essays on family traditions

The Importance of Family Traditions: Connecting with our Loved Ones

This essay about family traditions examines the rituals and practices that define and strengthen family bonds across generations. It highlights how traditions vary widely but often include the celebration of holidays, shared meals, milestones, and the passing down of stories and family history. Examples like Christmas celebrations, Sunday brunches, birthday rituals, and storytelling sessions illustrate how these traditions foster a sense of identity, continuity, and belonging. The essay also discusses how family traditions adapt over time to remain relevant and meaningful, such as incorporating technology to connect with distant relatives during family gatherings. Overall, the essay underscores the importance of these traditions in maintaining family cohesion, providing stability, and reinforcing family values and culture.

How it works

Family traditions are rites or observances transmitted from one generation to the next, imparting a sense of identity, continuity, and affiliation. They wield substantial influence in shaping familial ethos and can exhibit wide variation contingent upon cultural, regional, and familial milieus. In this discourse, we shall delve into several instances of familial customs, their perpetuation, and their repercussions on familial solidarity and personal identity.

Among the most ubiquitous manifestations of familial customs is the commemoration of festivities. These span from prominent global festivities like Yuletide and the commencement of a new year to more culturally or religiously specific observances such as Deepavali or Pesach.

During Yuletide, for instance, numerous families adorn a coniferous tree, exchange tokens of esteem, and partake in a ceremonial repast. These observances not only nurture a sense of communal unity but also reinforce virtues such as magnanimity and appreciation. Festive customs wield significant potency as they demarcate a consistent temporal juncture each year for families to momentarily disengage from quotidian routines, ruminate upon their principles, and commune together.

Another prevalent familial tradition is the custom of communal repasts, transcending the mere provision of sustenance. Routine suppers or weekly midmorning repasts on Sundays function as a linchpin for familial discourse, affording a regular opportunity for kin to engage, deliberate upon their affairs, and address any exigencies. This tradition fosters communication amidst family members and establishes a regimen that can furnish stability and solace.

Beyond diurnal or seasonal rites, many families also harbor customs intertwined with milestones such as natal anniversaries, matrimonial unions, or academic accolades. These frequently entail particular rites of passage that extol an individual’s transition from one phase of life to another. For instance, a family might uphold the tradition of sowing a sapling on each progeny’s inaugural natal anniversary as an emblem of expansion and vitality. Such customs not only eulogize individual triumphs but also reinforce the collective succor of the familial collective, reminding each constituent that they partake in an uninterrupted continuum.

In addition to festivities, numerous families perpetuate traditions of narrativizing or the bequeathal of consequential familial history and sagas. Whether through oral chronicles exchanged beside a hearth, visual retrospections perused during reunions, or culinary formulas imparted from progenitor to progeny, these customs sustain the familial legacy. They instill a sense of dignity and identification, connecting contemporary generations to their antecedents and furnishing them with a profound comprehension of their lineage.

Family traditions, however, are not immutable. They transmute as families burgeon and evolve, and as societal conventions shift. This adaptability is imperative for customs to persist pertinent and captivating for burgeoning generations. For instance, as technology ingrains itself further into quotidian existence, many families incorporate video conferences into conventional festive gatherings to encompass remote kin, modifying antiquated observances to contemporary existence.

In summation, family traditions are an indispensable constituent of the tapestry that constitutes familial existence. They furnish a framework for how familial constituents engage with one another, celebrate collectively, and impart values from one generation to the next. Whether it entails assembling for a repast, bedecking a festive arboreal fixture, or transmitting narratives, these customs enrich familial affiliations and individual identities. They furnish continuity in a realm of flux, mooring individuals to a collective past while shepherding them into the morrow. Ergo, perpetuating familial customs is not solely about conserving history; it’s about nurturing the ties that bind families together.

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Essay on Family Traditions

Students are often asked to write an essay on Family Traditions in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Family Traditions

What are family traditions.

Family traditions are special ways that families do things together. They are like secret handshakes that only family members know. These can be things like eating dinner together, going to church on Sundays, or celebrating birthdays in a certain way. They make family members feel close to each other.

Why Family Traditions Matter

These traditions are important because they create memories and help keep the family strong. When everyone in the family follows these special customs, it makes everyone feel like they belong. They help children learn what their family thinks is important.

Types of Family Traditions

There are many different kinds of traditions. Some families have traditions for holidays like Christmas or Thanksgiving. Others might have a special meal they eat every week. Some families take a trip together every year. These activities become special times that everyone looks forward to.

Passing Down Traditions

Older family members teach these traditions to the younger ones. This is how traditions continue over time. When children grow up, they often start doing these same things with their own families. This keeps the family’s history alive and connects the past with the future.

250 Words Essay on Family Traditions

Family traditions are special ways that families do things together. These are like secret handshakes or family-only holidays. They are passed down from parents to children and help make a family feel special and close.

Types of Traditions

Some traditions are big, like how a family celebrates a holiday. Others are small, like reading a story before bedtime every night. They can be about food, like making a special cake on birthdays, or about activities, like going for a walk every Sunday morning.

Why Traditions Matter

Traditions are important because they give us a sense of belonging. They connect us to our family’s past and to each other. They make us feel safe and loved, and they give us something to look forward to. When we share these moments, we create happy memories that last a lifetime.

Creating New Traditions

Sometimes, families start new traditions. This can happen when something fun or important is done once, and everyone decides to do it again next year. New traditions can blend with old ones to keep the family’s story going.

Keeping Traditions Alive

It takes effort to keep traditions going. Families might change, but holding on to these special ways helps keep the family’s heart strong. It’s like a game where everyone knows the rules, and playing it together keeps the team united.

In summary, family traditions are the secret recipes that make each family unique. They are the stories, celebrations, and little things that we do over and over, which bring us together and make our family’s bond stronger.

500 Words Essay on Family Traditions

Family traditions are like special secrets that families share. These are the things you do together that make your family feel closer. It could be something as simple as eating pancakes every Sunday morning or as exciting as going on a hike every first day of spring. These traditions help create memories and give everyone in the family something to look forward to.

Why Are Traditions Important?

Traditions are important because they give us a sense of belonging. They connect us to our family’s past and set the stage for future fun. When we follow traditions, we remember the people who started them, like our grandparents or even great-grandparents. This helps us understand where we come from and who we are. Traditions also make us feel safe and loved because they are like a warm blanket of family love that wraps around us.

There are many different types of family traditions. Some are about celebrating big days like birthdays, Christmas, or Diwali. Families might decorate the house, cook special food, or give each other gifts. Other traditions might be about saying thank you before a meal or telling stories before bedtime. Some families might have a special handshake or a funny dance they do when they’re happy. No matter what the tradition is, it’s special because it’s yours.

Sometimes, families start new traditions. This can happen when something fun or important happens by chance, and everyone decides to keep doing it. For example, if your family had a great time flying kites one windy afternoon, you might decide to do it every year when the wind is just right. Starting new traditions can be as much fun as following old ones.

Sharing Traditions

Traditions become even more special when you share them with others. When friends come over, they can learn about your family’s traditions and maybe even take part in them. This sharing can make everyone feel happy and connected. It’s like giving a piece of your family’s story to someone else. And sometimes, your friends might have traditions that they share with you too!

As families grow and change, keeping traditions alive can be a bit tricky. Kids grow up, and sometimes they move away. But even if you’re not all in the same place, you can still keep your traditions. You might have to do things a bit differently, like video calling each other during a special meal or sending pictures of your holiday decorations. What’s important is that the heart of the tradition keeps beating, no matter where everyone is.

In Conclusion

Family traditions are the secret ingredients that make your family unique. They are the stories, the fun, and the love that you share over and over. They make every family different and every family member important. By keeping traditions, you keep your family’s history alive, and by starting new ones, you add new chapters to your family’s story. So, whether it’s a big holiday event or a small nightly ritual, cherish your family traditions because they are the threads that weave the beautiful tape of your family life together.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

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Essay about Family Values & Traditions: Prompts + Examples

A family values essay covers such topics as family traditions, customs, family history, and values.

A family values essay (or a family traditions essay) is a type of written assignment. It covers such topics as family traditions, customs, family history, and values. It is usually assigned to those who study sociology, culture, anthropology, and creative writing.

In this article, you will find:

150 family values essay topics
Outline structure
Thesis statement examples
“Family values” essay sample
“Family traditions” essay sample
“What does family mean to you?” essay sample.

Learn how to write your college essay about family with our guide.

👪 What Is a Family Values Essay about?
💡 Topic Ideas
📑 Outlining Your Essay️
🏠️ Family Values: Essay Example
🎃 Family Traditions: Essay Example
😍 What Does Family Mean to You: Essay Example

👪 Family Values Essay: What Is It about?

What are family values.

Family values are usually associated with a traditional family. In western culture, it is called “ a nuclear family .”

A nuclear family represents a family with a husband, wife, and children living together.

The nuclear family became common in the 1960s – 1970s . That happened because of the post-war economic boom and the health service upgrade. That allowed elder relatives to live separately from their children.

These days, the nuclear family is no longer the most common type of family . There are various forms of families:

Single-parent families
Non-married parents
Blended families
Couples with no children
Foster parents, etc.

