case study on a family

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Sanchez Family Case Files

Celia sanchez, hector sanchez, junior sanchez, emilia sanchez, vicki sanchez, gloria sanchez, alejandro sanchez, carmen sanchez, joey sanchez, roberto salazar.

Woman, Wife, Mother, Sister, Aunt, Immigrant, Latina

Client History

Married to Hector for more than 30 years, Celia Sanchez has been in this country for about half her life. While there are aspects of the United States Celia appreciates—particularly the economic opportunities for her family—she never imagined that she would raise her children outside of Mexico. Indeed, coming to the United States was Hector’s dream—not hers. Devoted to her family, Celia has never worked outside the home and does not drive. She delights in cooking for her children and grandchildren, talking with her neighbors and by telephone with her sister and cousin, and taking care of the home.

Given her desire to stay close to home and family, Mrs. Sanchez has not developed the proficiency with English that her husband has. This has been a barrier to her efforts to care for the family. For example, in the relatively few instances that she has been so ill that she required the services of a physician, she needed one of her sons to interpret for her. She often struggled to advocate for her children in the school system, which seldom provided interpretation or bilingual educational staff. And when one of her children came in contact with the juvenile justice system, Celia was unable to understand fully the legal implications of the choices she faced.

Recently, the son of her sister Dolores came to the United States from Mexico (see Roberto’s history). Given her dedication to her family, there was no question Celia would welcome Roberto into her home; however, Hector does not fully support this decision.

Most of Mrs. Sanchez’s extended family still lives in Mexico. However, Celia has two cousins in California, and her ex-brother-in-law (Roberto’s father) was recently deported, after living in Chicago for several years. Celia returned to Mexico for a brief visit a few years ago for the funeral of her mother, but, given the expense and time involved, she mostly settles for telephone calls with her sister; when Alejandro can help her set it up and her sister has sufficient bandwidth, they video chat.

Mrs. Sanchez has been concerned with how to stretch their money to accommodate her family’s needs. After seeing how other neighbors stretch their budgets by utilizing some public resources, Celia wanted her husband to apply for financial assistance, but he is adamantly opposed. Unwilling to oppose Hector, Celia has secretly been obtaining commodities from her Church pantry. Since she is an active parishioner at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, her visits there do not raise her husband’s suspicions.

Client Concerns

• She is worried that there is not adequate income for the food the family needs, given the two extra mouths to feed and the variability in Hector’s employment, especially as his age advances.
• Mrs. Sanchez is unable to proficiently understand and communicate in English. The Sanchez family needs more information about the process of permanently adopting Celia’s grandson, Joey, especially if their daughter will contest this move.
• Celia is concerned about the tension between her husband and her over the presence of her nephew, Roberto, in their household.

Goals For Client

Keep these goals in mind throughout your analysis

• Find additional resources for food and possibly income support
• With Hector’s active involvement, seek clarification of the legal issues associated with the presence of Roberto in their home and the issues involved in Joey’s adoption
• Enroll in a class for persons learning English as a second language

Critical Questions to Consider

• How do Mrs. Sanchez’s identities—as a woman, Latina, immigrant, mother, wife—influence her experiences today? How might these dynamics affect her engagement with you, as a social worker, as you begin to work together?
• What are Mrs. Sanchez’s language rights, when, for example, she needs translation assistance within the court or school systems? Is the information available from Limited English Proficiency, an interagency federal website, helpful to you as you advocate for her language access ( www.lep.gov )?
• Does the fact that the Sanchez family is mostly Lawful Permanent Residents, not yet U.S. citizens, affect the kinds of income supports for which they might qualify? Check out the resources regarding non-citizen eligibility for means-tested benefits at the National Immigration Law Center ( www.nilc.org ).

Man, Husband, Father, Immigrant, Latino

Hector is the family patriarch of the Sanchez family. He came to this country in 1979 as a young, undocumented agricultural worker. For years, Hector endured long separations from his wife, who was also alone in Mexico, struggling to raise their young children—none of whose births Hector was able to witness. In 1986, encouraged by the passage of law allowing for a federal amnesty program, Hector applied for and was given a green card, making him a legal, permanent resident. He then applied for the same status on behalf of his wife and the children they had at the time. After waiting additional years for the processing, Celia and the children reunited with Hector in the United States. Their subsequent children were born in the U.S. after Hector left agricultural work, in pursuit of more stable employment in construction. Hector has never become a citizen. Although that has been a lifelong goal of his, Hector has never felt that he could take the time off work to study for the test, nor that the increasing application fee was something his family could readily afford. Hector often works six days per week, particularly as the housing market has experienced construction labor shortages and rising demand. However, Hector’s health is not what it once was (he now has diabetes and high blood pressure), and his job is physically demanding, which may limit the number of years he can expect to work. Having suffered much discrimination and having been victimized by hate crimes in his early years in the United States—when he was often subject to ugly slurs and accusations—Mr. Sanchez is deeply proud that he has never asked for public assistance. To get by on the family’s limited income, Mr. Sanchez skips lunch regularly, a serious problem for someone with diabetes.

• Hector is worried about what will happen to his family when he can no longer work at his physically demanding job, particularly because he has been working outside the Social Security system for much of his career.
• Even working full-time, Hector is unable to meet all his family’s needs in the way that he would like. Their house is small for the number of residents living there, and this adds to his stress.
• Roberto’s presence in the house, and his undocumented status, worries Hector. He is not sure what this could mean for his family, especially since the state in which the family lives has considered legislation that would empower local law enforcement, educators, social services, and other personnel to take on immigration enforcement duties.

Clearly review Hector’s strengths and talents and help him assess whether there is any employment available that might be less physically taxing for his health

Discuss with Celia his feelings about the crowded conditions of the house, with the goal of getting Celia to cooperate in finding a place where Roberto can safely stay

Assess the severity of his health concerns and discuss the importance of stress reduction and healthy nutrition

Begin the process of pursuing citizenship for Hector

• How might the Sanchez family’s lives have been different if he had come to the U.S. just a few years later than he did? How have immigration policies shaped their family’s journey? You can learn more about the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986—the policy under which Hector obtained his green card—from the Migration Policy Institute https://www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/legalization-historical.pdf .
• How have experiences with discrimination and bias-fueled harassment affected Hector? How might the recent increases in hate crimes and anti-immigrant sentiment affect Hector’s mental and physical well-being, in light of this history? How could you explore these dynamics with him?
• How do the eligibility rules for means-tested income supports in the U.S.—like SNAP—contribute to the stigma that people like Hector feel when contemplating receiving such assistance? What messages has Hector absorbed about this kind of help, and what does this say about stereotypes about low-income people in the U.S.? Try searching for “stigma and SNAP” to see how organizations that address hunger in the U.S. are trying to combat these perceptions.

Son, Husband, Father, Latino

Junior is the oldest child, married to Lola, and the father of four children, aged two to ten. He lives close to his parents and works in the same job as his father. Junior was already in school when he, his mother, and his siblings reunited with their father in the U.S., and he took to school quickly, learning English and earning good grades. Encouraged by his successes, Junior and his parents expected he would be the first in his family to go to college. However, the tension between the need to bring honor to the family through his academic achievements and the reality that money was needed to support everyone prevented him from pursuing higher education. Although he is older now, and with responsibilities of his own, Jr. is still motivated to go to college and has been taking classes as he can at the local community college. When he graduates from there, he hopes to go to the university close by.

• While Junior’s job is secure for now, given the hot construction market and the desirability of his bilingual skills and high school diploma, he does not want to stay in manual labor, particularly as he sees the strains this has put on his father’s health.
• Junior lacks a college education, but increasing college costs and reductions in available student aid combine to make his goals of obtaining a four-year degree difficult. Additionally, he finds it hard to make time for studies, on top of his other responsibilities, and the college’s shift to online instruction was not a good fit for his learning needs.
• Learn more about college programs available in the area for Junior and the loan and grant programs that might finance his education
• Explore employment options for Lola, Junior’s wife, including childcare resources if Lola wants to work outside the home and/or home-based business options, if she wants to continue to stay home.
• How might Junior’s experiences with his family of origin influence his consideration of his future? How could you engage Lola in the helping process, as you support Junior?
• What types of policy changes would make college more affordable and, therefore, more within the reach of students like Junior? What ideas seem to have the most traction in today’s policy debates, and what would help Junior the most?
• What types of income supports might Junior’s family be eligible for—the Earned Income Tax Credit, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, expanded Child Tax Credits? What would you need to know about Junior’s family—income, state of residence, tax-filing status—in order to determine exactly what they could receive?

Daughter of Celia and Hector, Sister of Junior, Vicki, Gloria, Alejandro and Carmen

As the eldest daughter, Emilia spent a great deal of her childhood helping her mother take care of the siblings and helping with the housework. Until the age of 14, she was a quiet, compliant child. At that point, however, Emilia began to change. Her mother did not know why and was too overwhelmed by the care of the younger children and the difficulties of adjusting to a new country and new cultural context to pay close attention, and her father was working a great deal. However, this is the point at which Emilia began an involvement with drugs, which continues to the present. Emilia is the mother of Joey, described below. Following the birth of Joey, as she struggled with substance use disorder, Emilia became pregnant again. After much anguish, but with great resolve, Emilia had an abortion. This has resulted in an estrangement from her family: in particular, her parents believe that she has committed a mortal sin and do not want her around their home.

