Chapter 15
Cultural Factors in Counseling Children
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
With the rise of different cultural groups within the US population, emphasis is being placed on
being culturally sensitive and competent. Counselors are encouraged to be aware of crosscultural counseling issues, as cultural beliefs influence diagnosis and every aspect of the
counseling process. With most clients belonging to a minority population and most counselors
practicing theories based on Euro-American values, it is important to recognize the need for
increased awareness and the ability to modify current beliefs. Effective counselors focus on
assessing their understanding of their own culture and their biases, understanding the worldview
of their clients, and selecting appropriate interventions.
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
After completing this chapter, the student will be able to:
1. Recognize the importance of cultural factors in counseling.
2. Discuss the goals, skills, and knowledge needed for multicultural competence as well as
barriers to culturally sensitive counseling.
3. Explain worldview and guidelines to using this understanding.
4. Describe common factors to counseling effectiveness.
5. Outline challenges and strategies for working with children from identified ethnic groups.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Counselors working with children of diverse culture backgrounds face many challenges. Baruth
and Manning listed some of the challenges as counselors having communication difficulties,
misunderstanding the culture and the impact of the culture on the process of counseling, making
faulty assumptions about cultural assimilation, failing to understand differences in social class
values and orientations, making stereotypical generalizations and assumptions of cultural bias,
and failing to understand the worldview of the client. Pederson suggested the following
additional cautions: diagnoses differ across cultures; clients express symptoms differently across
cultures; diagnoses may vary according to the categories found most often in the majority
population; and most counselors are members of the majority population.
Rather than being daunted by the challenges, counselors are encouraged by the authors to make a
commitment to become culturally competent. Pederson suggested a list of goals for the
culturally skilled counselor and explained that training in multicultural competence has focused
on three areas: (1) increasing one’s awareness of culturally learned attitudes, beliefs, and values;
(2) increasing knowledge of culturally relevant facts; and (3) developing skills for interventions
that are culturally appropriate.
Awareness is necessary for multicultural competence. Awareness of self involves investigation
of the counselor’s own cultural background and the impact it has on his/her beliefs, attitudes, and
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values. Counselors must also develop extensive awareness of racism, sexism, poverty,
individual differences, other culture(s), and diversity. A cross-cultural awareness continuum
illustrates levels of this process of understanding.
Knowledge is also necessary for competence in multicultural counseling. Knowledge of the
cultural context of behavior incorporates variables such as social class, gender, ethnicity, race,
religion, language, age, and exceptionalities. Some terms that cross-cultural counselors need to
understand are race, ethnic, ethnicity, worldview, ethnic identity development, and acculturation.
Trevino proposed that worldviews be organized into general views or basic understandings of the
world and specific views that represent particular perceptions (e.g., specific views of. marriage,
illness, companionship). She wrote that without an understanding of the client’s worldviews, the
counselor cannot understand and assess client problems, establish a therapeutic alliance, or
formulate effective strategies. The counselor’s role is to work with the client to find a better way
of understanding and interacting with the world through cognitive, behavioral, or affective
techniques.
Fischer, Jome and Atkinson proposed four common factors as essential to the success of all
counseling: (1) a positive, trusting, therapeutic relationship; (2) a shared worldview or a
common framework from which the counselor and client conduct their work together; (3) the
client’s positive expectation that counseling will be helpful; and (4) rituals or interventions that
are effective techniques that both the counselor and client believe will lead to positive outcomes.
Helms proposed three interacting components that influence a person’s ethnic identity: (1)
personal component that is related to self-concept; (2) affiliative component that is related to the
degree to which the person believes he or she shares whatever happens to other members of the
group; and (3) reference group component that is related to the person’s level of conforming to
the norms of the group. High levels of ethnic identity predict positive social and emotional
adjustment in adolescents. Brown and Trusty suggest that counselors who work with children
can use identity development models to understand a child’s perceptions of self and others.