How did the nuclear family become so wide-spread?

The nuclear family culture was mostly spread in western cultures. According to many historians, it was because of the Christian beliefs .

However, many people believe that Christianity was not the only reason. The industrial revolution also played a significant role.

Nowadays, the understanding of the term varies from person to person. It depends on their religious , personal, or cultural beliefs.

Family Values List

Cultural background plays a significant role in every family’s values. However, each family has its own customs and traditions as well.

The picture contains a list of 6 most common family values.

Some common types of family values include:

Some moral values are:
Having a sense of justice
Being honest
Being respectful to others
Being patient
Being responsible
Having courage
Some social values are:
Participating in teamwork
Being generous
Volunteering
Being respectful
Featuring dignity
Demonstrating humanity
Some work values include:
Saving salary
Prioritizing education
Doing your best at work
Maintaining respectful relationships with coworkers/ classmates
Some religious values are:
Being caring
Willing to learn
Treating others with respect
Being modest
Some recreational values are:
Family game nights
Family vacations
Family meals
Some political values are:
Being patriotic
Being tolerant
Following the law
Being open-minded

💡 150 Family Values Essay Topics

If you find it challenging to choose a family values topic for your essay, here is the list of 150 topics.

Social family values and their impact on children.
Divorce: Psychological Effects on Children .
Do family values define your personality?
Toys, games, and gender socialization.
The correlation between teamwork and your upbringing.
Family Structure and Its Effects on Children .
What does honesty have to do with social values?
Solution Focused Therapy in Marriage and Family .
The importance of being respectful to others.
Parent-Child Relationships and Parental Authority .
Political family values and their impact on children.
Postpartum Depression Effect on Children Development .
The importance of patriotism.
Social factors and family issues.
Is being open-minded crucial in modern society ?
Modern Society: American Family Values .
What role does tolerance play in modern society?
Does hard work identify your success?
Family involvement impact on student achievement.
Religious family values and their impact on children.
Native American Women Raising Children off the Reservation .
What does spiritual learning correlate with family values?
Modest relations and their importance.
The role of parental involvement.
What is violence , and why is it damaging?
Myths of the Gifted Children .
Work family values and their impact on children.
When Should Children Start School?
Does salary saving help your family?
Family as a System and Systems Theory .
Why should education be a priority?
Child-free families and their values.
Family violence effects on family members.
Why is doing your best work important for your family?
School-Family-Community Partnership Policies .
Moral values and their impact on children.
Does being trustworthy affect your family values?
Gender Inequality in the Study of the Family .
Can you add your value to the world?
Your responsibility and your family.
Family in the US culture and society.
Recreational family values and their impact.
Balancing a Career and Family Life for Women .
Family vacations and their effects on relationships.
Family meal and its impact on family traditions.
Children Play: Ingredient Needed in Children’s Learning .
Family prayer in religious families.
Family changes in American and African cultures.
Hugs impact on family ties.
Are bedtime stories important for children?
How Video Games Affect Children .
Do family game nights affect family bonding?
Divorce Remarriage and Children Questions .
What is the difference between tradition and heritage culture ?
How Autistic Children Develop and Learn?
The true meaning of family values.
Egypt families in changed and traditional forms.
Does culture affect family values?
Are family values a part of heritage?
The Development of Secure and Insecure Attachments in Children .
Does supporting family traditions impact character traits?
Parents’ Accountability for Children’s Actions .
Does your country’s history affect your family’s values?
Do family traditions help with solving your family problems?
Impact of Domestic Violence on Children in the Classroom .
Does having business with your family affect your bonding?
Family as a social institution.
Different weekly family connections ideas and their impact.
Different monthly family connections ideas and their impact.
The importance of your family’s daily rituals.
Group and Family Therapies: Similarities and Differences .
Holiday family gatherings as an instrument of family bonding.
Should a family have separate family budgets ?
Parental non-engagement in education.
Globalization and its impact on family values.
The difference between small town and big city family values.
Divorce and how it affects the children.
Child’s play observation and parent interview.
Family fights and their impact on the family atmosphere.
Why are personal boundaries important?
Single-parent family values.
Gender Differences in Caring About Children .
Does being an only child affect one’s empathy ?
Grandparents’ involvement in children upbringing.
Use of Social Networks by Underage Children .
Same-sex marriage and its contribution to family values.
Does surrogacy correspond to family values?
Are women better parents than men?
Does the age gap between children affect their relationship?
Does having pets affect family bonding?
Parenting Gifted Children Successfully Score .
Having a hobby together and its impact.
Discuss living separately from your family.
Shopping together with your family and its impact on your family values.
Movie nights as a family tradition.
Parents’ perception of their children’s disability.
Does being in the same class affect children’s relationships ?
Does sharing a room with your siblings affect your relationship?
Raising Awareness on the Importance of Preschool Education Among Parents .
Pros and cons of having a nanny.
Do gadgets affect your children’s social values?
The Role of Parents in Underage Alcohol Use and Abuse .
Pros and cons of homeschooling .
Limiting children’s Internet usage time and their personal boundaries.
Is having an heirloom important?
Divorce influence on children’s mental health.
Is daycare beneficial?
Should your parents-in-law be involved in your family?
Children’s Foster Care and Associated Problems .
Pets’ death and its impact on children’s social values.
Clinical Map of Family Therapy .
Passing of a relative and its impact on the family.
How Do Parents See the Influence of Social Media Advertisements on Their Children ?
Relationship within a family with an adopted child.
Discuss naming your child after grandparents.
The Effects of Post-Divorce Relationships on Children.
Discuss the issue of spoiling children.
Discuss nuclear family values.
Parental Involvement in Second Language Learning .
Children’s toys and their impact on children’s values.
Discuss the children’s rivalry phenomenon.
Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act History .
Relationship between parents and its impact on children.
Lockdown and its impact on family values.
Financial status and children’s social values.
Do parents’ addictions affect children?
Corporal punishment and its effects on children.
Discuss step-parents’ relationship with children.
Severe diseases in the family and their impact.
Developing Family Relationship Skills to Prevent Substance Abuse Among Youth Population .
Arranged marriages and their family values.
Discuss the age gap in marriages.
The Effects of Parental Involvement on Student Achievement .
International families and their values.
Early marriages and their family values.
Parental Divorce Impact on Children’s Academic Success .
Discuss parenting and family structure after divorce .
Mental Illness in Children and Its Effects on Parents .
Discuss family roles and duties.
Healthy habits and their importance in the family.
Growing-up Family Experience and the Interpretive Style in Childhood Social Anxiety .
Discuss different family practices.
Dealing With Parents: Schools Problem .
Ancestors worship as a family value.
The importance of family speech.
Does the Sexual Orientation of Parents Matter?
Mutual respect as a core of a traditional family.
Experiential Family Psychotherapy .
Should the law protect the family values?
Family as a basic unit of society.

Couldn’t find the perfect topic for your paper? Use our essay topic generator !

📑 Family Values Essay Outline

The family values essay consists of an introduction, body, and conclusion. You can write your essay in five paragraphs:

One introductory paragraph
Three body paragraphs
One conclusion paragraph.

Family values or family history essay are usually no more than 1000 words long.

What do you write in each of them?

Learn more on the topic from our article that describes outline-making rules .

Thesis Statement about Family Values

The thesis statement is the main idea of your essay. It should be the last sentence of the introduction paragraph .

Why is a thesis statement essential?

It gives the reader an idea of what your essay is about.

The thesis statement should not just state your opinion but rather be argumentative. For the five-paragraph family values essay, you can express one point in your thesis statement.

Let’s take a look at good and bad thesis statement about family values templates.

Need a well-formulated thesis statement? You are welcome to use our thesis-making tool !

🏠️ Family Values Essay: Example & Writing Prompts

So, what do you write in your family values essay?

Start with choosing your topic. For this type of essay, it can be the following:

Your reflection about your family’s values
The most common family values in your country
Your opinion on family values.

Let’s say you want to write about your family values. What do you include in your essay?

First, introduce family values definition and write your thesis statement.

Then, in the body part, write about your family’s values and their impact on you (one for each paragraph).

Finally, sum up your essay.

Family Values Essay Sample: 250 Words

🎃 family traditions essay: example & writing prompts.

Family traditions essay covers such topics as the following:

Family traditions in the USA (in England, in Spain, in Pakistan, etc.)
Traditions in my family
The importance of family traditions for children.
My favorite family traditions

After you decide on your essay topic, make an outline.

For the introduction part, make sure to introduce the traditions that you are going to write about. You can also mention the definition of traditions.

In the body part, introduce one tradition for each paragraph. Make sure to elaborate on why they are essential for you and your family.

Finally, sum up your essay in the conclusion part.

Family Traditions Essay Sample: 250 Words

😍 what does family mean to you essay: example & writing prompts.

The family definition essay covers your opinion on family and its importance for you.

Some of the questions that can help you define your topic:

How has your family shaped your character?
How can you describe your upbringing?

In the introduction part, you can briefly cover the importance of family in modern society. Then make sure to state your thesis.

As for the body parts, you can highlight three main ideas of your essay (one for each paragraph).