• Emilia has been unable to complete treatment for addiction, despite an authentic desire to stop using drugs. It is often difficult for Emilia to secure a treatment spot quickly, when she is motivated to change, and the few treatment programs she has experienced have seldom been culturally-consistent with her identities or fully evidence-based.
• Because of her substance use history, Emilia lacks consistent work history. She did finish high school, but she has rarely worked since.
• As a Lawful Permanent Resident, Emilia’s drug problems could result in her judgment as a person of ‘poor moral character’, which, under U.S. immigration law, could result in denial of an application for U.S. citizenship, or even her deportation. While Hector and Celia do not understand these risks well, Emilia’s siblings, especially Junior and Alejandro, have a better sense of the potential repercussions if Emilia is arrested for drug offenses, but they do not know how to help their sister.
• Emilia is separated from her family due to their rejection of her following her abortion, leaving her with a limited social support system.
• Emilia needs to find a drug treatment program that will provide the guidance and supervision required to enable her to get and remain sober.
• Emilia wants to reestablish a relationship with her family.
• In the future, Emilia needs to secure training that would allow her to find a job that pays enough to support Joey and herself.
• Emilia needs ongoing therapeutic support to manage her recovery and effectively parent.
• How have Emilia’s identities, as a woman, Latina, migrant, and mother, contributed to her unique experiences with substance use disorder and recovery? How might these dimensions be leveraged as strengths, to support Emilia’s pursuit of her goals?
• Substance use disorder treatment is expensive, and, unless an individual is court-ordered to attend, it is difficult to find affordable options. Since Emilia does not have health insurance coverage, how could she obtain the treatment she needs? What options are available, if Emilia was in your community? How might you use a case like Emilia’s to advocate for expansion of substance use disorder treatment options? What messages and arguments could convince policymakers of the importance of these investments?
• How have changing attitudes about drugs and drug use altered the landscape for someone like Emilia, who is struggling with substance use disorder? How might your work with Emilia be different today, compared to a few decades ago?
• Emilia has little contact with Joey’s father, who she runs into only sporadically. Is she entitled to child support to help meet Joey’s financial needs? As Joey’s guardians, are her parents entitled to such assistance? Who could you turn to for help navigating the court system?

Daughter, Sister, Latina, Person with a Disability

When Vicki was 11, social workers from Child Protective Services visited the Sanchez house. Their identified client was actually Emilia; her problems had been brought to their attention by the school. But during that visit, they noted that Vicki’s behavior, which included repetitive motions and a failure to respond to her environment, warranted further assessment. They spoke with Vicki’s school and discovered that Vicki had, in fact, been attending special classes for students with disabilities. However, Vicki had not received therapeutic or developmental intervention—in or outside of school—to support her optimal functioning. Mrs. Sanchez, while aware of a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, seemed unaware of its ramifications. Speaking through Jr. at the time, she told the social workers that Vicki had been “touched,” but that she was still able to go to school and that “the other children help her.” As Vicki aged out of the school system, Celia directed her attention to Vicki’s care management, focusing on making her comfortable and keeping her content. This often means long hours in front of the television, although Vicki can also help with some household tasks and particularly enjoys working in her mother’s garden.

• Uncertainty about where Vicki will live when her parents are no longer able to take care of her
• Conflict between Vicki's parents over her ability to work (and little insight into Vicki’s preferences for how she spends her days)
• Lack of information about continuing educational or training services for Vicki as an adult
• Lack of companions outside her immediate family
• Develop a plan that will outline Vicki’s future and prepare for the time when her parents are no longer able to care for her.
• Move Vicki toward greater independence as she is able, involving Vicki as much as possible in these decisions.
• Find appropriate outside resources for Vicki, such as group homes, activity centers, and supported employment, to help her navigate adulthood and build strong relationships beyond her immediate family.
• Even if Mrs. Sanchez becomes convinced that Vicki could thrive in a group residential placement, these services for people who are developmentally disabled often have waiting lists. Since Mrs. Sanchez is unlikely to agree to group home placement for Vicki if there is uncertainty about whether the resources will be there to continue this going forward, investigate the status in your state. Is there a waiting list for these services?
• Early intervention is critical in supporting maximal functioning for those with autism, but, in Vicki’s case, services were delayed for a few years after initial diagnosis, because, as a non-citizen, Vicki was not eligible for Medicaid for her first five years as a Lawful Permanent Resident. This Medicaid change dates to 1996 and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. What were the arguments for this legislation at the time? How might you respond, in a case like Vicki’s? How are similar arguments playing out today, about immigrants’ eligibility for essential services?
• What legislative changes have been made in recent years to provide greater support for individuals with autism and their families? See the Department of Health and Human Services’ resources regarding the Combating Autism Act ( https://www.hhs.gov/autism/factsheet_autism_support.html ) for more information.

Daughter, Sister, Wife, Latina, Survivor

Gloria lives near her parents, with her husband, Leo. Leo and Gloria have been together for so long that everyone thinks of him as part of the family. Gloria’s sister, Carmen (see below), visits Gloria often at her house. For some time, Carmen has been concerned because Leo hits Gloria, often in her presence. When this happens, Gloria will send Carmen home. When Carmen returns the next day, she often finds Gloria bruised and cut, and Leo in the house, as if nothing has happened. Since these episodes began, Gloria has come to her parents’ house less and less and has many excuses for not coming over. Carmen has confronted Gloria about the need to get help, but Gloria responds that her relationship with Leo will get better when she stops making him mad.

She has considered divorce, but believes that the Church would not allow it, and she knows that it would be hard on her parents if she defied the Church’s teachings. She is also afraid to call the police, even when Leo becomes violent, because Leo is undocumented. In their community, local law enforcement often collaborate with the Department of Homeland Security, especially in domestic violence cases. As a result, Gloria is afraid that, if she called the police, Leo could end up in deportation proceedings. She wants the violence to stop, but she does not want her husband permanently removed from the United States.

• There is domestic violence in the home, endangering Gloria’s physical, mental, and social health.
• Gloria fears that her parents would abandon her if she pursued a divorce from Leo.
• Without a job, education beyond high school, or job training, Gloria has few financial prospects without Leo’s income.
• As many of her high school friends are having their second child, Gloria very much wants to be a mother, as well, but she is too afraid to bring a child into the violence of her home with Leo.
• End the violence, either by getting Leo to enter a batterers’ intervention program or by securing safe housing alternatives for Gloria.
• Connect Gloria to community resources, including health care and social supports.
• Address the barriers and fears Gloria encounters as she contemplates her options if she leaves the relationship.
• What are the arguments in favor of policies that promote cooperation between law enforcement and immigration officials, and how do such policies cause problems for immigrants and for social workers working with them? The Immigration Policy Center and American Immigration Council have some information about these local/federal agreements. You may also find coverage of policy debates in your local area, as well, as policymakers and advocates consider the human rights implications of such enforcement tools.
• What strategies and resources might help domestic violence programs to work in culturally-sensitive ways with Latinas, such as Gloria? How would your own identities affect your engagement with Gloria?

Son, Brother, Student, Latino

Alejandro recently graduated high school and lives at home, where he goes to technical school and works weekends and evenings selling cars. In high school, he was quite popular but something of a loner, primarily excelling in art. Alejandro makes money purely on commissions at his job and works very hard. He is fully bilingual in English and Spanish and is known as a resource for those in the immigrant community looking to purchase a car. He feels deeply obligated to help his parents, who have worked so hard for all of them. Alejandro has always been able to “disappear” into the family because the others were always so focused on more acute problems requiring immediate attention. However, Alejandro has a sense of unhappiness that he has decided to talk about to one of the social workers at the Center that he really likes.

• Even prior to the pandemic and its effects on his stress and isolation, Alejandro struggled with decreased energy and increased irritability.
• While he makes a good income, Alejandro dislikes his job in car sales and wants to pursue a different career.
• Alejandro has relatively few friends and has never had a romantic relationship. He has questions about his sexuality but did not feel that he fit in on the few occasions he tried out a gay club a few towns away from home.
• Get a full physical, drawing on the insurance coverage he has through his place of business, to determine if there is any physical explanation for how he feels emotionally.
• Explore the possibility of pursuing his artistic interests professionally, including through the completion of additional training and/or preparation of portfolios that could be leveraged into employment.
• If Alejandro needs mental health treatment to address his emotional well-being, laws requiring insurance parity for physical and mental health treatment will be instrumental in governing the kind of coverage he has available. What are the federal regulations that require parity? What do parity requirements look like in your state?
• Alejandro is particularly worried about his parents’ economic situation, particularly as he sees his father struggle physically at his job. He knows a fair amount about the U.S. economy and social policy systems from his classes in high school and college, and he wonders if his parents will be eligible for Social Security and Medicare when they reach retirement age. What factors determine if Hector and Celia will receive these social insurance benefits?
• While increasing attention to intersectionality has contributed to more resources for people of color and immigrants who are LGBTQ+, it can be difficult for people to find strong supports at these intersections. In your community, what organizations are working on queer rights within immigrant communities, and vice versa? How might you help Alejandro connect to allies as he navigates his own sexuality?

Daughter, Sister, Latina, Deaf Person

As a result of rubella contracted by Celia when she was pregnant, Carmen has a profound hearing impairment. Diagnosed early on when a heavy pan clattered to the floor and she did not respond, social workers were able to assist the family in finding resources to support Carmen’s development. However, the School that Carmen attended taught her American Sign Language (ASL), which her parents do not understand much at all, and which few of her siblings know fluently. Nevertheless, Carmen is very close to her family. Carmen’s school prepared her well for a college curriculum, and Carmen’s teachers are unanimous that she is bright and well-equipped to succeed in higher education. After a great deal of anguish about leaving, Carmen has decided to go to college some distance away. She will be the first child to leave the family’s home community. Carmen is excited about the opportunities in her future and anxious about the changes and how she’ll manage them alone.