Acculturation is the process of becoming like another culture. A bicultural model is based on the
idea that one can connect with two cultures simultaneously.
Skills are needed when helping others to resolve problems or to make decisions in ways that are
consistent with the client’s culture. Counselors must acknowledge the reality of cultural
influences; recognize differences as differences, not as deficiencies; and avoid stereotyping and
an ethnocentric perspective. Kincade and Evans discussed several differences among cultures
such as differences in boundaries and physical space, emotional boundaries, kinships terms,
hierarchy of needs, and trust issues. They suggested the following guidelines:
 Make no assumptions - gather information and re-evaluate personal biases often;
 Learn about the client’s culture from sources other than the client;
 Admit ignorance about the culture - be willing to ask questions and to learn;
 Look for similarities in order to connect - find common ground to share;
 Be sensitive to client expectations and needs - together define counseling.
Holcomb-McCoy has prepared a checklist for counselors to use in assessing their cultural
competence.
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The authors provide suggestions for working with children from different ethnic groups. Blum
explained that children of different ethnic groups may experience the following stressors:
clashes at home if they are acculturated more quickly than other family members; more limited
opportunities to succeed; and victimization at school in the form of verbal rejection,
discrimination, physical attacks, and social isolation. Counselors should be aware of these
possible stresses as well as being cautious about within group differences while attending to
ethnic descriptors. Ho recommended individual counseling (e.g., short-term supportive therapy,
cognitive-behavioral therapy, music therapy and play therapy) when serious stressors, previous
trauma, or serious behavioral problems are present. He suggested that small group therapy may
be advisable when isolation, socialization, and acculturation issues are predominant.
Fascoli and Kottman have each suggested that counselors who work with children investigate
various aspects of the family life. A list of suggested questions is included in the text.
Counselors who inquire about the child and family have greater potential for effective
counseling.
Information and guidelines for counseling with children of five specific ethnic backgrounds are
provided. Brief highlights of these follow.
African American Children:
 Some things that may cause African American children difficulties may be related to not
having developed a strong cultural identity, being subjected to racism and inappropriate
value judgments, being unable to overcome the perception of being “problem children” and
contending with issues of interpersonal relations, autonomy, academic performance and
future planning.
 Vontress emphasizes way young Black males may be overwhelmed by their world and by
their unhelpful habits. He says they may need help to understand themselves better and to
relate more effectively with others.
 Counselors refrain from denying the existence of racism on the lives of African Americans
and work on modifying any system that maintains the barriers of racist policies and practices.
 Counselors must be aware of a healthy wariness children may have toward counseling.
People of color may have been required to go to counseling and may perceive it as
punishment. Therefore a counseling focus on weaknesses or deficits should be replaced by an
emphasis on strengths and on an understanding of how economic status, education, health
care, housing, racism, and other ecological factors affect the child.
 Locke, Clemente and Lee and Bailey suggested that the counselor should encourage young
people to talk about themselves, their families and their experiences; focus on strengths; ask
about social class status rather than making assumptions; ask for descriptions of holiday
celebrations, kinship networks, and the role of religion in their lives; solicit their concerns,
and consider using music and dance as areas of special interest. Those others suggest a
solution-focused, problem solving approach to counseling.
 Involving the church may be helpful in bolstering self-esteem.
 Also important are the processes of confronting racism and defining the African personality
in order to achieve a greater congruence with cultural essence.
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
Barriers to effective counselor are counselor bias, ignorance, rescuing or oversympathizing
as well as client resistance, mistrust or bias. A combination of peer groups, individual and
family counseling are recommended.
American Indian and Alaskan Native Children:
 Knowledge of and respect for the American Indian and Alaskan Native children’s worldview
is essential, with special attention given to the social contexts and roles that helpers play. In
Native American culture most often an individual’s problem is seen as a problem of the
community.