Finally, sum up your essay in the conclusion part. Remember that you can restate your thesis statement here.

What Does Family Mean to You Essay Sample: 250 Words

Now you have learned how to write your family values essay. What values have you got from your family? Let us know in the comments below!

❓ Family Values FAQ

Family values are the principles, traditions, and beliefs that are upheld in a family. They depend on family’s cultural, religious, and geographical background. They might be moral values, social values, work values, political values, recreational values, religious values, etc. These values are usually passed on to younger generations and may vary from family to family.

Why are family values important?

Family values are important because they have a strong impact on children’s upbringing. These values might influence children’s behavior, personality, attitude, and character traits. These can affect how the children are going to build their own families in the future.

What are Christian family values?

Some Christian family values are the following: 1. Sense of justice 2. Being thankful 3. Having wisdom 4. Being compassion 5. Willing to learn 6. Treating others with respect 7. Modesty

What are traditional family values?

Each family has its own values. However, they do have a lot of resemblances. Some traditional family values are the following: 1. Having responsibilities to your family 2. Being respectful to your family members 3. Not hurting your family members 4. Compromising

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How To Create Your Own Family Traditions—And Why You Should

Family rituals provide a sense of connectedness and belonging. Learn how these symbolic moments help families bond while creating lasting memories.

Why Family Traditions Are Important

Family routines vs. family traditions, non-holiday family traditions, family holiday traditions, how to keep family traditions going.

Family traditions or rituals are experiences or activities that are passed down between generations. These traditions can be as unique and special as the family itself. In addition to being something to look forward to, traditions also establish a foundation for family values and serve as special bonding experiences .

Traditions can provide families with a sense of identity and belonging. They can inspire positive feelings and memories that family members can share. Family traditions also provide a sense of continuity across generations. They are a way of transferring the family's values, history, and culture from one generation to the next. Learn more about the benefits of creating and keeping family rituals, including 33 family tradition ideas to try.

Paul Plews / Cultura / Getty Images

People create and maintain family traditions because they bring meaning to celebrations and foster special bonds. More importantly, traditions create positive experiences and memories and a sense of security for everyone by nurturing a family's connection and giving them a sense of belonging.

Family traditions also help children understand who they are and what is important to the family to which they belong. Traditions create a connection for children that comes from feeling like they are part of something unique and extraordinary. Family traditions can even contribute to a child's self-esteem and enhance their well-being. After all, children find comfort and security when things are predictable and consistent.

Benefits of Family Traditions

Make memories for families that last a lifetime
Provide children a sense of security by providing continuity
Give family members a strong sense of belonging
Help pass on family values including cultural and religious heritage
Keep generations connected and give them a family history to share
Can promote a physically active lifestyle

Family traditions differ from everyday family routines, which also occur repeatedly, but lack the symbolic meaning that family rituals hold. While family traditions carry a special significance for all family members involved, family routines are often basic activities that are necessary to keep the family unit functioning. A regular family dinner each weeknight may be part of the family routine, for example, whereas a family dinner at a favorite restaurant for your child's birthday may be a tradition.

Many families have traditions that endure for generations. These special activities or events often generate fond memories that everyone cherishes and attempts to carry on. Some traditions relate to the family's heritage, like going to a cultural festival or cooking a meal from the "old country" on a certain day each year.

Other rituals may have to do with special events, such as a pearl necklace that is passed down at each wedding. Still others are simply fun activities that family members enjoy repeating.

To create traditions for your family, think about things that your family enjoys doing and build upon those things. Keep in mind too, that family traditions sometimes form on their own. Some of the best family traditions happen by accident—you do something on a whim and the entire family loves it and wants to repeat it again. Before you know it, you have created a family tradition.

When most people think of family traditions, they naturally think of holiday traditions first, such as those surrounding Kwanzaa, Christmas, Hannukah, or Ramadan. Events surrounding these holidays, like picking out a Christmas tree, lighting the candles on the menorah or kinara, and gathering for dinner with extended family can become regular traditions.

But families can also have non-holiday rituals that are unique to them. Think: Apple picking every fall or letting the birthday child pick the restaurant for their birthday dinner.

Here are a few family traditions ideas that you can adapt for your family or use as inspiration:

Volunteer each spring in an annual community cleanup.
Cook hamburgers on the grill on Saturdays during the summer.
Take a silly family selfie during summer vacation each year.
Buy food for the local food pantry once a month and deliver it together.
Have a bonfire to celebrate the last day of school.
Picnic in a park on the first day of summer.
Serve in a local soup kitchen together once a month.
Go apple picking or visit a pumpkin patch each fall.
Do karaoke, laser tag, bowling, roller skating, or some other fun activity on a set day each month, such as the last Friday.
Take your kids for ice cream to celebrate every report card.
Have a particular food on a set day each week, such as brunch on Sunday, breakfast for dinner on Friday, or tacos on Tuesday.
Build a fire and make hot chocolate on the first day of winter.
Go on a maple syrup hike each winter.
Organize a family book club.
Take part in an annual fitness challenge as a family.
Go on a family walk or bike ride every Sunday afternoon.
Watch the sunrise together on the first day of summer and the sunset on the last day of summer break.
Plan a regular family game night and play cards or board games together.

Here are some holiday traditions to choose or adapt for your family.

Give everyone a new set of pajamas and take a family photo in your matching PJs.
Give each child a board game or puzzle and play the games or assemble the puzzles as a family.
Watch a favorite holiday movie each Thanksgiving.
Cook a meal together as a family on your family's special holiday.
Make fun and creative Leprechaun traps for St. Paddy's Day .
Get hot chocolate and watch a community tree-lighting ceremony.
Tour your community to look at the light displays on homes or businesses.
Make and decorate holiday-themed cookies.
Host a family or neighborhood cookie exchange.
Do holiday crafts together, such as for Thanksgiving , Hanukkah , Christmas , Easter , or Valentine's Day. Then use what you make to decorate your home or give as gifts.
Assemble care packages for family members who are away during the holidays.
Write heartfelt letters to family members you can't spend time with during the holidays.
Host a white elephant gift exchange.
Attend a holiday performance or concert each year, such as the "Nutcracker," the local symphony, or Trans Siberian Orchestra.
Get a new piece of holiday-related decor, like a Christmas ornament, each year, or make an ornament to commemorate the past year.

Establishing and maintaining family traditions is a way for families to bond over shared experiences and a way for them to connect to one another and their shared past. But keeping family traditions going takes some commitment and planning .

While most people look forward to the stability and predictability that comes with repeating the same activities each year, it also can be daunting if the family traditions are highly involved, overly expensive, or require a lot of planning.

Try to keep your family traditions simple. Think about playing games, sharing special recipes, going on a hike, seeing a performance, and so on. These simpler traditions are more likely to be repeated and carried on. Likewise, your traditions don't need to be expensive. There are plenty of ways for families to bond without spending a lot of (or any) money.

Be open to trying things out—and scrapping them if they don't work. You also don't need to repeat an activity over and over just because it's become a tradition. The goal of a family tradition is that everyone has fun and looks forward to repeating it year after year. Feel free to change things up and only keep the traditions your whole family loves.

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Children's and Adolescents' Happiness and Family Functioning: A Systematic Literature Review . Int J Environ Res Public Health . 2022.

Family environment and self-esteem development: A longitudinal study from age 10 to 16 . J Pers Soc Psychol . 2020.

The Role of Family Time Together in Meeting the Recommendation for Physical Activity among Primary School Children . Int J Environ Res Public Health . 2020.

How could the transfer of food knowledge be passed down? . Procedia Soc Behav Sci . 2013.

The ties that bind: Materiality, identity, and the life course in the “things” families keep . J Fam Hist . 2018.

Research on the effects of family rituals on subjective well-being of Chinese college students . Curr Psychol . 2022.

Family Traditions and Values in the United States Essay

Introduction, family customs, the influence of the environment on traditions preservation, works cited.

The preservation of individual family traditions is an important component of the cultural heritage, and the desire to follow certain customs and pass them from generation to generation emphasizes attachment to family values. Regardless of the place of residence, it is always possible to ensure that children and grandchildren have an idea of what rituals are typical for a particular cultural group and why it is essential to preserve some values as they have become over the years of family’s existence.

The history of the traditions of people living in the United States but having a different origin has a significant impact on the way of life that emigrants’ descendants lead. In particular, persistent religious beliefs have predetermined the principles of celebrating various Catholic holidays – Christmas, Easter, and others, which, as a rule, are celebrated in the circle of loved ones at the invariably festive table.

Each family has a special tradition that is common for only specific people and their loved ones. The custom to joyfully celebrate Catholic holidays – is what is usual for many families of Hispanic origin, including ours. Father tried in every possible way to preserve particular rites of cooking certain dishes, entertainments, etc., and today, these habits are firmly rooted within our family. The same situation is met in other cultures.

For someone, a funeral procedure is special, and for someone, the birth of a child should be uniquely celebrated (Yang 367). At the same time, particular traditions are passed from generation to generation and sometimes are the secret of a narrow circle of people, which is especially true of religious rites (Del Guercio 373). The history of our traditions is quite trivial; nevertheless, following them is an integral part of our family.

