Perceived cultural spaces and cultural in‐betweens: Consumption among Korean Australians

• This study explores the influence of both generation and acculturation on food and media consumption patterns of Korean migrant families in Australia. Given the lack of studies specifically examining acculturative and generational influences on changes occurring in a culturally adaptive context, this study's objectives are to explore not only the experience of consumption for the families but also the differences between first‐ and second‐generation migrants and the differences within the family between parent and child. The findings of the study demonstrate the conflicted and negotiated construction of consumption around the dual cultural identities. The complexity and creolised effect of consumption appears when traditional food meets with the multi‐cuisine foodscape of Australia. The nostalgic consumption of certain kinds of ‘ethnic media’ meets up with the second generation's consumption of the same kinds of media for easy and quick‐fix ‘socialisation’. Elements of ‘reverse socialisation’ are also observed in the data. The study contributes to a better understanding of the cumulative and often intertwined effects of acculturation and/or generation in consumption changes.

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An educational program to overcome language and cultural barriers to genetic services

Providing genetic services to families who do not speak English and whose cultures are quite diverse presents a unique challenge to genetic specialists. One approach that is being employed successfully is the use of specially trained genetic assistants to provide outreach, case finding, referral, support, interpretation, advocacy, and follow-up counseling. A basic genetic assistant training program for five bicultural/bilingual Southeast Asian case managers is described. The course syllabus can be used to train health workers who represent a variety of cultures and languages.     

Perceived career barriers and coping among youth in Israel: Ethnic and gender differences

This study investigated gender and ethnic differences in the perception of different types of career barriers among young adults in relation to their views of themselves as individuals (Personal Career Barriers) and their views of their gender and ethnic group (Group Career Barriers). This study also explored gender and ethnic differences in the sense of efficacy in coping with career barriers. The participants were 406 university students: 156 Israeli-born Jews, 133 Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union and 117 Arab-Israelis. The results indicated that their perceptions of the different types of career barriers and their sense of coping efficacy differ according to gender and ethnic group and that there are also joint effects of gender and ethnicity. The results showed that participants rated group barriers higher than personal career barriers. However, the discrepancies were different in each of the three ethnic groups. Perceived career barriers were negatively associated with the sense of coping efficacy and positively associated with non-productive coping strategies. The implications for future research and counseling for minority groups are discussed.     

Perceived career barriers and vocational outcomes among university undergraduates: Exploring mediation and moderation effects

This study explores the role of perceived internal and external career barriers on undergraduates' vocational outcomes, such as academic major satisfaction and vocational identity commitment. Moreover, it tests career adaptability as a moderator in the barriers-vocational outcomes link. The study was carried out in three public universities in Lithuania. In total, 288 first and second year undergraduate students took part in it. Results demonstrated internal but not external barriers to be negatively associated with undergraduates' vocational outcomes.     

Placing the face in context: cultural differences in the perception of facial emotion

Two studies tested the hypothesis that in judging people's emotions from their facial expressions, Japanese, more than Westerners, incorporate information from the social context. In Study 1, participants viewed cartoons depicting a happy, sad, angry, or neutral person surrounded by other people expressing the same emotion as the central person or a different one. The surrounding people's emotions influenced Japanese but not Westerners' perceptions of the central person. These differences reflect differences in attention, as indicated by eye-tracking data (Study 2): Japanese looked at the surrounding people more than did Westerners. Previous findings on East-West differences in contextual sensitivity generalize to social contexts, suggesting that Westerners see emotions as individual feelings, whereas Japanese see them as inseparable from the feelings of the group.     

Multiple commitments in the Chinese context: Testing compatibility, cultural, and moderating hypotheses

This paper evaluates the contribution of the multiple constituencies of commitment framework in explaining work attitudes and behaviors in a sample of Chinese manufacturing workers. Findings suggest that the organization, the supervisor, and co-workers were seen by respondents as separate commitment foci. Although the various commitments were moderately positively correlated, they were related differently to the dimensions of organizational citizenship behavior and withdrawal cognitions, in a way which provides support for the “compatibility” hypothesis. There was only limited support for our “cultural” hypothesis. An analysis of interactions between commitments suggested that commitment to supervisor was a stronger positive predictor of protecting company resources and interpersonal harmony when commitment to work group was lower, providing partial support for our moderating hypotheses.     

