Adolescence is a trying period both for parents and the teen. Teenagers tread the fine line between childhood and adulthood but their life is still influenced by parents’ decisions. Ethnic background, religious affiliations are some of the factors that shape different parenting styles. You can both negatively and positively affect your teen’s development in the society. The culture they take in at home might enable or disable them to diversify and mix in with kids from other cultural backgrounds. Let’s see how.

According to a study by University of Massachusetts, Amherst, the US houses more multi-cultural families than any other country and it is going to increase in the future. Yet some predict that children from parents who belong to different cultures may not be negatively affected. This is because the parents themselves have worked through their cultural differences in order to adjust in the new country. Nonetheless there is no shortage of opinions on parenting styles while raising kids when you are from a different culture and every opinion has something to say:

Isolation or individualism:

For most, parents are very influential in a child’s life. Psychologists often address the question of nature and nurture. Some believe that a child’s environment greatly influences his or her concepts of self-esteem, confidence and socializing while others believe that all these things are inherent.

White cultures stress on individualism, including self-expression, uniqueness and resiliency. Many Asian cultures on the other hand emphasize on interdependence, solidarity and humility. A child raised up under the influence of Asian parents is more likely to socialize with peers that come from the same ethnic background as he or she is as compared to a child brought up by white parents.

Self-expression and language development are two of the major skills on which white parents stress on while Asian parents are more likely to emphasize on teaching, learning and social skills. Regardless of their geographical location, Asian parents give more weight to their own values rather than giving the child an opportunity to adopt and adjust in the other culture.

Culture has a great role to play as far as parenting styles are concerned. It has a great influence on parents who are raising their kids in a foreign country. Different cultural parenting styles encompass stereotypes and that might influence parenting when in a different country.