Due to the fact that the United States is a multinational country, many cultures and traditions are intertwined here. However, there are those rites that still remain unique and belong to a narrow group of people, which is usually expressed within families. Thus, one of the values of our family is to celebrate great holidays at all costs.

Such traditions have been traced for many centuries, and the influence of the environment is insignificant. For example, according to anthropologists, ancient groups of people living on the territory of the North American continent also had unique rituals that characterized their culture (Milner 340).

Also, the characteristic features can also be observed in the East. Despite the influence of Western culture, a number of peculiarities and unique traditions are still present in these countries (Steele and Major 352). According to Gonzalez and Méndez-Pounds, Hispanic immigrant families living in the US quickly adapt to the local culture, but at the same time, they strive to preserve their own unique rites (56). It is, perhaps, the primary value – to be able to at all costs preserve family traditions and transfer them from generation to generation.

Thus, our family traditions are closely connected with the celebration of religious holidays. Despite the environment, the preservation of rituals is possible even in a multinational country where many cultures can be met. The observance of traditions is one of the ways of forming family values and rallying relatives, which is essential in constantly changing priorities of the society.

Del Guercio, Gino. “The Secrets of Voodoo in Haiti.” One World, Many Cultures , edited by Stuart Hirschberg and Terry Hirschberg, 10th ed., Pearson, 2017, pp. 372-379.

Gonzalez, Natali, and Joanna Méndez-Pounds. “The Impact of Acculturation and Cultural Values on Hispanic Immigrants’ Parenting.” Contemporary Family Therapy , vol. 40, no. 1, 2018, pp. 56-67.

Milner, Harold. “The Distance Between Us.” One World, Many Cultures , edited by Stuart Hirschberg and Terry Hirschberg, 10th ed., Pearson, 2017, pp. 340-345.

Steele, Valerie, and John S. Major. “China Chic: East Meets West.” One World, Many Cultures , edited by Stuart Hirschberg and Terry Hirschberg, 10th ed., Pearson, 2017, pp. 352-358.

Yang, Kao K. “Walking Back Alone.” One World, Many Cultures , edited by Stuart Hirschberg and Terry Hirschberg, 10th ed., Pearson, 2017, pp. 365-371.

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Family, culture, and communication.

V. Santiago Arias V. Santiago Arias College of Media and Communication, Texas Tech University
and Narissra Maria Punyanunt-Carter Narissra Maria Punyanunt-Carter College of Media and Communication, Texas Tech University
https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.504
Published online: 22 August 2017

Through the years, the concept of family has been studied by family therapists, psychology scholars, and sociologists with a diverse theoretical framework, such as family communication patterns (FCP) theory, dyadic power theory, conflict, and family systems theory. Among these theories, there are two main commonalities throughout its findings: the interparental relationship is the core interaction in the familial system because the quality of their communication or coparenting significantly affects the enactment of the caregiver role while managing conflicts, which are not the exception in the familial setting. Coparenting is understood in its broader sense to avoid an extensive discussion of all type of families in our society. Second, while including the main goal of parenting, which is the socialization of values, this process intrinsically suggests cultural assimilation as the main cultural approach rather than intergroup theory, because intercultural marriages need to decide which values are considered the best to be socialized. In order to do so, examples from the Thai culture and Hispanic and Latino cultures served to show cultural assimilation as an important mediator of coparenting communication patterns, which subsequently affect other subsystems that influence individuals’ identity and self-esteem development in the long run. Finally, future directions suggest that the need for incorporating a nonhegemonic one-way definition of cultural assimilation allows immigration status to be brought into the discussion of family communication issues in the context of one of the most diverse countries in the world.

parental communication
dyadic power
family communication systems
cultural assimilation

Introduction

Family is the fundamental structure of every society because, among other functions, this social institution provides individuals, from birth until adulthood, membership and sense of belonging, economic support, nurturance, education, and socialization (Canary & Canary, 2013 ). As a consequence, the strut of its social role consists of operating as a system in a manner that would benefit all members of a family while achieving what is considered best, where decisions tend to be coherent, at least according to the norms and roles assumed by family members within the system (Galvin, Bylund, & Brommel, 2004 ). Notwithstanding, the concept of family can be interpreted differently by individual perceptions to an array of cultural backgrounds, and cultures vary in their values, behaviors, and ideas.

The difficulty of conceptualizing this social institution suggests that family is a culture-bound phenomenon (Bales & Parsons, 2014 ). In essence, culture represents how people view themselves as part of a unique social collective and the ensuing communication interactions (Olaniran & Roach, 1994 ); subsequently, culture provides norms for behavior having a tremendous impact on those family members’ roles and power dynamics mirrored in its communication interactions (Johnson, Radesky, & Zuckerman, 2013 ). Thus, culture serves as one of the main macroframeworks for individuals to interpret and enact those prescriptions, such as inheritance; descent rules (e.g., bilateral, as in the United States, or patrilineal); marriage customs, such as ideal monogamy and divorce; and beliefs about sexuality, gender, and patterns of household formation, such as structure of authority and power (Weisner, 2014 ). For these reasons, “every family is both a unique microcosm and a product of a larger cultural context” (Johnson et al., 2013 , p. 632), and the analysis of family communication must include culture in order to elucidate effective communication strategies to solve familial conflicts.

In addition, to analyze familial communication patterns, it is important to address the most influential interaction with regard to power dynamics that determine the overall quality of family functioning. In this sense, within the range of family theories, parenting function is the core relationship in terms of power dynamics. Parenting refers to all efforts and decisions made by parents individually to guide their children’s behavior. This is a pivotal function, but the quality of communication among people who perform parenting is fundamental because their internal communication patterns will either support or undermine each caregiver’s parenting attempts, individually having a substantial influence on all members’ psychological and physical well-being (Schrodt & Shimkowski, 2013 ). Subsequently, parenting goes along with communication because to execute all parenting efforts, there must be a mutual agreement among at least two individuals to conjointly take care of the child’s fostering (Van Egeren & Hawkins, 2004 ). Consequently, coparenting serves as a crucial predictor of the overall family atmosphere and interactions, and it deserves special attention while analyzing family communication issues.

Through the years, family has been studied by family therapists, psychology scholars, and sociologists, but interaction behaviors define the interpersonal relationship, roles, and power within the family as a system (Rogers, 2006 ). Consequently, family scholarship relies on a wide range of theories developed within the communication field and in areas of the social sciences (Galvin, Braithwaite, & Bylund, 2015 ) because analysis of communication patterns in the familial context offers more ecological validity that individuals’ self-report measures. As many types of interactions may happen within a family, there are many relevant venues (i.e., theories) for scholarly analysis on this subject, which will be discussed later in this article in the “ Family: Theoretical Perspectives ” section. To avoid the risk of cultural relativeness while defining family, this article characterizes family as “a long-term group of two or more people related through biological, legal, or equivalent ties and who enact those ties through ongoing interactions providing instrumental and/or emotional support” (Canary & Canary, 2013 , p. 5).

Therefore, the purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the most relevant theories in family communication to identify frustrations and limitations with internal communication. Second, as a case in point, the United States welcomes more than 50 million noncitizens as temporary visitors and admits approximately 1 million immigrants to live as lawful residents yearly (Fullerton, 2014 ), this demographic pattern means that nearly one-third of the population (102 million) comes from different cultural backgrounds, and therefore, the present review will incorporate culture as an important mediator for coparenting, so that future research can be performed to find specific techniques and training practices that are more suitable for cross-cultural contexts.

Family: Theoretical Perspectives

Even though the concept of family can be interpreted individually and differently in different cultures, there are also some commonalities, along with communication processes, specific roles within families, and acceptable habits of interactions with specific family members disregarding cultural differences. This section will provide a brief overview of the conceptualization of family through the family communication patterns (FCP) theory, dyadic power theory, conflict, and family systems theory, with a special focus on the interparental relationship.

Family Communication Patterns Theory

One of the most relevant approaches to address the myriad of communication issues within families is the family communication patterns (FCP) theory. Originally developed by McLeod and Chaffee ( 1973 ), this theory aims to understand families’ tendencies to create stable and predictable communication patterns in terms of both relational cognition and interpersonal behavior (Braithwaite & Baxter, 2005 ). Specifically, this theory focuses on the unique and amalgamated associations derived from interparental communication and its impact on parenting quality to determine FCPs and the remaining interactions (Young & Schrodt, 2016 ).

To illustrate FCP’s focus on parental communication, Schrodt, Witt, and Shimkowski ( 2014 ) conducted a meta-analysis of 74 studies (N = 14,255) to examine the associations between the demand/withdraw family communication patterns of interaction, and the subsequent individual, relational, and communicative outcomes. The cumulative evidence suggests that wife demand/husband withdraw and husband demand/wife withdraw show similar moderate correlations with communicative and psychological well-being outcomes, and even higher when both patterns are taken together (at the relational level). This is important because one of the main tenets of FCP is that familial relationships are drawn on the pursuit of coorientation among members. Coorientation refers to the cognitive process of two or more individuals focusing on and assessing the same object in the same material and social context, which leads to a number of cognitions as the number of people involved, which results in different levels of agreement, accuracy, and congruence (for a review, see Fitzpatrick & Koerner, 2005 ); for example, in dyads that are aware of their shared focus, two different cognitions of the same issue will result.