• There is still some uncertainty about the finances of Carmen’s higher education. She does not know the full financial aid package she’ll receive, and she does not know how she’ll afford to travel to and from the school she has chosen (largely for its success in working with and cultivating community around deaf students).
• While she has decided on a university, Carmen is uncertain about her career options. She has few role models of deaf professionals outside educators, and she wants to explore more possibilities.
• Carmen’s close connections to her family members are strained by her impending departure, particularly as they deal with their own anxieties about the distance and uncertainty.
• Help Carmen continue to develop her self-advocacy skills and connect with mentors who can guide her decision-making.
• Support Carmen’s investigation of career options, using your assessment skills to determine areas of strong interest, talent, and skills.
• Because Carmen’s parents are not citizens, is she eligible for federal financial aid? What are the rules regarding financial aid eligibility for immigrant students?
• What supports does your higher educational institution provide to first-generation college students like Carmen? For students with disabilities? What kinds of modifications and assistance could Carmen expect to receive if she enrolled at your college? How might these influence the likelihood of her college success?
• How could you engage with Carmen separately, Celia and Hector as her parents, and with the entire family unit, as they face this large change in their lives?

Child, Son, Grandson, Nephew

Joey Sanchez, age 4, is a happy, healthy child who loves Lego and stories about the Incredible Hulk. He loves it when his Uncle Alejandro (whom he calls Ayo) reads to him from the latest adventures of the Hulk and can often be found in front of the television, watching old reruns of the adventures of the Hulk. When Joey was born , he displayed signs of drug exposure. This prompted the social worker at the hospital to take Joey into custody. Until his first court hearing when he was three months old, Joey was in foster care. During this time, his mother, Emilia, was remanded to drug treatment, which she only partially completed. His father was nowhere to be found. Thus, Joey was placed in kinship care with his grandparents, where he remains. His grandparents are in the process of adopting Joey since, under the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1998, there must be some disposition of Joey’s case. Joey’s mother (Emilia) understands that her life is too unstable for her to be a responsible parent, but she would still like to work towards regaining a parental role in Joey’s life. She has continued to seek regular visitations with Joey during the intervening months, and she is committed to continuing her recovery process so that she can reunite with Joey permanently.

• While still too young to understand all the dynamics, Joey is a bright, curious, loving child. He is happy at his grandparents’ house and thrives with Celia’s love, but he also feels a bond to Emilia, whose affection for him is authentic and evident.
• Joey will start school in the next several months, and he is anxious about being away from Celia during the school day.
• Joey’s grandparents have every intention of adopting him, while his mother would like to regain custody. These diverging aims create conflict in the Sanchez family.
• All the adults in Joey’s life want to see him have a strong start to his education.
• What considerations should the child welfare system take in deciding to whom to award custody of Joey? Does the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1998 provide the child welfare system with guidelines for resolving these kinds of cases?
• What special services might Joey need in school, as he copes with his attachment instabilities and lack of formal pre-kindergarten preparation? How can Celia and Hector best navigate the school resources to advocate for Joey?
• What types of income and social supports would Hector and Celia be eligible for, if they take full custody of Joey? What resources are available to help them as custodial grandparents?

Son, Cousin, Nephew, Immigrant, Latino

Roberto is a cousin to the Sanchez children and a nephew to Celia. He came to the United States across the border in Texas and is undocumented. As a young boy, he learned enough English from conversing with English-speaking tourists that he has been able, with his uncle’s help, to find day work. Injured during the traumatic border crossing and without adequate medical care in childhood or today, Roberto is plagued by a host of medical problems, including debilitating back pain and poor eyesight. Recently, he fell off a roof he was working on. Had he been in the country legally, he would have certainly received worker’s compensation, but, as it was, he was not even paid for the day’s work he had put in, and he was afraid to say anything to the boss, who was paying him in cash. He worries now that these medical concerns will make it harder for him to secure and keep employment. The Sanchez family is worried too. They are harboring an undocumented worker and do not know what will happen if the immigration authorities find out. Their landlord is very strict about non-family living in the house and tells the family he can charge extra rent if he finds such persons in residence. He insists that this is in the rental contract, but Mrs. Sanchez does not read English, and the contract language is not comprehensible to Mr. Sanchez. At the same time, the Sanchez family cannot imagine putting Roberto out of their house.

• Roberto’s health makes it difficult for him to work regularly, but he is not eligible for income supports. Even when Roberto’s employers refuse to pay him for work that he has completed, which happens fairly frequently, he is afraid to complain, because he thinks that his employers know that he is in the country illegally and may report him.
• Roberto is unable to receive medical care except in the event of true life-threatening emergencies, due to his status as an undocumented worker.
• Roberto knows that he is increasing the crowding in the Sanchez household and he wants to take the pressure off them by finding his own place to live, but he does not know how he can afford this, or whether he can even sign a contract as an undocumented immigrant.
• Roberto would like to legalize his status in the U.S. He does not know if this is even possible, and he does not know how to start this process.
• Find a job that produces as little strain on his health as possible.
• Explore any options to pursue legal immigration status.
• Find some help for his medical problems, through a medical service that will not ask him questions about his immigration status.
• Stay out of the way of the landlord, who is unaware of his presence in the home, or, ideally, find alternative housing.
• What legal remedies does Roberto have when his employers fail to pay him? Does he have a right to be paid, since he does not have work authorization in the U.S.? What about his workplace injury; are undocumented workers entitled to the same health and safety protections as citizen workers? To workers’ compensation? What organizations might be able to help Roberto in these situations?
• What health care resources are available to immigrants, without regard to their immigration status? How have recent changes--including those catalyzed by the pandemic—affected immigrants’ eligibility for and experiences with health care services in the United States?
• How might someone like Roberto be affected by the passage of federal immigration reform? What types of policy changes would be most beneficial to someone in his situation?

Review each family member's social supports through their own ecomap.

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Critical Thinking Questions

These core questions, specific to each client, will help you better understand and assess your client. Refer back to your answers throughout your assessment.

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A mother advocated strongly for her daughter's special education placement at a new school, but now appears under-involved to the teachers. The classroom and resource room teachers disagree about whether to retain the girl in second grade, and the classroom teacher must make a recommendation to the principal, knowing the family has opposed retention in the past.

Bilingual Voices and Parent Classroom Choices

Ines, a Spanish speaker feels responsible for her daughter's trouble in an all-English first grade classroom. Based on advice from her daughter's teacher, who believes a bilingual placement might be best, Ines reads with Nina in Spanish, but is uncertain this is the right thing to do. How can parents and teachers reconcile their differences about bilingual education?

Defining “Fine”—Communicating Academic Progress to Parents

Molly is surprised when her son's teacher recommends he attend summer school. She thought he was doing just fine and the family had been doing a lot to make the home a rich reading environment. How can teachers better communicate academic progress with parents? How can administrators support teachers in this effort?

Setting Standards at Porter Road School

A fourth grade teacher weighs the advantages and disadvantages of a mandated state educational test on her students. She must weigh the conflicting perspectives of parents, students, community members, and her teaching colleagues to define her own stance in regard to the test and to present her thoughts to the school principal.

School Won't Let Mom Talk About Her Casino Job

A middle school principal will not allow a single mother employed by the local casino to address her daughter's class during Career Week because he is concerned about promoting gambling. How can this school reorganize to serve and respect all families?

Reaching out to the Only One out There

Brian is struggling with his sexual orientation and confronts Jacob, a teacher whom he suspects is gay. Jacob reveals his sexual orientation to Brian and when Brian reports this information to his mother, Jill, she demands her son to withdraw from extracurricular activities led by a gay teacher. How can Jacob, knowing the risks of suicide among gay youth, best support Brian and gain Jill's confidence?

What's Going on With Tomasito?

Tomasito's embarrassment at having his parents drop by the school limits the development of a strong, trusting, and communicative parent-teacher relationship. Shy and quiet Tomasito does not share information about his home life with his teacher who in turn holds many misconceptions about his home context. How can teacher and family communicate better?

Friction at Madison Family Literacy Program

Noreen, an early childhood teacher, arranges free speech therapy for young Junie. She volunteers to take Junie to the therapist, but when Junie's mother fails to pick up her daughter Noreen lashes out with an angry phone message, threatening to call the Department of Social Services. How can the two make the situation better and what could have prevented it?

What Words Don't Say

Martin, an African-American student struggles with peer problems at his elementary school. He experiences racism and classism. How can Martin's mother and his teacher dialogue about sensitive issues?

Resolving Issues at Johnson Elementary School

The director of a Parent Resource Center is concerned to hear that a number of parents are boycotting the program because they think the parent coordinator used her school connections to place her son in a gifted science class. How can the director and principal ease the tension?

Suspension at Aurora Middle School

Khoi, a well behaved student who recently emigrated from a Vietnamese refugee camp, is suspended from Aurora Middle School because he stood near a fight. His mother Mai feels helpless because she speaks limited English, and only knows that her son was unjustly suspended. What is the school's role in supporting culturally diverse families?

Tim Kelly: A School Responds to a Family in Need

Tim Kelly, a first grade student, comes to school hungry, dirty, emotionally needy, and academically unprepared. His teacher believes his lack of care at home is contributing to his poor school performance. How can a teacher individualize parent involvement?

Erik's first grade teacher is concerned about his intentional aggression towards other children and communicates regularly with Erik's mother about it. Subtle differences in beliefs between Erik's mother and teacher leave both feeling unsatisfied in their attempts to help Erik. How can the two build a partnership to change Erik's behavior?

