Culture and the Child: A Guide for Professionals in Child Care and Development

This, the first book in the Wiley Series in Culture and Professional Practice, is designed as a practical guide for professionals who work with children from differing cultural backgrounds. It relates cultural differences in development to the problems and practice of child care with a special contribution from cross-cultural psychology. The book includes the main issues which professionals are likely to encounter, for example:

• how individual differences in temperament and behaviour interact with cultural traditions
• how a sense of mixed identity develops and how this conflict affects many young people in different cultural settings
• how the anxieties and motivations of children are influenced by their cultural backgrounds

The book draws upon a theoretical and research base in cross-cultural psychology but presents the issues in practical terms leading to appropriate action. This book is unique with its focus on promoting the well-being of the children and those who care for them. Theory and practice are combined in a convenient volume intended for everyday use by professionals in the field, including pre-school teachers, child care workers and psychologists working with children and adolescents in multicultural environments. Culture and the Child concludes with a discussion of the effects of multicultural interaction and cultural change into the 21st century.