Hereafter, the way in which these cognitions are socialized through power dynamics determined socially and culturally by roles constitutes specific interdependent communication patterns among family members. For example, Koerner and Fitzpatrick ( 2006 ) provide a taxonomy of family types on the basis of coorientation and its impact on communication pattern in terms of the degree of conformity in those conversational tendencies. To wit, consensual families mostly agree for the sake of the hierarchy within a given family and to explore new points of view; pluralistic families allow members to participate equally in conversations and there is no pressure to control or make children’s decisions; protective families maintain the hierarchy by making decisions for the sake of achieving common family goals; and laissez-faire families, which are low in conversation and conformity orientation, allow family members to not get deeply involved in the family.

The analysis of family communication patterns is quintessential for family communication scholarly work because it influences forming an individual’s self concept in the long run. As a case in point, Young and Schrodt ( 2016 ) surveyed 181 young adults from intact families, where conditional and interaction effects between communication patterns and conformity orientation were observed as the main predictors of future romantic partners. Moreover, this study concluded that FCPs and interparental confirmation are substantial indicators of self-to-partner confirmation, after controlling for reciprocity of confirmation within the romantic relationship. As a consequence, FCP influences children’s and young adults’ perceptions of romantic behavior (e.g., Fowler, Pearson, & Beck, 2010 ); the quality of communication behavior, such as the degree of acceptation of verbal aggression in romantic dyads (e.g., Aloia & Solomon, 2013 ); gender roles; and conflict styles (e.g., Taylor & Segrin, 2010 ), and parental modeling (e.g., Young & Schrodt, 2016 ).

This suggests three important observations. First, family is a very complex interpersonal context, in which communication processes, specific roles within families, and acceptable habits of interactions with specific family members interact as subsystems (see Galvin et al., 2004 ; Schrodt & Shimkowski, 2013 ). Second, among those subsystems, the core interaction is the individuals who hold parenting roles (i.e., intact and post divorced families); the couple (disregarding particular sexual orientations), and, parenting roles have a reciprocal relationship over time (Le, McDaniel, Leavitt, & Feinberg, 2016 ). Communication between parenting partners is crucial for the development of their entire family; for example, Schrodt and Shimkowski ( 2013 ) conducted a survey with 493 young adult children from intact (N = 364) and divorced families (N = 129) about perceptions of interparental conflict that involves triangulation (the impression of being in the “middle” and feeling forced to display loyalty to one of the parents). Results suggest that supportive coparental communication positively predicts relational satisfaction with mothers and fathers, as well as mental health; on the other hand, antagonist and hostile coparental communication predicted negative marital satisfaction.

Consequently, “partners’ communication with one another will have a positive effect on their overall view of their marriage, . . . and directly result[ing in] their views of marital satisfaction” (Knapp & Daly, 2002 , p. 643). Le et al. ( 2016 ) conducted a longitudinal study to evaluate the reciprocal relationship between marital interaction and coparenting from the perspective of both parents in terms of support or undermining across the transition to parenthood from a dyadic perspective; 164 cohabiting heterosexual couples expecting their first child were analyzed from pregnancy until 36 months after birth. Both parents’ interdependence was examined in terms of three variables: gender difference analysis, stability over time in marriage and coparenting, and reciprocal associations between relationship quality and coparenting support or undermining. The findings suggest a long-term reciprocal association between relationship quality and coparenting support or undermining in heterosexual families; the quality of marriage relationship during prenatal stage is highly influential in coparenting after birth for both men and women; but, coparenting is connected to romantic relationship quality only for women.

Moreover, the positive association between coparenting and the parents’ relationship relates to the spillover hypothesis, which posits that the positive or negative factors in the parental subsystem are significantly associated with higher or lower marital satisfaction in the spousal subsystem, respectively. Ergo, overall parenting performance is substantially affected by the quality of marital communication patterns.

Dyadic Power

In addition, after analyzing the impact of marital interaction quality in families on marital satisfaction and future parental modeling, it is worth noting that marital satisfaction and coparenting are importantly mediated by power dynamics within the couple (Halstead, De Santis, & Williams, 2016 ), and even mediates marital commitment (e.g., Lennon, Stewart, & Ledermann, 2013 ). If the quality of interpersonal relationship between those individuals who hold parenting roles determines coparenting quality as well, then the reason for this association lies on the fact that virtually all intimate relationships are substantially characterized by power dynamics; when partners perceive more rewards than costs in the relationship, they will be more satisfied and significantly more committed to the relationship (Lennon et al., 2013 ). As a result, the inclusion of power dynamics in the analysis of family issues becomes quintessential.

For the theory of dyadic power, power in its basic sense includes dominance, control, and influence over others, as well as a means to meet survival needs. When power is integrated into dyadic intimate relationships, it generates asymmetries in terms of interdependence between partners due to the quality of alternatives provided by individual characteristics such as socioeconomic status and cultural characteristics such as gender roles. This virtually gives more power to men than women. Power refers to “the feeling derived from the ability to dominate, or control, the behavior, affect, and cognitions of another person[;] in consequence, this concept within the interparental relationship is enacted when one partner who controls resources and limiting the behavioral options of the other partner” (Lennon et al., 2013 , p. 97). Ergo, this theory examines power in terms of interdependence between members of the relationship: the partner who is more dependent on the other has less power in the relationship, which, of course, directly impact parenting decisions.

As a case in point, Worley and Samp ( 2016 ) examined the balance of decision-making power in the relationship, complaint avoidance, and complaint-related appraisals in 175 heterosexual couples. Findings suggest that decision-making power has a curvilinear association, in which individuals engaged in the least complaint avoidance when they were relatively equal to their partners in terms of power. In other words, perceptions of one another’s power potentially encourage communication efficacy in the interparental couple.

The analysis of power in intimate relationships, and, to be specific, between parents is crucial because it not only relates to marital satisfaction and commitment, but it also it affects parents’ dyadic coping for children. In fact, Zemp, Bodenmann, Backes, Sutter-Stickel, and Revenson ( 2016 ) investigated parents’ dyadic coping as a predictor of children’s internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and prosocial behavior in three independent studies. When there is a positive relationship among all three factors, the results indicated that the strongest correlation was the first one. Again, the quality of the marital and parental relationships has the strongest influence on children’s coping skills and future well-being.

From the overview of the two previous theories on family, it is worth addressing two important aspects. First, parenting requires an intensive great deal of hands-on physical care, attention to safety (Mooney-Doyle, Deatrick, & Horowitz, 2014 ), and interpretation of cues, and this is why parenting, from conception to when children enter adulthood, is a tremendous social, cultural, and legally prescribed role directed toward caregiving and endlessly attending to individuals’ social, physical, psychological, emotional, and cognitive development (Johnson et al., 2013 ). And while parents are making decisions about what they consider is best for all family members, power dynamics play a crucial role in marital satisfaction, commitment, parental modeling, and overall interparental communication efficacy in the case of postdivorce families. Therefore, the likelihood of conflict is latent within familial interactions while making decisions; indeed, situations in which family members agree on norms as a consensus is rare (Ritchie & Fitzpatrick, 1990 ).

In addition to the interparental and marital power dynamics that delineates family communication patterns, the familial interaction is distinctive from other types of social relationships in the unequaled role of emotions and communication of affection while family members interact and make decisions for the sake of all members. For example, Ritchie and Fitzpatrick ( 1990 ) provided evidence that fathers tended to perceive that all other family members agree with his decisions or ideas. Even when mothers confronted and disagreed with the fathers about the fathers’ decisions or ideas, the men were more likely to believe that their children agreed with him. When the children were interviewed without their parents, however, the majority of children agreed with the mothers rather than the fathers (Ritchie & Fitzpatrick, 1990 ). Subsequently, conflict is highly present in families; however, in general, the presence of conflict is not problematic per se. Rather, it is the ability to manage and recover from it and that could be problematic (Floyd, 2014 ).

One of the reasons for the role of emotions in interpersonal conflicts is explained by the Emotion-in-Relationships Model (ERM). This model states that feelings of bliss, satisfaction, and relaxation often go unnoticed due to the nature of the emotions, whereas “hot” emotions, such as anger and contempt, come to the forefront when directed at a member of an interpersonal relationship (Fletcher & Clark, 2002 ). This type of psychophysical response usually happens perhaps due to the different biophysical reactive response of the body compared to its reaction to positive ones (Floyd, 2014 ). There are two dimensions that define conflict. Conflict leads to the elicitation of emotions, but sometimes the opposite occurs: emotions lead to conflict. The misunderstanding or misinterpretation of emotions among members of a family can be a source of conflict, as well as a number of other issues, including personality differences, past history, substance abuse, mental or physical health problems, monetary issues, children, intimate partner violence, domestic rape, or maybe just general frustration due to recent events (Sabourin, Infante, & Rudd, 1990 ). In order to have a common understanding of this concept for the familial context in particular, conflict refers to as “any incompatibility that can be expressed by people related through biological, legal, or equivalent ties” (Canary & Canary, 2013 , p. 6). Thus, the concept of conflict goes hand in hand with coparenting.