© 2016 Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College Published by Harvard Family Research Project

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Defining Family: A Case Study Activity

• Emily Ruehs-Navarro
• Sarah Friedman

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Learning Goals and Assessments

Learning Goal(s):

• Goal 1: Students will be able to challenge normative definitions of the family.
• Goal 2: Identify the various institutions and social groups that define families currently and evaluate how family groups are impacted by these definitions.
• Goal 3: Reflect on the importance of defining families and the barriers faced by social groups who do not meet societal definitions of family

Goal Assessment(s):

• Assessment 1: Through discussion of case studies, students will identify social groups that consider themselves family, yet do not fall into many definitions..
• Assessment 2: Students will create a list of scenarios in which the definition of family is important. They will then identify which institutions have the power to create the definition in each scenario.
• Assessment 3: Through small group and class conversations, students will identify how social groups in the case study do or do not have access to resources based on normative definitions of families.

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Methodology

• What Is a Case Study? | Definition, Examples & Methods

What Is a Case Study? | Definition, Examples & Methods

Published on May 8, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on November 20, 2023.

A case study is a detailed study of a specific subject, such as a person, group, place, event, organization, or phenomenon. Case studies are commonly used in social, educational, clinical, and business research.

A case study research design usually involves qualitative methods , but quantitative methods are sometimes also used. Case studies are good for describing , comparing, evaluating and understanding different aspects of a research problem .

Table of contents

When to do a case study, step 1: select a case, step 2: build a theoretical framework, step 3: collect your data, step 4: describe and analyze the case, other interesting articles.

A case study is an appropriate research design when you want to gain concrete, contextual, in-depth knowledge about a specific real-world subject. It allows you to explore the key characteristics, meanings, and implications of the case.

Case studies are often a good choice in a thesis or dissertation . They keep your project focused and manageable when you don’t have the time or resources to do large-scale research.

You might use just one complex case study where you explore a single subject in depth, or conduct multiple case studies to compare and illuminate different aspects of your research problem.

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Once you have developed your problem statement and research questions , you should be ready to choose the specific case that you want to focus on. A good case study should have the potential to:

• Provide new or unexpected insights into the subject
• Challenge or complicate existing assumptions and theories
• Propose practical courses of action to resolve a problem
• Open up new directions for future research

TipIf your research is more practical in nature and aims to simultaneously investigate an issue as you solve it, consider conducting action research instead.

Unlike quantitative or experimental research , a strong case study does not require a random or representative sample. In fact, case studies often deliberately focus on unusual, neglected, or outlying cases which may shed new light on the research problem.

Example of an outlying case studyIn the 1960s the town of Roseto, Pennsylvania was discovered to have extremely low rates of heart disease compared to the US average. It became an important case study for understanding previously neglected causes of heart disease.

However, you can also choose a more common or representative case to exemplify a particular category, experience or phenomenon.

Example of a representative case studyIn the 1920s, two sociologists used Muncie, Indiana as a case study of a typical American city that supposedly exemplified the changing culture of the US at the time.

While case studies focus more on concrete details than general theories, they should usually have some connection with theory in the field. This way the case study is not just an isolated description, but is integrated into existing knowledge about the topic. It might aim to:

• Exemplify a theory by showing how it explains the case under investigation
• Expand on a theory by uncovering new concepts and ideas that need to be incorporated
• Challenge a theory by exploring an outlier case that doesn’t fit with established assumptions

To ensure that your analysis of the case has a solid academic grounding, you should conduct a literature review of sources related to the topic and develop a theoretical framework . This means identifying key concepts and theories to guide your analysis and interpretation.

There are many different research methods you can use to collect data on your subject. Case studies tend to focus on qualitative data using methods such as interviews , observations , and analysis of primary and secondary sources (e.g., newspaper articles, photographs, official records). Sometimes a case study will also collect quantitative data.

Example of a mixed methods case studyFor a case study of a wind farm development in a rural area, you could collect quantitative data on employment rates and business revenue, collect qualitative data on local people’s perceptions and experiences, and analyze local and national media coverage of the development.

The aim is to gain as thorough an understanding as possible of the case and its context.

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In writing up the case study, you need to bring together all the relevant aspects to give as complete a picture as possible of the subject.

How you report your findings depends on the type of research you are doing. Some case studies are structured like a standard scientific paper or thesis , with separate sections or chapters for the methods , results and discussion .

Others are written in a more narrative style, aiming to explore the case from various angles and analyze its meanings and implications (for example, by using textual analysis or discourse analysis ).

In all cases, though, make sure to give contextual details about the case, connect it back to the literature and theory, and discuss how it fits into wider patterns or debates.

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Normal distribution
• Degrees of freedom
• Null hypothesis
• Discourse analysis
• Control groups
• Mixed methods research
• Non-probability sampling
• Quantitative research
• Ecological validity

Research bias

• Rosenthal effect
• Implicit bias
• Cognitive bias
• Selection bias
• Negativity bias
• Status quo bias

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• v.7(2); 2019

Fundamentals of case study research in family medicine and community health

Sergi fàbregues.

1 Department of Psychology and Education, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

Michael D Fetters

2 Department of Family Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

The aim of this article is to introduce family medicine researchers to case study research, a rigorous research methodology commonly used in the social and health sciences and only distantly related to clinical case reports. The article begins with an overview of case study in the social and health sciences, including its definition, potential applications, historical background and core features. This is followed by a 10-step description of the process of conducting a case study project illustrated using a case study conducted about a teaching programme executed to teach international family medicine resident learners sensitive examination skills. Steps for conducting a case study include (1) conducting a literature review; (2) formulating the research questions; (3) ensuring that a case study is appropriate; (4) determining the type of case study design; (5) defining boundaries of the case(s) and selecting the case(s); (6) preparing for data collection; (7) collecting and organising the data; (8) analysing the data; (9) writing the case study report; and (10) appraising the quality. Case study research is a highly flexible and powerful research tool available to family medicine researchers for a variety of applications.

Significance statement

Given their potential for answering ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions about complex issues in their natural setting, case study designs are being increasingly used in the health sciences. Conducting a case study can, however, be a complex task because of the possibility of combining multiple methods and the need to choose between different types of case study designs. In order to introduce family medicine and community health researchers to the fundamentals of case study research, this article reviews its definition, potential applications, historical background and main characteristics. It follows on with a practical, step-by-step description of the case study process that will be useful to researchers interested in implementing this research design in their own practice.

Introduction

This article provides family medicine and community health researchers a concise resource to conduct case study research. The article opens with an overview of case study in the social and health sciences, including its definition, potential applications, historical background and core features. This is followed by a 10-step description of the process of conducting a case study project, as described in the literature. These steps are illustrated using a case study about a teaching programme executed to teach international medical learners sensitive examination skills. The article ends with recommendations of useful articles and textbooks on case study research.

Origins of case study research

Case study is a research design that involves an intensive and holistic examination of a contemporary phenomenon in a real-life setting. 1–3 It uses a variety of methods and multiple data sources to explore, describe or explain a single case bounded in time and place (ie, an event, individual, group, organisation or programme). A distinctive feature of case study is its focus on the particular characteristics of the case being studied and the contextual aspects, relationships and processes influencing it. 4 Here we do not include clinical case reports as these are beyond the scope of this article. While distantly related to clinical case reports commonly used to report unusual clinical case presentations or findings, case study is a research approach that is frequently used in the social sciences and health sciences. In contrast to other research designs, such as surveys or experiments, a key strength of case study is that it allows the researcher to adopt a holistic approach—rather than an isolated approach—to the study of social phenomena. As argued by Yin, 3 case studies are particularly suitable for answering ‘how’ research questions (ie, how a treatment was received) as well as ‘why’ research questions (ie, why the treatment produced the observed outcomes).

Given its potential for understanding complex processes as they occur in their natural setting, case study increasingly is used in a wide range of health-related disciplines and fields, including medicine, 5 nursing, 6 health services research 1 and health communication. 7 With regard to clinical practice and research, a number of authors 1 5 8 have highlighted how insights gained from case study designs can be used to describe patients’ experiences regarding care, explore health professionals’ perceptions regarding a policy change, and understand why medical treatments and complex interventions succeed or fail.

In anthropology and sociology, case study as a research design was introduced as a response to the prevailing view of quantitative research as the primary way of undertaking research. 9 From its beginnings, social scientists saw case study as a method to obtain comprehensive accounts of social phenomena from participants. In addition, it could complement the findings of survey research. Between the 1920s and 1960s, case study became the predominant research approach among the members of the Department of Sociology of the University of Chicago, widely known as ‘The Chicago School’. 10 11 During this period, prominent sociologists, such as Florian Znaniecki, William Thomas, Everett C Hughes and Howard S Becker, undertook a series of innovative case studies (including classical works such as The Polish peasant in Europe and America or Boys in White ), which laid the foundations of case study designs as implemented today.

In the 1970s, case study increasingly was adopted in the USA and UK in applied disciplines and fields, such as education, programme evaluation and public policy research. 12 As a response to the limitations of quasi-experimental designs for undertaking comprehensive programme evaluations, researchers in these disciplines saw in case studies—either alone or in combination with experimental designs—an opportunity to gain additional insights into the outcomes of programme implementation. In the mid-1980s and early 1990s, the case study approach became recognised as having its own ‘logic of design’ (p46). 13 This period coincides with the publication of a considerable number of influential articles 14–16 and textbooks 4 17 18 on case study research.

These publications were instrumental in shaping contemporary case study practice, yet they reflected divergent views about the nature of case study, including how it should be defined, designed and implemented (see Yazan 19 for a comparison of the perspectives of Yin, Merriam and Stake, three leading case study methodologists). What these publications have in common is that case study revolves around four key features.

