摘要：Culture shapes how families manage Stress and support each other.Parenting styles reflect traditions, values, and resilience strat

How Culture Shapes the Way Families

Cope with Stress

文化如何塑造家庭

应对压力的方式

Cross-cul t ural perspectives on stress, support, and adaptation.

关于压力、支持与适应的跨文化视角

Posted September 10, 2025 | Reviewed by Gary Drevitch

发布于 2025 年 9 月 10 日 | 审核人：加里·德雷维奇

Culture shapes how families manage Stress and support each other.Parenting styles reflect traditions, values, and resilience strategies.Language brokering impacts children’s identity, roles, and coping skills.Discrimination adds stress, but strong cultural identity builds resilience.

文化塑造了家庭应对压力和相互支持的方式。养育方式反映了传统、价值观和应对策略。语言中介影响着孩子的身份认同、角色和应对技能。歧视会增加压力，但强大的文化认同能增强韧性。

Every family experiences stress. It may come from work deadlines, school pressures, financial worries, or moments of exclusion and discrimination. But while stress itself is universal, the ways families cope with it are deeply shaped by culture. Traditions, values, and expectations influence how parents guide their children, how children respond, and how families lean on one another when challenges arise.

每个家庭都会经历压力。它可能来自工作截止日期、学业压力、经济担忧，或是被排斥和歧视的时刻。然而，尽管压力本身是普遍存在的，但家庭应对压力的方式却深受文化的影响。传统、价值观和期望影响着父母如何引导孩子，孩子如何回应，以及家庭在面临挑战时如何相互依靠。

Coping is never just an individual act. It happens within families, influenced by shared beliefs and cultural practices. In immigrant households especially, stress management often means drawing on culture as a resource, a set of strategies that can both buffer hardship and sometimes introduce new pressures. Understanding this cultural lens is essential to grasping how families navigate adversity.

应对从来都不是个人行为。它发生在家庭内部，受到共同信念和文化习俗的影响。尤其是在移民家庭中，压力管理往往意味着依靠文化作为一种资源，一套既能缓解困境有时又会带来新压力的策略。理解这种文化视角对于把握家庭如何应对逆境至关重要。

Parenting and Family Relationships

育儿与家庭关系

Parenting is one of the clearest areas in which culture shows itself. How parents guide children through stress often reflects generations of belief about what it takes to survive. In some families, discipline is seen as preparation for a harsh world. Rules are strict, expectations are high, and mistakes are treated as lessons in toughness. In other families, parents emphasize warmth and communication, believing resilience grows best in a safe and open space. Neither style exists in isolation. Most parents blend both, adjusting to circumstances as they arise.

育儿是文化体现最为清晰的领域之一。父母如何引导孩子应对压力，往往反映了世世代代关于生存之道的信念。在一些家庭中，纪律被视为应对严酷世界的准备。规则严格，期望值高，错误被视为磨砺坚韧的教训。而在另一些家庭中，父母更注重温暖与沟通，认为在安全开放的环境中，孩子的适应力才能更好地成长。这两种风格并非孤立存在。大多数父母会将两者融合，根据实际情况灵活调整。

Popular labels like “tiger parenting” flatten these realities. They ignore how families adjust their methods depending on context. A parent who pushes for academic success may also spend evenings offering quiet encouragement. Another who appears lenient may be instilling values of independence and self-reliance. Research shows that children benefit most when expectations are paired with care. High standards can motivate, but they must be balanced with emotional support. Without that balance, pressure can turn into strain. With it, children often learn to face stress with confidence rather than fear.

诸如“虎妈式教育”之类的流行标签掩盖了这些事实。它们忽略了家庭会根据具体情况调整教育方法。一位为孩子学业成功而施压的家长，也可能在晚上默默给予孩子鼓励。另一位看似宽松的家长，可能在培养孩子独立自主的价值观。研究表明，当期望与关爱相结合时，孩子受益最大。高标准可以激励孩子，但必须与情感支持相平衡。没有这种平衡，压力就会变成负担。有了这种平衡，孩子往往能自信而非恐惧地面对压力。

Cultural frameworks also matter. In collectivist traditions, children may be taught to place family above self, building strong networks of support. In individualist traditions, children may be urged to assert themselves, gaining tools of independence. Many immigrant families straddle both systems, teaching loyalty to family while also urging adaptation to new environments.

文化框架也很重要。在集体主义传统中，孩子们可能被教导要将家庭置于个人之上，从而建立起强大的支持网络。在个人主义传统中，孩子们可能被鼓励要展现自我，获得独立的工具。许多移民家庭跨越这两种体系，既教导孩子对家庭忠诚，又鼓励他们适应新环境。

This balance is delicate. Stress moves quickly across a household. When parents model constructive coping, children often carry those lessons forward. When coping becomes rigid, whether through control without care or closeness without guidance, stress can multiply instead of ease.