There is a myriad of everyday family activities in which parents need to decide the best way to do them: sometimes they are minor, such as eating, watching TV, or sleeping schedules; others are more complicated, such as schooling. Certainly, while socializing and making these decisions, parents may agree or not, and these everyday situations may lead to conflict. Whether or not parents live together, it has been shown that “the extent to which children experience their parents as partners or opponents in parenting is related to children’s adjustment and well-being” (Gable & Sharp, 2016 , p. 1), because the ontology of parenting is materialized through socialization of values about every aspect and duty among all family members, especially children, to perpetuate a given society.

As the findings provided in this article show, the study of family communication issues is pivotal because the way in which those issues are solved within families will be copied by children as their values. Values are abstract ideas that delineate behavior toward the evaluation of people and events and vary in terms of importance across individuals, but also among cultures. In other words, their future parenting (i.e., parenting modeling) of children will replicate those same strategies for conflict solving for good or bad, depending on whether parents were supportive between each other. Thus, socialization defines the size and scope of coparenting.

The familial socialization of values encompasses the distinction between parents’ personal execution of those social appraisals and the values that parents want their children to adopt, and both are different things; nonetheless, familial socialization does not take place in only one direction, from parents to children. Benish-Weisman, Levy, and Knafo ( 2013 ) investigated the differentiation process—or, in other words, the distinction between parents’ own personal values and their socialization values and the contribution of children’s values to their parents’ socialization values. In this study, in which 603 Israeli adolescents and their parents participated, the findings suggest that parents differentiate between their personal values and their socialization values, and adolescents’ values have a specific contribution to their parents’ socialization values. As a result, socialization is not a unidirectional process affected by parents alone, it is an outcome of the reciprocal interaction between parents and their adolescent children, and the given importance of a given value is mediated by parents and their culture individually (Johnson et al., 2013 ). However, taking power dynamics into account does not mean that adolescents share the same level of decision-making power in the family; thus, socialization take place in both directions, but mostly from parents to children. Finally, it is worth noticing that the socialization of values in coparenting falls under the cultural umbrella. The next section pays a special attention to the role of culture in family communication.

The Role of Culture in Parenting Socialization of Values

There are many individual perceived realities and behaviors in the familial setting that may lead to conflict among members, but all of them achieve a common interpretation through culture; indeed, “all family conflict processes by broad cultural factors” (Canary & Canary, 2013 , p. 46). Subsequently, the goal of this section is to provide an overview of the perceived realities and behaviors that exist in family relationships with different cultural backgrounds. How should one approach the array of cultural values influencing parental communication patterns?

An interesting way of immersing on the role of culture in family communication patterns and its further socialization of values is explored by Schwartz ( 1992 ). The author developed a value system composed of 10 values operationalized as motivational goals for modern society: (a) self-direction (independence of thought and action); (b) stimulation (excitement, challenge, and novelty); (c) hedonism (pleasure or sensuous gratification); (d) achievement (personal success according to social standards); (e) power (social status, dominance over people and resources); (f) conformity (restraint of actions that may harm others or violate social expectations); (g) tradition (respect and commitment to cultural or religious customs and ideas); (h) benevolence (preserving and enhancing the welfare of people to whom one is close); (i) universalism (understanding, tolerance, and concern for the welfare of all people and nature); and (j) security (safety and stability of society, relationships, and self).

Later, Schwartz and Rubel ( 2005 ) applied this value structure, finding it to be commonly shared among over 65 countries. Nevertheless, these values are enacted in different ways by societies and genders about the extent to which men attribute more relevance to values of power, stimulation, hedonism, achievement, and self-direction, and the opposite was found for benevolence and universalism and less consistently for security. Also, it was found that all sex differences were culturally moderated, suggesting that cultural background needs to be considered in the analysis of coparental communication when socializing those values.

Even though Schwartz’s work was more focused on individuals and societies, it is a powerful model for the analysis of the role of culture on family communication and parenting scholarships. Indeed, Schwartz et al. ( 2013 ) conducted a longitudinal study with a sample of 266 Hispanic adolescents (14 years old) and their parents that looked at measures of acculturation, family functioning, and adolescent conduct problems, substance use, and sexual behavior at five time points. Results suggest that higher levels of acculturation in adolescents were linked to poorer family functioning; however, overall assimilation negatively predicted adolescent cigarette smoking, sexual activity, and unprotected sex. The authors emphasize the role of culture, and acculturation patterns in particular, in understanding the mediating role of family functioning and culture.

Ergo, it is crucial to address the ways in which culture affects family functioning. On top of this idea, Johnson et al. ( 2013 ) observed that Western cultures such as in the United States and European countries are oriented toward autonomy, favoring individual achievement, self-reliance, and self-assertiveness. Thus, coparenting in more autonomous countries will socialize to children the idea that achievement in life is an outcome of independence, resulting in coparenting communication behaviors that favor verbal praise and feedback over physical contact. As opposed to autonomy-oriented cultures, other societies, such as Asian, African, and Latin American countries, emphasize interdependence over autonomy; thus, parenting in these cultures promotes collective achievement, sharing, and collaboration as the core values.

These cultural orientations can be observed in parents’ definitions of school readiness and educational success; for Western parents, examples include skills such as counting, recognizing letters, or independently completing tasks such as coloring pictures, whereas for more interdependent cultures, the development of obedience, respect for authority, and appropriate social skills are the skills that parents are expecting their children to develop to evaluate school readiness. As a matter of fact, Callaghan et al. ( 2011 ) conducted a series of eight studies to evaluate the impact of culture on the social-cognitive skills of one- to three-year-old children in three diverse cultural settings such as Canada, Peru, and India. The results showed that children’s acquisition of specific cognitive skills is moderated by specific learning experiences in a specific context: while Canadian children were understanding the performance of both pretense and pictorial symbols skillfully between 2.5 and 3.0 years of age, on average, Peruvian and Indian children mastered those skills more than a year later. Notwithstanding, this finding does not suggest any kind of cultural superiority; language barriers and limitations derived from translation itself may influence meanings, affecting the results (Sotomayor-Peterson, De Baca, Figueredo, & Smith-Castro, 2013 ). Therefore, in line with the findings of Schutz ( 1970 ), Geertz ( 1973 ), Grusec ( 2002 ), Sotomayor-Peterson et al. ( 2013 ), and Johnson et al. ( 2013 ), cultural values provide important leverage for understanding family functioning in terms of parental decision-making and conflict, which also has a substantial impact on children’s cognitive development.

Subsequently, cultural sensitivity to the analysis of the familial system in this country needs to be specially included because cultural differences are part of the array of familial conflicts that may arise, and children experience real consequences from the quality of these interactions. Therefore, parenting, which is already arduous in itself, and overall family functioning significantly become troublesome when parents with different cultural backgrounds aim to socialize values and perform parenting tasks. The following section provides an account of these cross-cultural families.

Intercultural Families: Adding Cultural Differences to Interparental Communication

For a country such as the United States, with 102 million people from many different cultural backgrounds, the presence of cross-cultural families is on the rise, as is the likelihood of intermarriage between immigrants and natives. With this cultural diversity, the two most prominent groups are Hispanics and Asians, particular cases of which will be discussed next. Besides the fact that parenting itself is a very complex and difficult task, certainly the biggest conflict consists of making decisions about the best way to raise children in terms of their values with regard to which ethnic identity better enacts the values that parents believe their children should embrace. As a result, interracial couples might confront many conflicts and challenges due to cultural differences affecting marital satisfaction and coparenting.

Assimilation , the degree to which a person from a different cultural background has adapted to the culture of the hostage society, is an important phenomenon in intermarriage. Assimilationists observe that children from families in which one of the parents is from the majority group and the other one from the minority do not automatically follow the parent from the majority group (Cohen, 1988 ). Indeed, they follow their mothers more, whichever group she belongs to, because of mothers are more prevalent among people with higher socioeconomic status (Gordon, 1964 ; Portes, 1984 ; Schwartz et al., 2013 ).

In an interracial marriage, the structural and interpersonal barriers inhibiting the interaction between two parents will be reduced significantly if parents develop a noncompeting way to communicate and solve conflicts, which means that both of them might give up part of their culture or ethnic identity to reach consensus. Otherwise, the ethnic identity of children who come from interracial marriages will become more and more obscure (Saenz, Hwang, Aguirre, & Anderson, 1995 ). Surely, parents’ noncompeting cultural communication patterns are fundamental for children’s development of ethnic identity. Biracial children develop feelings of being outsiders, and then parenting becomes crucial to developing their strong self-esteem (Ward, 2006 ). Indeed, Gordon ( 1964 ) found that children from cross-racial or cross-ethnic marriages are at risk of developing psychological problems. In another example, Jognson and Nagoshi ( 1986 ) studied children who come from mixed marriages in Hawaii and found that the problems of cultural identification, conflicting demands in the family, and of being marginal in either culture still exist (Mann & Waldron, 1977 ). It is hard for those mixed-racial children to completely develop the ethnic identity of either the majority group or the minority group.