First, case study examines a specific phenomenon in detail by performing an indepth and intensive analysis of the selected case. The rationale for case study designs, rather than more expansive designs such as surveys, is that the researcher is interested in investigating the particularity of a case, that is, the unique attributes that define an event, individual, group, organisation or programme. 2 Second, case study is conducted in natural settings where people meet, interact and change their perceptions over time. The use of the case study design is a choice in favour of ‘maintaining the naturalness of the research situation and the natural course of events’ (p177). 20

Third, case study assumes that a case under investigation is entangled with the context in which it is embedded. This context entails a number of interconnected processes that cannot be disassociated from the case, but rather are part of the study. The case study researcher is interested in understanding how and why such processes take place and, consequently, uncovering the interactions between a case and its context. Research questions concerning how and why phenomena occur are particularly appropriate in case study research. 3

Fourth, case study encourages the researcher to use a variety of methods and data types in a single study. 20 21 These can be solely qualitative, solely quantitative or a mixture of both. The latter option allows the researcher to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the case and improve the accuracy of the findings. The four above-mentioned key features of case study are shown in table 1 , using the example of a mixed methods case study evaluation. 22

Key features of case study as presented by Shultz et al 22

There are many potential applications for case study research. While often misconstrued as having only an exploratory role, case study research can be used for descriptive and explanatory research (p7–9). 3 Family medicine and community health researchers can use case study research for evaluating a variety of educational programmes, clinical programmes or community programmes.

Case study illustration from family medicine

In the featured study, Japanese family medicine residents received standardised patient instructor-based training in female breast, pelvic, male genital and prostate examinations as part of an international training collaboration to launch a new family medicine residency programme. 22 From family medicine residents, trainers and staff, the authors collected and analysed data from post-training feedback, semistructured interviews and a web-based questionnaire. While the programme was perceived favourably, they noted barriers to reinforcement in their home training programme, and taboos regarding gender-specific healthcare appear as barriers to implementing a similar programme in the home institution.

A step-by-step description of the process of carrying out a case study

As shown in table 2 and illustrated using the article by Shultz et al , 22 case study research generally includes 10 steps. While commonly conducted in this order, the steps do not always occur linearly as data collection and analysis may occur over several iterations or implemented with a slightly different order.

Ten steps for conducting a case study

SPI, standardised patient instructor.

Step 1. Conduct a literature review

During the literature review, researchers systematically search for publications, select those most relevant to the study’s purpose, critically appraise them and summarise the major themes. The literature review helps researchers ascertain what is and is not known about the phenomenon under study, delineate the scope and research questions of the study, and develop an academic or practical justification for the study. 23

Step 2. Formulate the research questions

Research questions critically define in operational terms what will be researched and how. They focus the study and play a key role in guiding design decisions. Key decisions include the case selection and choice of a case study design most suitable for the study. According to Fraenkel et al , 24 the key attributes of good research questions are (1) feasibility, (2) clarity, (3) significance, (4) connection to previous research identified in the literature and (5) compliance with ethical research standards.

Step 3. Ensure that a case study is appropriate

Before commencing the study, researchers should ensure that case study design embodies the most appropriate strategy for answering the study questions. The above-noted four key features—in depth examination of phenomena, naturalness, a focus on context and the use of a combination of methods—should be reflected in the research questions as well as subsequent design decisions.

Step 4. Determine the type of case study design

Researchers need to choose a specific case study design. Sometimes, researchers may define the case first (step 5), for example, in a programme evaluation, and the case may need to be defined before determining the type. Yin’s 3 typology is based on two dimensions, whether the study will examine a single case or multiple cases, and whether the study will focus on a single or multiple units of analysis. Figure 1 illustrates these four types of design using a hypothetical example of a programme evaluation. Table 3 shows an example of each type from the literature.

Examples of published studies using the four types of case study designs suggested by Yin 3

Types of case study designs. 3 21

In type 1 holistic single case design , researchers examine a single programme as the sole unit of analysis. In type 2 embedded single case design , the interest is not exclusively in the programme, but also in its different subunits, including sites, staff and participants. These subunits constitute the range of units of analysis. In type 3 holistic multiple case design , researchers conduct a within and cross-case comparison of two or more programmes, each of which constitutes a single unit of analysis. A major strength of multiple case designs is that they enable researchers to develop an in depth description of each case and to identify patterns of variation and similarity between the cases. Multiple case designs are likely to have stronger internal validity and generate more insightful findings than single case designs. They do this by allowing ‘examination of processes and outcomes across many cases, identification of how individual cases might be affected by different environments, and the specific conditions under which a finding may occur’ (p583). 25 In type 4 embedded multiple case design , a variant of the holistic multiple case design, researchers perform a detailed examination of the subunits of each programme, rather than just examining each case as a whole.

Step 5. Define the boundaries of the case(s) and select the case(s)

Miles et al 26 define a case as ‘a phenomenon of some sort occurring in a bounded context’ (p28). What is and is not the case and how the case fits within its broader context should be explicitly defined. As noted in step 4, this step may occur before choice of the case study type, and the process may actually occur in a back-and-forth fashion. A case can entail an individual, a group, an organisation, an institution or a programme. In this step, researchers delineate the spatial and temporal boundaries of the case, that is, ‘when and where it occurred, and when and what was of interest’ (p390). 9 Aside from ensuring the coherence and consistency of the study, bounding the case ensures that the planned research project is feasible in terms of time and resources. Having access to the case and ensuring ethical research practice are two central considerations in case selection. 1

Step 6. Prepare to collect data

Before beginning the data collection, researchers need a study protocol that describes in detail the methods of data collection. The protocol should emphasise the coherence between the data collection methods and the research questions. According to Yin, 3 a case study protocol should include (1) an overview of the case study, (2) data collection procedures, (3) data collection questions and (4) a guide for the case study report. The protocol should be sufficiently flexible to allow researchers to make changes depending on the context and specific circumstances surrounding each data collection method.

Step 7. Collect and organise the data

While case study is often portrayed as a qualitative approach to research (eg, interviews, focus groups or observations), case study designs frequently rely on multiple data sources, including quantitative data (eg, surveys or statistical databases). A growing number of authors highlight the ways in which the use of mixed methods within case study designs might contribute to developing ‘a more complete understanding of the case’ (p902), 21 shedding light on ‘the complexity of a case’ (p118) 27 or increasing ‘the internal validity of a study’ (p6). 1 Guetterman and Fetters 21 explain how a qualitative case study can also be nested within a mixed methods design (ie, be considered the qualitative component of the design). An interesting strategy for organising multiple data sources is suggested by Yin. 3 He recommends using a case study database in which different data sources (eg, audio files, notes, documents or photographs) are stored for later retrieval or inspection. See guidance from Creswell and Hirose 28 for conducting a survey and qualitative data collection in mixed methods and DeJonckheere 29 on semistructured interviewing.

Step 8. Analyse the data

Bernard and Ryan 30 define data analysis as ‘the search for patterns in data and for ideas that help explain why these patterns are there in the first place’ (p109). Depending on the case study design, analysis of the qualitative and quantitative data can be done concurrently or sequentially. For the qualitative data, the first step of the analysis involves segmenting the data into coding units, ascribing codes to data segments and organising the codes in a coding scheme. 31 Depending on the role of theory in the study, an inductive, data-driven approach can be used where meaning is found in the data, or a deductive, concept-driven approach can be adopted where predefined concepts derived from the literature, or previous research, are used to code the data. 32 The second step involves searching for patterns across codes and subsets of respondents, so major themes are identified to describe, explain or predict the phenomenon under study. Babchuk 33 provides a step-by-step guidance for qualitative analysis in this issue. When conducting a single case study, the within-case analysis yields an in depth, thick description of the case. When the study involves multiple cases, the cross-comparison analysis elicits a description of similarities and divergence between cases and may generate explanations and theoretical predictions regarding other cases. 26

For the quantitative part of the case study, data are entered in statistical software packages for conducting descriptive or inferential analysis. Guetterman 34 provides a step-by-step guidance on basic statistics. In case study designs where both data strands are analysed simultaneously, analytical techniques include pattern matching, explanation building, time-series analysis and creating logic models (p142–167). 3

Step 9. Write the case study report

The case study report should have the following three characteristics. First, the description of the case and its context should be sufficiently comprehensive to allow the reader to understand the complexity of the phenomena under study. 35 Second, the data should be presented in a concise and transparent manner to enable the reader to question, or to re-examine, the findings. 36 Third, the report should be adapted to the interests and needs of its primary audience or audiences (eg, academics, practitioners, policy-makers or funders of research). Yin 3 suggests six formats for organising case study reports, namely linear-analytic, comparative, chronological, theory building, suspense and unsequenced structures. To facilitate case transferability and applicability to other similar contexts, the case study report must include a detailed description of the case.

Step 10. Appraise quality

Although presented as the final step of the case study process, quality appraisal should be considered throughout the study. Multiple criteria and frameworks for appraising the quality of case study research have been suggested in the literature. Yin 3 suggests the following four criteria: construct validity (ie, the extent to which a study accurately measures the concepts that it claims to investigate), internal validity (ie, the strength of the relationship between variables and findings), external validity (ie, the extent to which the findings can be generalised) and reliability (ie, the extent to which the findings can be replicated by other researchers conducting the same study). Yin 37 also suggests using two separate sets of guidelines for conducting case study research and for appraising the quality of case study proposals. Stake 4 presents a 20-item checklist for critiquing case study reports, and Creswell and Poth 38 and Denscombe 39 outline a number of questions to consider. Since these quality frameworks have evolved from different disciplinary and philosophical backgrounds, the researcher’s approach should be coherent with the epistemology of the study. Figure 2 provides a quality appraisal checklist adapted from Creswell and Poth 38 and Denscombe. 39

Checklist for evaluating the quality of a case study. 38 39

The challenges to conducting case study research include rationalising the literature based on literature review, writing the research questions, determining how to bound the case, and choosing among various case study purposes and designs. Factors held in common with other methods include analysing and presenting the findings, particularly with multiple data sources.

