racism and
include efforts to heal inner effects of racism


For example, recovery with Native Americans
must include the social and cultural roots of the
problem if overcoming substance abuse is to be
achieved