The question of how children could maintain their minority ethnic identity is essential to the development of ethnic identity as a whole. For children from interracial marriage, the challenge to maintain their minority ethnic identity will be greater than for the majority ethnic identity (Waters, 1990 ; Schwartz et al., 2013 ) because the minority-group spouse is more likely to have greater ethnic consciousness than the majority-group spouse (Ellman, 1987 ). Usually, the majority group is more influential than the minority group on a child’s ethnic identity, but if the minority parent’s ethnicity does not significantly decline, the child’s ethnic identity could still reflect some characteristics of the minority parent. If parents want their children to maintain the minority group’s identity, letting the children learn the language of the minority group might be a good way to achieve this. By learning the language, children form a better understanding of that culture and perhaps are more likely to accept the ethnic identity that the language represents (Xin & Sandel, 2015 ).

In addition to language socialization as a way to contribute to children’s identity in biracial families, Jane and Bochner ( 2009 ) indicated that family rituals and stories could be important in performing and transforming identity. Families create and re-create their identities through various kinds of narrative, in which family stories and rituals are significant. Festivals and rituals are different from culture to culture, and each culture has its own. Therefore, exposing children to the language, rituals, and festivals of another culture also could be helpful to form their ethnic identity, in order to counter problems of self-esteem derived from the feeling of being an outsider.

To conclude this section, the parenting dilemma in intercultural marriages consists of deciding which culture they want their children to be exposed to and what kind of heritage they want to pass to children. The following section will provide two examples of intercultural marriages in the context of American society without implying that there are no other insightful cultures that deserve analysis, but the focus on Asian-American and Hispanics families reflects the available literature (Canary & Canary, 2013 ) and its demographic representativeness in this particular context. In addition, in order to acknowledge that minorities within this larger cultural background deserve more attention due to overemphasis on larger cultures in scholarship, such as Chinese or Japanese cultures, the Thai family will provide insights into understanding the role of culture in parenting and its impact on the remaining familial interaction, putting all theories already discussed in context. Moreover, the Hispanic family will also be taken in account because of its internal pan-ethnicity variety.

An Example of Intercultural Parenting: The Thai Family

The Thai family, also known as Krob Krua, may consist of parents, children, paternal and maternal grandparents, aunts, uncles, grandchildren, in-laws, and any others who share the same home. Thai marriages usually are traditional, in which the male is the authority figure and breadwinner and the wife is in charge of domestic items and the homemaker. It has been noted that Thai mothers tend to be the major caregivers and caretakers in the family rather than fathers (Tulananda, Young, & Roopnarine, 1994 ). On the other hand, it has been shown that Thai mothers also tend to spoil their children with such things as food and comfort; Tulananda et al. ( 1994 ) studied the differences between American and Thai fathers’ involvement with their preschool children and found that American fathers reported being significantly more involved with their children than Thai fathers. Specifically, the fathers differed in the amount of socialization and childcare; Thai fathers reported that they obtained more external support from other family members than American fathers; also, Thai fathers were more likely to obtain support for assisting with daughters than sons.

Furthermore, with regard to the family context, Tulananda and Roopnarine ( 2001 ) noted that over the years, some attention has been focused on the cultural differences among parent-child behaviors and interactions; hereafter, the authors believed that it is important to look at cultural parent-child interactions because that can help others understand children’s capacity to socialize and deal with life’s challenges. As a matter of fact, the authors also noted that Thai families tend to raise their children in accordance with Buddhist beliefs. It is customary for young Thai married couples to live with either the wife’s parents (uxorilocal) or the husband’s parents (virilocal) before living on their own (Tulananda & Roopnarine, 2001 ). The process of developing ethnicity could be complicated. Many factors might influence the process, such as which parent is from the minority culture and the cultural community, as explained in the previous section of this article.

This suggests that there is a difference in the way that Thai and American fathers communicate with their daughters. As a case in point, Punyanunt-Carter ( 2016 ) examined the relationship maintenance behaviors within father-daughter relationships in Thailand and the United States. Participants included 134 American father-daughter dyads and 154 Thai father-daughter dyads. The findings suggest that when quality of communication was included in this relationship, both types of families benefit from this family communication pattern, resulting in better conflict management and advice relationship maintenance behaviors. However, differences were found: American fathers are more likely than American daughters to employ relationship maintenance behaviors; in addition, American fathers are more likely than Thai fathers to use relationship maintenance strategies.

As a consequence, knowing the process of ethnic identity development could provide parents with different ways to form children’s ethnic identity. More specifically, McCann, Ota, Giles, and Caraker ( 2003 ), and Canary and Canary ( 2013 ) noted that Southeast Asian cultures have been overlooked in communication studies research; these countries differ in their religious, political, and philosophical thoughts, with a variety of collectivistic views and religious ideals (e.g., Buddhism, Taoism, Islam), whereas the United States is mainly Christian and consists of individualistic values.

The Case of Hispanic/Latino Families in the United States

There is a need for including Hispanic/Latino families in the United States because of the demographic representativeness and trends of the ethnicity: in 2016 , Hispanics represent nearly 17% of the total U.S. population, becoming the largest minority group. There are more than 53 million Hispanics and Latinos in the United States; in addition, over 93% of young Hispanics and Latinos under the age of 18 hold U.S. citizenship, and more than 73,000 of these people turn 18 every month (Barreto & Segura, 2014 ). Furthermore, the current Hispanic and Latino population is spread evenly between foreign-born and U.S.-born individuals, but the foreign-born population is now growing faster than the number of Hispanic children born in the country (Arias & Hellmueller, 2016 ). This demographic trend is projected to reach one-third of the U.S. total population by 2060 ; therefore, with the growth of other minority populations in the country, the phenomenon of multiracial marriage and biracial children is increasing as well.

Therefore, family communication scholarship has an increasing necessity to include cultural particularities in the analysis of the familial system; in addition to the cultural aspects already explained in this article, this section addresses the influence of familism in Hispanic and Latino familial interactions, as well as how immigration status moderates the internal interactions, reflected in levels of acculturation, that affect these families negatively.

With the higher marriage and birth rates among Hispanics and Latinos living in the United States compared to non-Latino Whites and African American populations, the Hispanic familial system is perhaps the most stereotyped as being familistic (Glick & Van Hook, 2008 ). This family trait consists of the fact that Hispanics place a very high value on marriage and childbearing, on the basis of a profound commitment to give support to members of the extended family as well. This can be evinced in the prevalence of extended-kind shared households in Hispanic and Latino families, and Hispanic children are more likely to live in extended-family households than non-Latino Whites or blacks (Glick & Van Hook, 2008 ). Living in extended-family households, most likely with grandparents, may have positive influences on Hispanic and Latino children, such as greater attention and interaction with loving through consistent caregiving; grandparents may help by engaging with children in academic-oriented activities, which then affects positively cognitive educational outcomes.

However, familism is not the panacea for all familial issues for several reasons. First, living in an extended-family household requires living arrangements that consider adults’ needs more than children’s. Second, the configuration of Hispanic and Latino households is moderated by any immigration issues with all members of the extended family, and this may cause problems for children (Menjívar, 2000 ). The immigration status of each individual member may produce a constant state of flux, whereas circumstances change to adjust to economic opportunities, which in turn are limited by immigration laws, and it gets even worse when one of the parents isn’t even present in the children’s home, but rather live in their home country (Van Hook & Glick, 2006 ). Although Hispanic and Latino children are more likely to live with married parents and extended relatives, familism is highly affected by the immigration status of each member.

On the other hand, there has been research to address the paramount role of communication disregarding the mediating factor of cultural diversity. For example, Sotomayor-Peterson et al. ( 2013 ) performed a cross-cultural comparison of the association between coparenting or shared parental effort and family climate among families from Mexico, the United States, and Costa Rica. The overall findings suggest what was explained earlier in this article: more shared parenting predicts better marital interaction and family climate overall.

In addition, parenting quality has been found to have a positive relationship with children’s developmental outcomes. In fact, Sotomayor-Peterson, Figueredo, Christensen, and Taylor ( 2012 ) conducted a study with 61 low-income Mexican American couples, with at least one child between three and four years of age, recruited from a home-based Head Start program. The main goal of this study was to observe the extent that shared parenting incorporates cultural values and income predicts family climate. The findings suggest that the role of cultural values such as familism, in which family solidarity and avoidance of confrontation are paramount, delineate shared parenting by Mexican American couples.

Cultural adaptation also has a substantial impact on marital satisfaction and children’s cognitive stimulation. Indeed, Sotomayor-Peterson, Wilhelm, and Card ( 2011 ) investigated the relationship between marital relationship quality and subsequent cognitive stimulation practices toward their infants in terms of the actor and partner effects of White and Hispanic parents. The results indicate an interesting relationship between the level of acculturation and marital relationship quality and a positive cognitive stimulation of infants; specifically, marital happiness is associated with increased cognitive stimulation by White and high-acculturated Hispanic fathers. Nevertheless, a major limitation of Hispanic acculturation literature has been seen, reflecting a reliance on cross-sectional studies where acculturation was scholarly operationalized more as an individual difference variable than as a longitudinal adaptation over time (Schwartz et al., 2013 ).