Other resources

Resources with more in depth guidance on case study research include Merriam, 17 Stake 4 and Yin. 3 While each reflects a different perspective on case study research, they all provide useful guidance for designing and conducting case studies. Other resources include Creswell and Poth, 38 Swanborn 2 and Tight. 40 For mixed methods case study designs, Creswell and Plano Clark, 27 Guetterman and Fetters, 21 Luck et al , 6 and Plano Clark et al 41 provide guidance. Byrne and Ragin’s 42 The SAGE Handbook of Case-Based Methods and Mills et al ’s 43 Encyclopedia of case study research provide guidance for experienced case study researchers.

Conclusions

Family medicine and community health researchers engage in a wide variety of clinical, educational, research and administrative programmes. Case study research provides a highly flexible and powerful research tool to evaluate rigorously many of these endeavours and disseminate this information.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the help of Dick Edelstein and Marie-Hélène Paré in editing the final manuscript.

Correction notice: This article has been corrected. Reference details have been updated.

Contributors: SF and MDF conceived and drafted the manuscript, and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Funding: The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Competing interests: None declared.

Patient consent for publication: Not required.

Provenance and peer review: Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.

The Family History Guide Blog

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The Value of Case Studies in Family History

“Could I have an example, please?” This is one of the most common questions we all have, about almost any subject, whether or not we ask it out loud. Good examples help us connect the dots in our learning. They help us see relationships between pieces of information, how cause and effect works, and how we can apply principles in a variety of ways.

On the other hand, an example that’s unfocused or unclear might be confusing and worse than no example at all.

It’s much the same in family history. We can find some great tools or pieces of information, but how do we apply them in our own research? That’s where a good case study can be really valuable. It not only walks us through solving a research problem, but it also does the following:

• Highlights the principles that were used
• Explains why they were effective
• Offers suggestions on how you might use them in your research

As you might expect, not all case studies are created equal. Sometimes you have to dig a bit to identify the principles and how you can use them. Be prepared to use “intelligent filters”—skip past any parts that are repetitious or wandering, and read between the lines to find nuggets of information you might need. In some ways, it’s like mining a historical record for insights. The tips and trick you learn will prove valuable as you search for clues in your own ancestors’ stories.

In this newspaper case study, the author helps us find research clues by using the following elements:

• Background : This sets the stage for the person we are following.
• Comparisons : The primary account of the story is compared with accounts from other newspapers. This shows the value of working with multiple sources in research.
• Next Steps : The author suggests additional approaches and record searches. This is good for a brief case study, while more extensive ones will provide details of what was found in the extra research.
• Takeaway : This is the main point learned from the case study. You can add your own takeaways, from your analysis of what you have read.

Case Studies in The Family History Guide

There are plenty of links to research case studies in The Family History Guide, from basic record finds, to tracing immigrant ancestors, to breaking through walls with DNA results, and more. Many of them are included in the Country and Ethnic pages, plus more in the Vault.

Here are a few of the case studies to get you started, in video and article formats (videos noted with their timings):

• ExploreGenealogy: Overcoming a Family History Roadblock
• Family Locket: Hooking Teens on Research with Land Patents
• Family Locket: Putting Your Ancestors in their Place
• BYU FHL: Case Studies in Migration for Genealogists —67:54
• FamilySearch: Using English Records— 16:00
• FamilySearch: A French Case Study: Church Records —5:54
• Ancestry DNA:  Genealogy Brick Wall Case Study —21:26
• The Root: Who Were My Kin Born During Slavery?

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Article contents

Family, culture, and communication.

• V. Santiago Arias V. Santiago Arias College of Media and Communication, Texas Tech University
• , and  Narissra Maria Punyanunt-Carter Narissra Maria Punyanunt-Carter College of Media and Communication, Texas Tech University
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.504
• Published online: 22 August 2017

Through the years, the concept of family has been studied by family therapists, psychology scholars, and sociologists with a diverse theoretical framework, such as family communication patterns (FCP) theory, dyadic power theory, conflict, and family systems theory. Among these theories, there are two main commonalities throughout its findings: the interparental relationship is the core interaction in the familial system because the quality of their communication or coparenting significantly affects the enactment of the caregiver role while managing conflicts, which are not the exception in the familial setting. Coparenting is understood in its broader sense to avoid an extensive discussion of all type of families in our society. Second, while including the main goal of parenting, which is the socialization of values, this process intrinsically suggests cultural assimilation as the main cultural approach rather than intergroup theory, because intercultural marriages need to decide which values are considered the best to be socialized. In order to do so, examples from the Thai culture and Hispanic and Latino cultures served to show cultural assimilation as an important mediator of coparenting communication patterns, which subsequently affect other subsystems that influence individuals’ identity and self-esteem development in the long run. Finally, future directions suggest that the need for incorporating a nonhegemonic one-way definition of cultural assimilation allows immigration status to be brought into the discussion of family communication issues in the context of one of the most diverse countries in the world.

• parental communication
• dyadic power
• family communication systems
• cultural assimilation

Introduction

Family is the fundamental structure of every society because, among other functions, this social institution provides individuals, from birth until adulthood, membership and sense of belonging, economic support, nurturance, education, and socialization (Canary & Canary, 2013 ). As a consequence, the strut of its social role consists of operating as a system in a manner that would benefit all members of a family while achieving what is considered best, where decisions tend to be coherent, at least according to the norms and roles assumed by family members within the system (Galvin, Bylund, & Brommel, 2004 ). Notwithstanding, the concept of family can be interpreted differently by individual perceptions to an array of cultural backgrounds, and cultures vary in their values, behaviors, and ideas.

The difficulty of conceptualizing this social institution suggests that family is a culture-bound phenomenon (Bales & Parsons, 2014 ). In essence, culture represents how people view themselves as part of a unique social collective and the ensuing communication interactions (Olaniran & Roach, 1994 ); subsequently, culture provides norms for behavior having a tremendous impact on those family members’ roles and power dynamics mirrored in its communication interactions (Johnson, Radesky, & Zuckerman, 2013 ). Thus, culture serves as one of the main macroframeworks for individuals to interpret and enact those prescriptions, such as inheritance; descent rules (e.g., bilateral, as in the United States, or patrilineal); marriage customs, such as ideal monogamy and divorce; and beliefs about sexuality, gender, and patterns of household formation, such as structure of authority and power (Weisner, 2014 ). For these reasons, “every family is both a unique microcosm and a product of a larger cultural context” (Johnson et al., 2013 , p. 632), and the analysis of family communication must include culture in order to elucidate effective communication strategies to solve familial conflicts.

In addition, to analyze familial communication patterns, it is important to address the most influential interaction with regard to power dynamics that determine the overall quality of family functioning. In this sense, within the range of family theories, parenting function is the core relationship in terms of power dynamics. Parenting refers to all efforts and decisions made by parents individually to guide their children’s behavior. This is a pivotal function, but the quality of communication among people who perform parenting is fundamental because their internal communication patterns will either support or undermine each caregiver’s parenting attempts, individually having a substantial influence on all members’ psychological and physical well-being (Schrodt & Shimkowski, 2013 ). Subsequently, parenting goes along with communication because to execute all parenting efforts, there must be a mutual agreement among at least two individuals to conjointly take care of the child’s fostering (Van Egeren & Hawkins, 2004 ). Consequently, coparenting serves as a crucial predictor of the overall family atmosphere and interactions, and it deserves special attention while analyzing family communication issues.

Through the years, family has been studied by family therapists, psychology scholars, and sociologists, but interaction behaviors define the interpersonal relationship, roles, and power within the family as a system (Rogers, 2006 ). Consequently, family scholarship relies on a wide range of theories developed within the communication field and in areas of the social sciences (Galvin, Braithwaite, & Bylund, 2015 ) because analysis of communication patterns in the familial context offers more ecological validity that individuals’ self-report measures. As many types of interactions may happen within a family, there are many relevant venues (i.e., theories) for scholarly analysis on this subject, which will be discussed later in this article in the “ Family: Theoretical Perspectives ” section. To avoid the risk of cultural relativeness while defining family, this article characterizes family as “a long-term group of two or more people related through biological, legal, or equivalent ties and who enact those ties through ongoing interactions providing instrumental and/or emotional support” (Canary & Canary, 2013 , p. 5).

Therefore, the purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the most relevant theories in family communication to identify frustrations and limitations with internal communication. Second, as a case in point, the United States welcomes more than 50 million noncitizens as temporary visitors and admits approximately 1 million immigrants to live as lawful residents yearly (Fullerton, 2014 ), this demographic pattern means that nearly one-third of the population (102 million) comes from different cultural backgrounds, and therefore, the present review will incorporate culture as an important mediator for coparenting, so that future research can be performed to find specific techniques and training practices that are more suitable for cross-cultural contexts.

Family: Theoretical Perspectives

Even though the concept of family can be interpreted individually and differently in different cultures, there are also some commonalities, along with communication processes, specific roles within families, and acceptable habits of interactions with specific family members disregarding cultural differences. This section will provide a brief overview of the conceptualization of family through the family communication patterns (FCP) theory, dyadic power theory, conflict, and family systems theory, with a special focus on the interparental relationship.

Family Communication Patterns Theory

One of the most relevant approaches to address the myriad of communication issues within families is the family communication patterns (FCP) theory. Originally developed by McLeod and Chaffee ( 1973 ), this theory aims to understand families’ tendencies to create stable and predictable communication patterns in terms of both relational cognition and interpersonal behavior (Braithwaite & Baxter, 2005 ). Specifically, this theory focuses on the unique and amalgamated associations derived from interparental communication and its impact on parenting quality to determine FCPs and the remaining interactions (Young & Schrodt, 2016 ).

