"Ethnicity is deeply tied to the family, through which it is transmitted. The two concepts are so intertwined that it is hard to study one without the other- (McGoldrick, et al. 1982). The view of culture, while not specifically related to a group's ethnicity or race, is the same. A family is a small cultural group with its own set of beliefs, values, mores, and rules. Ethnicity remains a major form of group identification and a major determinant of these family patterns and belief systems. To deny a family's ethnicity and cultural background is to deny the essence of the family itself.
Culture plays a major role in whether or not a family in crisis seeks help as well as what sort of help the family will accept. Therapy is viewed in some cultures as stigmatizing - "we"re not crazy!" - and often, if the family will agree to therapy at all, they prefer to work with someone from their own culture. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the American Native culture. .
American Natives.
Given that the family therapist inserts herself into the very fiber of the family, it is absolutely necessary for that therapist to be aware of the cultural issues from which that family bases its beliefs and values. In American Native cultures, however, becoming a part of the family system is not usually possible. There is a long-standing and, to a degree justifiable, mistrust of the "White Man" by indigenous people in America. The history of the dominant culture's abuse of ancestral tribes is passed from generation to generation. Even those who live in urban areas are affected by the belief systems of their elders. Urban families often also face the challenges of interracial marriage and the struggle to develop identities that honor the traditions of the Indian and non-Indian heritage.
Literature indicates that, in comparison to children of other ethnic minority groups, American Native children are at greater risk for emotional and behavioral disorders and negative psychosocial conditions such as poverty, family and community violence, substance abuse, and substandard living conditions (Morris, et al.