 Herring recommended that the counselor sensitively and openly address issues of ethnic
dissimilarity; take into consideration ethnic identity and the degree of acculturation of the
young person; consider having open-ended sessions free from time constraints; include
family members and tribal elders or have sessions in the home; consider the use of art, dance,
music, storytelling, story reading, puppetry and games; and include natural healing practices.
 Cognitive behavioral interventions are appropriate for helping clients see themselves in
relation to the familial and cultural influences on development as well as their unique
strengths and resources.
Asian American Children
 The phrase Asian American represents a diverse set of ethnic groups and counselors are
cautioned to avoid stereotypes of this or any group.
 Several authors have suggested that counselors ascertain individual strengths and weaknesses
and determine the degree of acculturation.
 In working with Asian-American children counselors should recognize their difficulty in
self-disclosure. Counselors should acknowledge the meaning of restraint as an attribute of
emotional maturity; recognize that an individual’s problems may be seen as shaming the
family; keep questions relevant to the problem and avoid asking too many personal
questions. Counselors should minimize confrontation; keep the focus on present time and on
resolutions; learn common concerns of Asian-American children; ask about the culture; and
work to gain an understanding of nonverbal communication.
 Strong family orientations and restraint in expression may influence the counseling process.
 Counselors should acknowledge the importance of harmony in interpersonal relationships,
the need to avoid loss of face, preferences for more subtle forms of communication, and the
impact of issues of individualism and collectivism.
 Counselors can assume an active role but should allow the young person to evaluate options
and make decisions.
Latino Children:
 The Latino population exhibits varied English/Spanish language proficiency and various
levels of acculturation, urban and rural lifestyles, and educational and economic
backgrounds.
 Latino young people experience more anxiety-related and delinquency behaviors, depression
and drug use, and report more suicidal ideation and attempts than other young people.
 Loyalty to the family, respect for authority figures, adherence to gender roles, and the
importance of religion should be considered when working with members of this group.
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Some questions to use with Latino clients involve how they identify themselves, their
primary language, their friends, their holidays, and family expectations.
Family counseling can be an effective tool.
Counselors should make every effort to understand the client’s belief system as well as
symptoms, determine the degree of acculturation and experiences, and learn more about the
roles of economics and institutional racism, language differences, or other discriminatory
factors on the client’s beliefs and behaviors.
Counselors may use a more formal stance with these children and may want to provide a
tentative solution to the problem. Counselors should reassure the youth that the sessions are
confidential.
Multiracial Children:
 Multiracial children may be confused and stressed as they try to understand and adapt to the
history and culture of each parent. Others exhibit high self-esteem and a strong ethnic
identity.
 They may encounter problems with racial-ethnic identity, social marginality, sexuality,
autonomy, as well as with educational and occupational aspirations.
 Herring emphasized the importance of developing a trusting relationship in counseling,
understanding that the presenting problem may mask a deeper ethnic identity concern, being
aware that biracial students will often identify with the minority culture, being familiar with
the customs of all students, permitting children to ventilate their feelings about their identity
and its meaning in society, assisting in building self-esteem, understanding the link between
ethnic confusion and other developmental concerns, and involving the family.
In conclusion, counselors must be prepared to bridge cultural gaps and adopt techniques and
procedures to meet the needs of many different children and families.
KEY CONCEPTS
1. Culturally sensitive counselors must be concerned with cultural beliefs and practice.
2. A foundation of cultural self-awareness, skills and knowledge is imperative.
3. A framework of common therapeutic factors may guide successful counseling. Those factors
are the relationship, a shared worldview, client expectations, and rituals or interventions.
4. Counselors who choose appropriate counseling interventions for clients will acknowledge
differences in establishing boundaries and kinship systems.
5. Children from different ethnic backgrounds may require different counseling approaches.
KEY TERMS, CONCEPTS AND PERSONALITIES
Acculturation – The process of understanding, accepting, and integrating the cultural values of a
group.
