The Adaptive Project of Parenting: South Asian Families with Children with Developmental Delays

Abstract

This study investigated family adaptation patterns to children with developmental delays, in a sample of South Asian families living in the Los Angeles area, and a comparison sample of Euro-American families. The Ecocultural Family Interview (EFI) explored similarities and differences. The domains in which differences between South Asian families and Euro-American families appear were family support (sorely missed in both quantity and quality in the United States); spousal relations (improving after the birth of the child); gender roles (clearly demarcated with women doing most caretaking); cultural identity (the US “golden prison” and “blended identity”); and spirituality (formal worship less important than a general cultural continuity). South Asian families were similar in their hope that the child's delay would somehow get better as time went on, their active service use, common educational and medical issues, and requirements to adapt work and child care. Systematically exploring what “might have been ” if the families had chosen to reside in their native countries led to valuable comparative knowledge.