这种平衡十分微妙。压力在家庭中会迅速蔓延。当父母展现出积极应对的方式时，孩子往往会将这些经验延续下去。而当应对方式变得僵化，无论是控制而缺乏关爱，还是亲密而缺乏引导，压力都可能加剧而非缓解。

Language, Identity, and Responsibility

语言、身份与责任

In many immigrant households, children carry more than homework in their backpacks. They also carry the role of interpreter. At school meetings, in doctor’s offices, or even while setting up a phone plan, it is often the child who explains, translates, and guides.

在许多移民家庭中，孩子们背上的书包里装的不只是作业。他们还肩负着翻译者的角色。在学校会议、医生诊室，甚至在办理电话套餐时，往往是孩子在解释、翻译和引导。

This practice is called language brokering. It looks like a simple act of translation, but it is much more than that. It shifts responsibility from parent to child, changing how stress is shared within the family. For some young people, brokering feels empowering. They gain pride in helping, confidence in their skills, and a sense that their family trusts them deeply. For others, it feels like a burden. Each form, each conversation, adds to the weight of adult responsibility long before they are ready for it. Research with Mexican-origin adolescents has found that this weight is not only emotional; stressful brokering moments are linked to shifts in cortisol, the body’s stress hormone. But when children feel confident in their role, the biological toll is smaller. Belief in their ability to handle the task makes a real difference.

这种做法被称为语言中介。这看似只是简单的翻译行为，实则远不止如此。它将责任从父母转移到孩子身上，改变了家庭内部压力的分担方式。对一些年轻人来说，充当语言中介让他们感到很有成就感。他们因帮助家人而感到自豪，对自己的能力充满信心，也觉得家人非常信任自己。但对另一些人来说，这却是一种负担。每一次充当语言中介，每一次对话，都让他们过早地承担起本应由成年人承担的责任。对墨西哥裔青少年的研究发现，这种负担不仅是情感上的；压力巨大的中介时刻与皮质醇（人体的应激激素）水平的变化有关。但当孩子们对自己的角色充满信心时，身体所承受的负担就会小一些。相信自己有能力完成任务确实会产生很大的影响。

At the same time, language is also tied to identity. Children who move between languages often move between cultures. This can create pride and flexibility, but also confusion and tension. Some feel they belong in both worlds, others in neither. Coping, in this sense, is not about removing stress. It is about finding balance: holding on to heritage while still building a place in a new society.

与此同时，语言也与身份紧密相连。在不同语言间转换的孩子往往也在不同文化间游走。这既能带来自豪感和灵活性，也可能造成困惑和紧张。有些人觉得自己在两个世界都有一席之地，而另一些人则觉得自己在两个世界都格格不入。从这个意义上说，应对并非是要消除压力，而是要找到平衡：在坚守传统的同时，也在新的社会中找到自己的位置。

Stress, Discrimination, and Resilience

压力、歧视与韧性

Some stress comes from inside the family: arguments, money worries, school pressure. But for many immigrant and minority families, the heavier weight comes from outside. Discrimination is not a passing inconvenience. It is a repeated reminder of exclusion, and it leaves its mark.

有些压力来自家庭内部：争吵、经济担忧、学业压力。但对于许多移民和少数族裔家庭来说，更沉重的负担来自外部。歧视并非一时的不便，而是反复提醒着被排斥的现实，它会留下印记。

Science has shown how deeply this mark runs. When young people encounter unfair treatment, their bodies respond as if bracing for impact. They stay wired through the day, then struggle to settle into rest at night. This reaction may help them cope with the immediate sting, but the long-term cost is clear: disrupted sleep, higher anxiety, and heavier sadness. Stress that should fade instead becomes embedded.

科学研究表明这种印记有多深。当年轻人遭遇不公待遇时，他们的身体会做出仿佛要迎接冲击的反应。白天一直处于紧张状态，晚上则难以安睡。这种反应或许能帮助他们应对眼前的痛苦，但长期代价显而易见：睡眠紊乱、焦虑加剧、悲伤加重。本应消退的压力却深深烙印下来。

Researchers describe this process as “wear and tear.” Each incident leaves a trace. Over months and years, the traces accumulate, reshaping both health and outlook. It is not only emotions that suffer. Immune function, heart health, and even the ability to recover from everyday stress are eroded by discrimination that repeats without relief.

