over financial burdens perpetuates itself along with the disintegration of the family.
Socioeconomic status is the greatest stressor affecting families, but as McKenry & Price (1994) submit, it is part of a larger picture: "the family's response to a stressor event [such as ethnic discrimination] is influenced by living in a particular historical period, its cultural identification, the economic conditions of society, its genetic stamina and resistance, and its stage in the family life cycle" (p. 5).
Julian et al. (1994) used data from the National Survey of Families and Households, consisting of interviews with a national probability sample of 13,017 respondents in 1987 and 1988. The 19 years and older respondents were interviewed for an hour and forty minutes apiece. It is important to note that there were roughly equal numbers of mothers and fathers in each cultural group, because men have historically been overlooked as playing an active role in their children's socialization.
One overriding outcome, or generality, resulting from the survey was that ethnic parents were perhaps stricter--placing greater demands and expectations on their children because of the difficulty they perceive their children to face. Another explanation is equally feasible. Ethnic parents face added stress as a result of the bicultural effort of attempting to promote self-esteem in their own families while they must face ethnic prejudice in the workplace and the entirety of society.
Some of the results have special implications for social psychologists and other social service professionals. For Asian Americans, and to some extent for other cultures, counseling and therapy "is antithetical to the tradition of dealing with all the problems within the context of the family" (Julian et al., 1994, p. 36). Therefore, it is especially important that family clients realize the professional's code of confidentiality.
Another result of interest ...