Culture and Family Communication: the “so what?” Question

This article has presented an entangled overview of family communication patterns, dyadic power, family systems, and conflict theories to establish that coparenting quality plays a paramount role. The main commonality among those theories pays special attention to interparental interaction quality, regardless of the type of family (i.e., intact, postdivorce, same-sex, etc.) and cultural background. After reviewing these theories, it was observed that the interparental relationship is the core interaction in the familial context because it affects children from their earlier cognitive development to subsequent parental modeling in terms of gender roles. Thus, in keeping with Canary and Canary ( 2013 ), no matter what approach may be taken to the analysis of family communication issues, the hypothesis that a positive emotional climate within the family is fostered only when couples practice a sufficient level of shared parenting and quality of communication is supported.

Nevertheless, this argument does not suggest that the role of culture in the familial interactions should be undersold. While including the main goal of parenting, which is the socialization of values, in the second section of this article, the text also provides specific values of different countries that are enacted and socialized differently across cultural contexts to address the role of acculturation in the familial atmosphere, the quality of interactions, and individual outcomes. As a case in point, Johnson et al. ( 2013 ) provided an interesting way of seeing how cultures differ in their ways of enacting parenting, clarifying that the role of culture in parenting is not a superficial or relativistic element.

In addition, by acknowledging the perhaps excessive attention to larger Asian cultural backgrounds (such as Chinese or Japanese cultures) by other scholars (i.e., Canary & Canary, 2013 ), an insightful analysis of the Thai American family within the father-daughter relationship was provided to exemplify, through the work of Punyanunt-Carter ( 2016 ), how specific family communication patterns, such as maintenance relationship communication behaviors, affect the quality of familial relationships. Moreover, a second, special focus was put on Hispanic families because of the demographic trends of the United States, and it was found that familism constitutes a distinctive aspect of these families.

In other words, the third section of this article provided these two examples of intercultural families to observe specific ways that culture mediates the familial system. Because one of the main goals of the present article was to demonstrate the mediating role of culture as an important consideration for family communication issues in the United States, the assimilationist approach was taken into account; thus, the two intercultural family examples discussed here correspond to an assimilationist nature rather than using an intergroup approach.

This decision was made without intending to diminish the value of other cultures or ethnic groups in the country, but an extensive revision of all types of intercultural families is beyond the scope of this article. Second, the assimilationist approach forces one to consider cultures that are in the process of adapting to a new hosting culture, and the Thai and Hispanic families in the United States comply with this theoretical requisite. For example, Whites recognize African Americans as being as American as Whites (i.e., Dovidio, Gluszek, John, Ditlmann, & Lagunes, 2010 ), whereas they associate Hispanics and Latinos with illegal immigration in the United States (Stewart et al., 2011 ), which has been enhanced by the U.S. media repeatedly since 1994 (Valentino et al., 2013 ), and it is still happening (Dixon, 2015 ). In this scenario, “ask yourself what would happen to your own personality if you heard it said over and over again that you were lazy, a simple child of nature, expected to steal, and had inferior blood? . . . One’s reputation, whether false or true, cannot be hammered, hammered, hammered, into one’s head without doing something to one’s character” (Allport, 1979 , p. 142, cited in Arias & Hellmueller, 2016 ).

As a consequence, on this cultural canvas, it should not be surprising that Lichter, Carmalt, and Qian ( 2011 ) found that second-generation Hispanics are increasingly likely to marry foreign-born Hispanics and less likely to marry third-generation or later coethnics or Whites. In addition, this study suggests that third-generation Hispanics and later were more likely than in the past to marry non-Hispanic Whites; thus, the authors concluded that there has been a new retreat from intermarriage among the largest immigrant groups in the United States—Hispanics and Asians—in the last 20 years.

If we subscribe to the idea that cultural assimilation goes in only one direction—from the hegemonic culture to the minority culture—then the results of Lichter, Carmalt, and Qian ( 2011 ) should not be of scholarly concern; however, if we believe that cultural assimilation happens in both directions and intercultural families can benefit both the host and immigrant cultures (for a review, see Schwartz et al., 2013 ), then this is important to address in a country that just elected a president, Donald Trump, who featured statements racially lambasting and segregating minorities, denigrating women, and criticizing immigration as some of the main tenets of his campaign. Therefore, we hope that it is clear why special attention was given to the Thai and Hispanic families in this article, considering the impact of culture on the familial system, marital satisfaction, parental communication, and children’s well-being. Even though individuals with Hispanic ancentry were in the United States even before it became a nation, Hispanic and Latino families are still trying to convince Americans of their right to be accepted in American culture and society.

With regard to the “So what?” question, assimilation is important to consider while analyzing the role of culture in family communication patterns, power dynamics, conflict, or the functioning of the overall family system in the context of the United States. This is because this country is among the most popular in the world in terms of immigration requests, and its demographics show that one out of three citizens comes from an ethnic background other than the hegemonic White culture. In sum, cultural awareness has become pivotal in the analysis of family communication issues in the United States. Furthermore, the present overview of family, communication, and culture ends up supporting the idea of positive associations being derived from the pivotal role of marriage relationship quality, such that coparenting and communication practices vary substantially within intercultural marriages moderated by gender roles.

Culture is a pivotal moderator of these associations, but this analysis needs to be tethered to societal structural level, in which cultural differences, family members’ immigration status, media content, and level of acculturation must be included in family research. This is because in intercultural marriages, in addition to the tremendous parenting role, they have to deal with cultural assimilation and discrimination, and this becomes important if we care about children’s cognitive development and the overall well-being of those who are not considered White. As this article shows, the quality of familial interactions has direct consequences on children’s developmental outcomes (for a review, see Callaghan et al., 2011 ).

Therefore, the structure and functioning of family has an important impact on public health at both physiological and psychological levels (Gage, Everett, & Bullock, 2006 ). At the physiological level, the familial interaction instigates expression and reception of strong feelings affecting tremendously on individuals’ physical health because it activates neuroendocrine responses that aid stress regulation, acting as a stress buffer and accelerating physiological recovery from elevated stress (Floyd & Afifi, 2012 ; Floyd, 2014 ). Robles, Shaffer, Malarkey, and Kiecolt-Glaser ( 2006 ) found that a combination of supportive communication, humor, and problem-solving behavior in husbands predicts their wives’ cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)—both physiological factors are considered as stress markers (see 2006 ). On the other hand, the psychology of individuals, the quality of family relationships has major repercussions on cognitive development, as reflected in educational attainment (Sohr-Preston et al., 2013 ), and highly mediated by cultural assimilation (Schwartz et al., 2013 ), which affects individuals through parenting modeling and socialization of values (Mooney-Doyle, Deatrick, & Horowitz, 2014 ).

Essay about family traditions – Five-paragraph Essay

Introduction

In this essay I will be discussing family traditions and the reasons behind them. I have noticed that family traditions have evolved and adapted in order to suit the modern day. Media influence has also had an effect on what families do on Christmas day and around the festive season. Many families have the same traditions, or slightly altered versions of them, even when the families do not have any connection. This could be because of the media influence, upbringing, religion and circumstances. I will now look at a few traditions that occur over the Christmas period.

One family tradition at Christmas is that there is a roast dinner that includes a turkey, sprouts and other seasonal vegetables. In the past Goose was served on Christmas Day, however today turkey is the meat of choice. The reason for this is that turkey is more affordable but still big enough to feed a large family. Sprouts are also a staple item on a Christmas dinner; this is due to the fact that they are in season in December. These circumstances have caused eating sprouts and turkey to become a Christmas tradition in the UK.

On Christmas Day it is tradition for families to play games together. Spending time playing games with the family on Christmas Day might be because there were new games brought for Christmas to play. Christmas Day often means that the family is together as there are no distractions, such as shops or pubs open. Families are also brought together with the tradition of present giving which comes from the Christian story of the Three Wise Men giving gifts to baby Jesus. At Christmas we give gifts to loved ones, go out of our way to deliver them and spend time with those people.

Families also tend to watch films on Christmas Day and around the festive period. This is a tradition influenced by the media as many channels put on classic Christmas films that engage the whole family. They might be old classic films such as A Christmas Carol, or they might be a new family animation that has humor to entertain both adults and children, such as Frozen.

Putting up a Christmas tree is a tradition that dates back to 1841 in England when Queen Victoria’s husband brought back a fir tree from Germany. The couple and their children were pictured standing by the tree with presents stacked under it. After this, Christmas tree decorating became a fashion. Today families put up their trees around 2 weeks before Christmas and hang decorations and lights on it. Some families make decorations for the tree where as others buy sets that fit the theme of their house.

Whilst families may have their own take on the family traditions, they all have similar reasons for why they do them. For example, shops and pubs being closed causes families to stay in and be together, where they then watch films and play games that they received as gifts. Some traditions have changed slightly over the years, such as when people used to eat goose at Christmas, however most families adopted the new tradition due to the circumstances of the price of turkey.

Traditions such as the Christmas tree came from a combination of history and fashion. Today families have adapted the tradition by having artificial trees instead of real ones in an effort to save money with a reusable tree and save the earth.

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