Summarizes research on competition as a part of normal development that is disproportionately reinforced within American culture. Concludes that the negative effects of competition are widespread and damaging and that the members of the helping professions have a responsibility to create and protect cooperative environments. (LLL)

Describes Cuban culture and psychosocial characteristics to promote better communication and provide social workers with a better understanding of treatment approaches that are culturally sensitive. Discusses values, family relationships, sex roles, interpersonal relations, locus of control, time orientation, activity orientation, language, and…

Examines Indonesian culture and society which, although consisting of many variations spread across many islands, are nationalistic in character. Discusses the sources of Indonesian cultural values, focusing on Pancasila, the five basic principles of Indonesian society, and how it relates to the individual. (AEM)

Describes the cultural background of the Vietnamese people, the trauma of their refugee experience, and patterns of coping with the resettlement process. Addresses the role of the social worker in the assessment of and intervention with problems of Vietnamese refugees. (JAC)

Describes the situation of Iu Mien southeast Asian refugees who have settled in the San Francisco Bay area. Discusses economic and cultural factors related to their adjustment, and stresses the need for social service workers to become more familiar with southeast Asian culture. (GC)

Suggests that counselors of African children in the United States should form a more positive picture of the African child and be aware of their own cultural conditioning. Describes some African values and practices that can provide useful background information for counselors. (JAC)

A survey designed to evaluate the importance of some components of cultural transmission on a variety of traits showed that religion and politics are mostly determined in the family, a mode of transmission which guarantees high evolutionary stability and maintenance of high variation between and within groups. (Author/JN)

Describes the large households, extended kin ties, and cooperation among households that characterize Vietnamese kinship structure. Demonstrates how American housing trends toward smaller units conflict with the social and housing needs of Vietnamese refugee families. (GC)

Puerto Rican cultural value of familism, emphasizing obligation and duties of family members to one another, has endured changes in cultural values caused by migrations between United States and Puerto Rico, influences of social and economic trends, and pressures to acculturate to American society. Understanding of familism is useful to family…

By 1980, nearly 700 Hmong refugees had settled in Missoula, Montana. Resettlement poses many problems for these people because, in addition to difficulties with language and separation from family and country, the Hmong have never dealt with urban institutions (banks, hospitals, welfare departments, apartment houses, or supermarkets). From the…

Blacks, now distributed throughout the world, have everywhere maintained some Africanisms that reflect their cultural heritage. An awareness of these Africanisms can unite Blacks throughout the diaspora and contribute to their international quest for liberation and national identity. (KH)

Analyzes Japan's success in avoiding many of the sociocultural problems affecting other modern countries. Explains Japan's ability to balance the old and the new, the domestic and the foreign, from an anthropological and educational perspective. Focuses on Japan's traditional pedagogical emphasis on rote and imitation. (KH)

Describes cultural correlates of the Arab character in terms of family patterns, international relations, and implications for therapists and other human service personnel. Discusses the Bedouin influence and religious values and suggests that cultural stereotypes may restrict true understanding. (JAC)

This paper explores the health behaviors and health beliefs of Vietnamese, Cambodians, Laotians, (and the Chinese components of these populations), and the Mien and Hmong of Laos. Included is a description of the major medical systems in each country, local practitioners, and some of the uniquely recognized diseases and cures of each area.…

Describes the growth of a Mien refugee community in Montgomery, Alabama, and the development of community educational and employment services to aid these refugees. Also discusses Mien cultural characteristics. (GC)