To illustrate FCP’s focus on parental communication, Schrodt, Witt, and Shimkowski ( 2014 ) conducted a meta-analysis of 74 studies (N = 14,255) to examine the associations between the demand/withdraw family communication patterns of interaction, and the subsequent individual, relational, and communicative outcomes. The cumulative evidence suggests that wife demand/husband withdraw and husband demand/wife withdraw show similar moderate correlations with communicative and psychological well-being outcomes, and even higher when both patterns are taken together (at the relational level). This is important because one of the main tenets of FCP is that familial relationships are drawn on the pursuit of coorientation among members. Coorientation refers to the cognitive process of two or more individuals focusing on and assessing the same object in the same material and social context, which leads to a number of cognitions as the number of people involved, which results in different levels of agreement, accuracy, and congruence (for a review, see Fitzpatrick & Koerner, 2005 ); for example, in dyads that are aware of their shared focus, two different cognitions of the same issue will result.

Hereafter, the way in which these cognitions are socialized through power dynamics determined socially and culturally by roles constitutes specific interdependent communication patterns among family members. For example, Koerner and Fitzpatrick ( 2006 ) provide a taxonomy of family types on the basis of coorientation and its impact on communication pattern in terms of the degree of conformity in those conversational tendencies. To wit, consensual families mostly agree for the sake of the hierarchy within a given family and to explore new points of view; pluralistic families allow members to participate equally in conversations and there is no pressure to control or make children’s decisions; protective families maintain the hierarchy by making decisions for the sake of achieving common family goals; and laissez-faire families, which are low in conversation and conformity orientation, allow family members to not get deeply involved in the family.

The analysis of family communication patterns is quintessential for family communication scholarly work because it influences forming an individual’s self concept in the long run. As a case in point, Young and Schrodt ( 2016 ) surveyed 181 young adults from intact families, where conditional and interaction effects between communication patterns and conformity orientation were observed as the main predictors of future romantic partners. Moreover, this study concluded that FCPs and interparental confirmation are substantial indicators of self-to-partner confirmation, after controlling for reciprocity of confirmation within the romantic relationship. As a consequence, FCP influences children’s and young adults’ perceptions of romantic behavior (e.g., Fowler, Pearson, & Beck, 2010 ); the quality of communication behavior, such as the degree of acceptation of verbal aggression in romantic dyads (e.g., Aloia & Solomon, 2013 ); gender roles; and conflict styles (e.g., Taylor & Segrin, 2010 ), and parental modeling (e.g., Young & Schrodt, 2016 ).

This suggests three important observations. First, family is a very complex interpersonal context, in which communication processes, specific roles within families, and acceptable habits of interactions with specific family members interact as subsystems (see Galvin et al., 2004 ; Schrodt & Shimkowski, 2013 ). Second, among those subsystems, the core interaction is the individuals who hold parenting roles (i.e., intact and post divorced families); the couple (disregarding particular sexual orientations), and, parenting roles have a reciprocal relationship over time (Le, McDaniel, Leavitt, & Feinberg, 2016 ). Communication between parenting partners is crucial for the development of their entire family; for example, Schrodt and Shimkowski ( 2013 ) conducted a survey with 493 young adult children from intact (N = 364) and divorced families (N = 129) about perceptions of interparental conflict that involves triangulation (the impression of being in the “middle” and feeling forced to display loyalty to one of the parents). Results suggest that supportive coparental communication positively predicts relational satisfaction with mothers and fathers, as well as mental health; on the other hand, antagonist and hostile coparental communication predicted negative marital satisfaction.

Consequently, “partners’ communication with one another will have a positive effect on their overall view of their marriage, . . . and directly result[ing in] their views of marital satisfaction” (Knapp & Daly, 2002 , p. 643). Le et al. ( 2016 ) conducted a longitudinal study to evaluate the reciprocal relationship between marital interaction and coparenting from the perspective of both parents in terms of support or undermining across the transition to parenthood from a dyadic perspective; 164 cohabiting heterosexual couples expecting their first child were analyzed from pregnancy until 36 months after birth. Both parents’ interdependence was examined in terms of three variables: gender difference analysis, stability over time in marriage and coparenting, and reciprocal associations between relationship quality and coparenting support or undermining. The findings suggest a long-term reciprocal association between relationship quality and coparenting support or undermining in heterosexual families; the quality of marriage relationship during prenatal stage is highly influential in coparenting after birth for both men and women; but, coparenting is connected to romantic relationship quality only for women.

Moreover, the positive association between coparenting and the parents’ relationship relates to the spillover hypothesis, which posits that the positive or negative factors in the parental subsystem are significantly associated with higher or lower marital satisfaction in the spousal subsystem, respectively. Ergo, overall parenting performance is substantially affected by the quality of marital communication patterns.

Dyadic Power

In addition, after analyzing the impact of marital interaction quality in families on marital satisfaction and future parental modeling, it is worth noting that marital satisfaction and coparenting are importantly mediated by power dynamics within the couple (Halstead, De Santis, & Williams, 2016 ), and even mediates marital commitment (e.g., Lennon, Stewart, & Ledermann, 2013 ). If the quality of interpersonal relationship between those individuals who hold parenting roles determines coparenting quality as well, then the reason for this association lies on the fact that virtually all intimate relationships are substantially characterized by power dynamics; when partners perceive more rewards than costs in the relationship, they will be more satisfied and significantly more committed to the relationship (Lennon et al., 2013 ). As a result, the inclusion of power dynamics in the analysis of family issues becomes quintessential.

For the theory of dyadic power, power in its basic sense includes dominance, control, and influence over others, as well as a means to meet survival needs. When power is integrated into dyadic intimate relationships, it generates asymmetries in terms of interdependence between partners due to the quality of alternatives provided by individual characteristics such as socioeconomic status and cultural characteristics such as gender roles. This virtually gives more power to men than women. Power refers to “the feeling derived from the ability to dominate, or control, the behavior, affect, and cognitions of another person[;] in consequence, this concept within the interparental relationship is enacted when one partner who controls resources and limiting the behavioral options of the other partner” (Lennon et al., 2013 , p. 97). Ergo, this theory examines power in terms of interdependence between members of the relationship: the partner who is more dependent on the other has less power in the relationship, which, of course, directly impact parenting decisions.

As a case in point, Worley and Samp ( 2016 ) examined the balance of decision-making power in the relationship, complaint avoidance, and complaint-related appraisals in 175 heterosexual couples. Findings suggest that decision-making power has a curvilinear association, in which individuals engaged in the least complaint avoidance when they were relatively equal to their partners in terms of power. In other words, perceptions of one another’s power potentially encourage communication efficacy in the interparental couple.

The analysis of power in intimate relationships, and, to be specific, between parents is crucial because it not only relates to marital satisfaction and commitment, but it also it affects parents’ dyadic coping for children. In fact, Zemp, Bodenmann, Backes, Sutter-Stickel, and Revenson ( 2016 ) investigated parents’ dyadic coping as a predictor of children’s internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and prosocial behavior in three independent studies. When there is a positive relationship among all three factors, the results indicated that the strongest correlation was the first one. Again, the quality of the marital and parental relationships has the strongest influence on children’s coping skills and future well-being.

From the overview of the two previous theories on family, it is worth addressing two important aspects. First, parenting requires an intensive great deal of hands-on physical care, attention to safety (Mooney-Doyle, Deatrick, & Horowitz, 2014 ), and interpretation of cues, and this is why parenting, from conception to when children enter adulthood, is a tremendous social, cultural, and legally prescribed role directed toward caregiving and endlessly attending to individuals’ social, physical, psychological, emotional, and cognitive development (Johnson et al., 2013 ). And while parents are making decisions about what they consider is best for all family members, power dynamics play a crucial role in marital satisfaction, commitment, parental modeling, and overall interparental communication efficacy in the case of postdivorce families. Therefore, the likelihood of conflict is latent within familial interactions while making decisions; indeed, situations in which family members agree on norms as a consensus is rare (Ritchie & Fitzpatrick, 1990 ).

In addition to the interparental and marital power dynamics that delineates family communication patterns, the familial interaction is distinctive from other types of social relationships in the unequaled role of emotions and communication of affection while family members interact and make decisions for the sake of all members. For example, Ritchie and Fitzpatrick ( 1990 ) provided evidence that fathers tended to perceive that all other family members agree with his decisions or ideas. Even when mothers confronted and disagreed with the fathers about the fathers’ decisions or ideas, the men were more likely to believe that their children agreed with him. When the children were interviewed without their parents, however, the majority of children agreed with the mothers rather than the fathers (Ritchie & Fitzpatrick, 1990 ). Subsequently, conflict is highly present in families; however, in general, the presence of conflict is not problematic per se. Rather, it is the ability to manage and recover from it and that could be problematic (Floyd, 2014 ).

One of the reasons for the role of emotions in interpersonal conflicts is explained by the Emotion-in-Relationships Model (ERM). This model states that feelings of bliss, satisfaction, and relaxation often go unnoticed due to the nature of the emotions, whereas “hot” emotions, such as anger and contempt, come to the forefront when directed at a member of an interpersonal relationship (Fletcher & Clark, 2002 ). This type of psychophysical response usually happens perhaps due to the different biophysical reactive response of the body compared to its reaction to positive ones (Floyd, 2014 ). There are two dimensions that define conflict. Conflict leads to the elicitation of emotions, but sometimes the opposite occurs: emotions lead to conflict. The misunderstanding or misinterpretation of emotions among members of a family can be a source of conflict, as well as a number of other issues, including personality differences, past history, substance abuse, mental or physical health problems, monetary issues, children, intimate partner violence, domestic rape, or maybe just general frustration due to recent events (Sabourin, Infante, & Rudd, 1990 ). In order to have a common understanding of this concept for the familial context in particular, conflict refers to as “any incompatibility that can be expressed by people related through biological, legal, or equivalent ties” (Canary & Canary, 2013 , p. 6). Thus, the concept of conflict goes hand in hand with coparenting.