The relation of cultural context and social relationships to career development in middle school

This study examined the role of supportive relationships (i.e., family, teacher, and peer) and agency (i.e., self-efficacy, motivation, and goal-setting orientation) on three outcomes: academic grades, distress, and career decidedness. Data from 588 middle school youth from Northern (N = 322) and Southern (N = 266) Italy were analyzed using path modeling. Results indicated that across gender and region, agency was consistently related to academic grades and career decidedness. However, the role of supportive relationships was found to differ across gender and region. For both boys from Northern Italy and girls from Southern Italy, the impact of family support on academic grades and career decidedness was mediated by agency. For girls from Northern Italy, family support related directly to academic grades and career decidedness. Implications for practice were described.     

The cultural context of talk about the past: Implications for the development of autobiographical memory

Recent research shows that adults engage children in a process of “co-constructing” memories by guiding them in the production of verbal accounts of their experiences. Such talk about past events may influence the development of autobiographical memory by teaching children that memories of personal experiences are valued, and further, which aspects of experience are considered memorable. It has been suggested that cultures may differ in the amount and content of these interactions. Sixteen mother and 3-year-old dyads (8 Korean and 8 Caucasian) were tape-recorded during naturally occurring conversations. The Caucasian dyads engaged in talk about past events nearly three times as often as the Korean dyads. This difference, as well as content differences in the talk, are discussed in light of socialization goals. Combined with previous research showing that Caucasian adults report earlier childhood memories than Asians, these findings support the theory that early linguistic experience may be related to the development of autobiographical memory.     

The meaning of boundaries and barriers in the development of cultural identity and between cultures

Abstract

In this paper I shall argue that, although currently in the world of psychotherapy and counselling allusions to culture and cross-cultural work are becoming increasingly frequent, the issues are often talked about in simplistic ways. I shall unpack some of the complexities in the notions of culture and identity to show that they are not the monolithic self-evident natural categories that they are often taken to be. I will do this primarily by focusing on the function of cultural difference rather than the usual procedure of focusing on the differences in the contents of cultures. Although the subject matter of this paper is not drawn directly from the clinical sphere, the contention is that it is pertinent to it none the less.     

The cultural context of a grievance process: Employee values and expectations in dispute resolution

The nature of employer-employee relationships is influenced by organizational and work unit values and expectations, including the ways members believe they should treat one another and how conflicts should be resolved. This study explored the perceptions of participants in a grievance peer review process. Employees of a health care organization with a recently established peer review grievance process were interviewed about their views of organizational and unit values and expectations, and their experiences with this type of grievance process. Comparisons across groups of grievants, managers, and grievance panel members were discussed.The authors have received consent to discuss this case from the health care organization in which this study was conducted. The authors would like to thank the members of this organization for their cooperation and extraordinary responsiveness that made this research possible, and Julie Rousos Timmons for her valuable help on the fieldwork.     

Gender and work-family conflict: testing the rational model and the gender role expectations model in the Spanish cultural context

Gutek, Searle, and Klepa (1991) proposed two models to explain the gender differences in work-family conflict: the rational model and the gender role expectations model. Both models have mostly been tested on American and Canadian samples, and have obtained partial support. Given the cultural differences between North American countries and Spain, we should question whether the two models are equally applicable to Spanish society or whether one of them captures Spanish men and women's experience of work-family conflict better than the other. So, the aim of this study is to test which of the models better explains the gender differences in work-family conflict in the Spanish cultural context (or if, indeed, the two models apply equally well). Given the typical cultural dimensions of Spanish society, we expected to find greater support for the gender role expectations model than for the rational model. However, the results obtained in this study indicated that, while the rational model can explain the gender differences that were found, the gender role expectations model cannot capture Spanish people's work-family conflict experiences. The results are interpreted in terms of cultural dimensions characteristic of the Spanish context.