Ethnic – The various situations in which a group have lived and acted together, one’s values and
a shared style of life; the long-standing group dynamics of thinking, feeling, and behaving.
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Ethnic identity – A person’s incorporation of the group patterns; acceptance of the beliefs,
feelings, and actions as one’s own.
Ethnic identity development – A process or series of stages a person may go through as he/she
incorporates values and behaviors of one or more cultures.
Ethnicity – A person’s sense of membership in a group and the associated thoughts, feelings, and
behavior; the group patterns.
Multicultural counseling – A helping process that addresses the cultural views and needs of both
the client and the counselor.
Race – Anthropological classification system based on physical characteristics of hair texture,
skin color, eye color, and facial features used to categorize people into four groups: Asian,
Black, White, or American Indian. These are considered to be scientifically meaningless.
Worldviews – The ways in which individuals understand the world, including attitudes, values,
opinions, and concepts that influence how a person thinks, makes decisions, and behaves.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Multiracial children may be stressed because
A. There are so few of them
B. They are placed in separate classrooms.
C. They are trying to adapt to two cultures
D. They have language barriers
2. Pederson’s goals (1994) for the culturally skilled counselor include all of the following
except:
A. Is aware of other cultures.
B. Voluntarily increases knowledge about other cultures.
C. Asks questions in order to gain insight about other cultures.
D. Promotes long-term counseling as a viable solution for problems.
3. All of the following are issues that can interfere with culturally sensitive counseling except:
A. professional self-awareness.
B. client inconsistent attendance.
C. similar priorities.
D. differing cultural values.
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4. Which of the following interventions is considered to be most effective with Native
American children?
A. cognitive behavioral
B. psychodynamic
C. client-centered
D. none of the above
5. From which cultural group are children often less competitive in order to avoid standing out?
A. American Indian and Alaska Native
B. Asian American
C. African American
D. Latino
6. A process or series of stages a person may go through as he/she incorporates values and
behaviors of one or more cultures is known as:
A. worldview.
B. ethnic identity development.
C. development of career identity.
D. resolution of racial crisis.
7. Worldviews are basic understandings of the world, and are formed:
A. through internal beliefs about members of one’s culture.
B. through personal experiences based on interactions with members of one’s culture.
C. through educational resources based on various cultures.
D. all of the above
8. Churches most frequently provide help in increasing the self-esteem of which of the
following cultural groups?
A. Latino
B. Hispanic Americans
C. African Americans
D. American Indian and Alaskan Native
9. The use of natural healing practices is recommended for use with members of which cultural
group?
A. African Americans
B. American Indian and Alaskan Native
C. Asian Americans
D. Latino
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10.
General guidelines for multicultural counselors include all of the following except:
A. Make general assumptions.
B. Be sensitive to client needs.
C. Learn about the client’s culture from sources other than the client.
D. Try to connect with similarities or find the common ground.
11.
Radhika lived in Pakistan until she was eight when she moved to Oregon. Now she talks,
dresses and acts like the other seventh graders in her middle school. There is some evidence
that Radhika has become
A. acculturated
B. enmeshed
C. disengaged
D. constant
10.
Locke recommends which of the following steps to building an understand of African
American young people.
A. ask about their families
B. focus on their strengths
C. ask about their celebrations
D. all of the above
ESSAY QUESTIONS
1. Discuss the skills necessary to be an effective counselor with clients of various cultures.
2. Discuss the role of personal awareness needed for culturally effective counseling.
3. Describe the process of selecting appropriate counseling interventions for clients who are
culturally different from the counselor.
ACTIVITIES
1. Choose two cultural groups to compare with your personal culture and comprise a list of
similarities and differences.
2. Create a school-wide intervention to increase cultural awareness.
3. Imagine that a teacher has referred a American Indian child for counseling due to his social
withdrawal and his poor academic performance. Describe in detail how you would approach
this situation.
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