研究人员将这一过程描述为“损耗”。每一次事件都会留下痕迹。数月乃至数年下来，这些痕迹不断累积，重塑着健康状况和人生观。受影响的不只是情绪。免疫功能、心脏健康，甚至从日常压力中恢复的能力都会因无休止的歧视而受到侵蚀。

And yet, resilience often rises alongside strain. Children who grow up with a strong cultural identity sometimes see prejudice for what it is — a reflection of bias, not a flaw in themselves. Families that talk openly about unfairness while affirming pride in heritage give their children a way to transform hurt into perspective. In these moments, culture becomes more than tradition. It becomes a shield.

然而，韧性往往在压力之下得以增强。那些在成长过程中拥有强烈文化认同感的孩子有时能看清偏见的本质——那是偏见的反映，而非自身的缺陷。那些在谈论不公平的同时又肯定自身文化自豪感的家庭，为孩子提供了一种将伤害转化为见解的途径。在这些时刻，文化的意义已超越了传统，它成为了一种保护盾牌。

Communities extend that shield further. Festivals, local organizations, and cultural gatherings remind families that they are part of something larger. They provide spaces where pride replaces shame and connection replaces isolation. In those settings, resilience is not abstract. It is lived in the laughter of shared meals, the rhythm of music, and the recognition in a neighbor’s eyes.

社区进一步扩大了这一保护伞。节日、地方组织和文化聚会提醒着家庭，他们属于一个更大的整体。它们提供了这样的空间：自豪感取代了羞耻感，联系取代了孤立。在这样的环境中，韧性并非抽象的概念。它体现在共享美食时的欢笑中，体现在音乐的节奏里，也体现在邻居眼中的认可之中。

Coping, in this context, is not about erasing pain. It is about refusing to let discrimination define identity or possibility. It is about drawing strength from heritage while still learning to navigate the systems that surround it. This dual approach does not make stress vanish, but it allows families to carry it without being broken by it.

在这种情况下，应对并非是要抹去痛苦。而是拒绝让歧视定义身份或可能性。是从传统中汲取力量，同时学会在围绕自身的体制中前行。这种双重方法并不能让压力消失，但能让家庭承受压力而不被其击垮。

Conclusion: Rethinking How Families Cope with Stress

结论：重新思考家庭应对压力的方式

Stress touches every family, but it does not touch them in the same way. Culture shapes how parents guide, how children adapt, and how families endure. That is why a full understanding of stress must go beyond symptoms and statistics. It must ask how families make meaning out of struggle.

压力影响着每一个家庭，但其影响方式却各不相同。文化塑造着父母的引导方式、孩子的适应方式以及家庭的承受方式。这就是为什么对压力的全面理解不能仅仅停留在症状和统计数据层面。它必须探究家庭如何从困境中寻找意义。

Too often, immigrant families are seen through a narrow lens. They are described as at-risk, behind, or burdened. Yet when looked at more closely, these same families often hold practices that keep them connected and resilient: A shared language at the dinner table. A ritual that honors ancestors. A belief that hardship is carried together, not alone. These are strategies that allow families to withstand pressures that others might not recognize.

人们常常以狭隘的眼光看待移民家庭，认为他们处于危险之中、落后或者是个负担。然而，仔细观察就会发现，这些家庭往往有着维系彼此联系、保持坚韧的优良传统：餐桌上共享的语言，纪念祖先的仪式，以及共克时艰而非独自面对困境的信念。这些策略使他们能够承受他人可能未曾察觉的压力。

Outside institutions often overlook this. Schools may dismiss home languages. Health systems may ignore cultural practices. Policymakers may assume one coping model fits all. In doing so, they miss the strength that culture provides. Support becomes shallow when it does not account for the deep roots families draw from.

外部机构常常忽视这一点。学校可能会轻视家庭语言。医疗系统可能会忽略文化习俗。政策制定者可能会想当然地认为一种应对模式适用于所有人。如此一来，他们便错失了文化所提供的力量。如果支持措施不考虑家庭所汲取的深厚根基，那么这种支持就会显得肤浅。

Culture is not an obstacle on the road to resilience but part of the foundation. It shields children from the harm of discrimination and teaches responsibility in ways that can build confidence. It reminds families who they are, even when the world tells them otherwise.

文化并非通往坚韧之路的障碍，而是根基的一部分。它保护孩子免受歧视之害，并以能增强自信的方式教导责任。它提醒家庭他们是谁，即便世界告诉他们并非如此。

Stress is universal, but coping is cultural. To recognize means seeing families not only for their struggles but for their strategies, their pride, and their strength. When communities and institutions take that view, families are not just surviving stress. They are building resilience that carries forward across generations.

压力是普遍存在的，但应对方式却因文化而异。认识到这一点意味着，看待家庭时，不仅要看到他们的困境，还要看到他们的策略、他们的自豪感以及他们的力量。当社区和机构持有这种观点时，家庭就不仅仅是承受压力，而是在培养一种能够代代相传的韧性。

来源：左右图史