There is a myriad of everyday family activities in which parents need to decide the best way to do them: sometimes they are minor, such as eating, watching TV, or sleeping schedules; others are more complicated, such as schooling. Certainly, while socializing and making these decisions, parents may agree or not, and these everyday situations may lead to conflict. Whether or not parents live together, it has been shown that “the extent to which children experience their parents as partners or opponents in parenting is related to children’s adjustment and well-being” (Gable & Sharp, 2016 , p. 1), because the ontology of parenting is materialized through socialization of values about every aspect and duty among all family members, especially children, to perpetuate a given society.

As the findings provided in this article show, the study of family communication issues is pivotal because the way in which those issues are solved within families will be copied by children as their values. Values are abstract ideas that delineate behavior toward the evaluation of people and events and vary in terms of importance across individuals, but also among cultures. In other words, their future parenting (i.e., parenting modeling) of children will replicate those same strategies for conflict solving for good or bad, depending on whether parents were supportive between each other. Thus, socialization defines the size and scope of coparenting.

The familial socialization of values encompasses the distinction between parents’ personal execution of those social appraisals and the values that parents want their children to adopt, and both are different things; nonetheless, familial socialization does not take place in only one direction, from parents to children. Benish-Weisman, Levy, and Knafo ( 2013 ) investigated the differentiation process—or, in other words, the distinction between parents’ own personal values and their socialization values and the contribution of children’s values to their parents’ socialization values. In this study, in which 603 Israeli adolescents and their parents participated, the findings suggest that parents differentiate between their personal values and their socialization values, and adolescents’ values have a specific contribution to their parents’ socialization values. As a result, socialization is not a unidirectional process affected by parents alone, it is an outcome of the reciprocal interaction between parents and their adolescent children, and the given importance of a given value is mediated by parents and their culture individually (Johnson et al., 2013 ). However, taking power dynamics into account does not mean that adolescents share the same level of decision-making power in the family; thus, socialization take place in both directions, but mostly from parents to children. Finally, it is worth noticing that the socialization of values in coparenting falls under the cultural umbrella. The next section pays a special attention to the role of culture in family communication.

The Role of Culture in Parenting Socialization of Values

There are many individual perceived realities and behaviors in the familial setting that may lead to conflict among members, but all of them achieve a common interpretation through culture; indeed, “all family conflict processes by broad cultural factors” (Canary & Canary, 2013 , p. 46). Subsequently, the goal of this section is to provide an overview of the perceived realities and behaviors that exist in family relationships with different cultural backgrounds. How should one approach the array of cultural values influencing parental communication patterns?

An interesting way of immersing on the role of culture in family communication patterns and its further socialization of values is explored by Schwartz ( 1992 ). The author developed a value system composed of 10 values operationalized as motivational goals for modern society: (a) self-direction (independence of thought and action); (b) stimulation (excitement, challenge, and novelty); (c) hedonism (pleasure or sensuous gratification); (d) achievement (personal success according to social standards); (e) power (social status, dominance over people and resources); (f) conformity (restraint of actions that may harm others or violate social expectations); (g) tradition (respect and commitment to cultural or religious customs and ideas); (h) benevolence (preserving and enhancing the welfare of people to whom one is close); (i) universalism (understanding, tolerance, and concern for the welfare of all people and nature); and (j) security (safety and stability of society, relationships, and self).

Later, Schwartz and Rubel ( 2005 ) applied this value structure, finding it to be commonly shared among over 65 countries. Nevertheless, these values are enacted in different ways by societies and genders about the extent to which men attribute more relevance to values of power, stimulation, hedonism, achievement, and self-direction, and the opposite was found for benevolence and universalism and less consistently for security. Also, it was found that all sex differences were culturally moderated, suggesting that cultural background needs to be considered in the analysis of coparental communication when socializing those values.

Even though Schwartz’s work was more focused on individuals and societies, it is a powerful model for the analysis of the role of culture on family communication and parenting scholarships. Indeed, Schwartz et al. ( 2013 ) conducted a longitudinal study with a sample of 266 Hispanic adolescents (14 years old) and their parents that looked at measures of acculturation, family functioning, and adolescent conduct problems, substance use, and sexual behavior at five time points. Results suggest that higher levels of acculturation in adolescents were linked to poorer family functioning; however, overall assimilation negatively predicted adolescent cigarette smoking, sexual activity, and unprotected sex. The authors emphasize the role of culture, and acculturation patterns in particular, in understanding the mediating role of family functioning and culture.

Ergo, it is crucial to address the ways in which culture affects family functioning. On top of this idea, Johnson et al. ( 2013 ) observed that Western cultures such as in the United States and European countries are oriented toward autonomy, favoring individual achievement, self-reliance, and self-assertiveness. Thus, coparenting in more autonomous countries will socialize to children the idea that achievement in life is an outcome of independence, resulting in coparenting communication behaviors that favor verbal praise and feedback over physical contact. As opposed to autonomy-oriented cultures, other societies, such as Asian, African, and Latin American countries, emphasize interdependence over autonomy; thus, parenting in these cultures promotes collective achievement, sharing, and collaboration as the core values.

These cultural orientations can be observed in parents’ definitions of school readiness and educational success; for Western parents, examples include skills such as counting, recognizing letters, or independently completing tasks such as coloring pictures, whereas for more interdependent cultures, the development of obedience, respect for authority, and appropriate social skills are the skills that parents are expecting their children to develop to evaluate school readiness. As a matter of fact, Callaghan et al. ( 2011 ) conducted a series of eight studies to evaluate the impact of culture on the social-cognitive skills of one- to three-year-old children in three diverse cultural settings such as Canada, Peru, and India. The results showed that children’s acquisition of specific cognitive skills is moderated by specific learning experiences in a specific context: while Canadian children were understanding the performance of both pretense and pictorial symbols skillfully between 2.5 and 3.0 years of age, on average, Peruvian and Indian children mastered those skills more than a year later. Notwithstanding, this finding does not suggest any kind of cultural superiority; language barriers and limitations derived from translation itself may influence meanings, affecting the results (Sotomayor-Peterson, De Baca, Figueredo, & Smith-Castro, 2013 ). Therefore, in line with the findings of Schutz ( 1970 ), Geertz ( 1973 ), Grusec ( 2002 ), Sotomayor-Peterson et al. ( 2013 ), and Johnson et al. ( 2013 ), cultural values provide important leverage for understanding family functioning in terms of parental decision-making and conflict, which also has a substantial impact on children’s cognitive development.

Subsequently, cultural sensitivity to the analysis of the familial system in this country needs to be specially included because cultural differences are part of the array of familial conflicts that may arise, and children experience real consequences from the quality of these interactions. Therefore, parenting, which is already arduous in itself, and overall family functioning significantly become troublesome when parents with different cultural backgrounds aim to socialize values and perform parenting tasks. The following section provides an account of these cross-cultural families.

Intercultural Families: Adding Cultural Differences to Interparental Communication

For a country such as the United States, with 102 million people from many different cultural backgrounds, the presence of cross-cultural families is on the rise, as is the likelihood of intermarriage between immigrants and natives. With this cultural diversity, the two most prominent groups are Hispanics and Asians, particular cases of which will be discussed next. Besides the fact that parenting itself is a very complex and difficult task, certainly the biggest conflict consists of making decisions about the best way to raise children in terms of their values with regard to which ethnic identity better enacts the values that parents believe their children should embrace. As a result, interracial couples might confront many conflicts and challenges due to cultural differences affecting marital satisfaction and coparenting.

Assimilation , the degree to which a person from a different cultural background has adapted to the culture of the hostage society, is an important phenomenon in intermarriage. Assimilationists observe that children from families in which one of the parents is from the majority group and the other one from the minority do not automatically follow the parent from the majority group (Cohen, 1988 ). Indeed, they follow their mothers more, whichever group she belongs to, because of mothers are more prevalent among people with higher socioeconomic status (Gordon, 1964 ; Portes, 1984 ; Schwartz et al., 2013 ).

In an interracial marriage, the structural and interpersonal barriers inhibiting the interaction between two parents will be reduced significantly if parents develop a noncompeting way to communicate and solve conflicts, which means that both of them might give up part of their culture or ethnic identity to reach consensus. Otherwise, the ethnic identity of children who come from interracial marriages will become more and more obscure (Saenz, Hwang, Aguirre, & Anderson, 1995 ). Surely, parents’ noncompeting cultural communication patterns are fundamental for children’s development of ethnic identity. Biracial children develop feelings of being outsiders, and then parenting becomes crucial to developing their strong self-esteem (Ward, 2006 ). Indeed, Gordon ( 1964 ) found that children from cross-racial or cross-ethnic marriages are at risk of developing psychological problems. In another example, Jognson and Nagoshi ( 1986 ) studied children who come from mixed marriages in Hawaii and found that the problems of cultural identification, conflicting demands in the family, and of being marginal in either culture still exist (Mann & Waldron, 1977 ). It is hard for those mixed-racial children to completely develop the ethnic identity of either the majority group or the minority group.

The question of how children could maintain their minority ethnic identity is essential to the development of ethnic identity as a whole. For children from interracial marriage, the challenge to maintain their minority ethnic identity will be greater than for the majority ethnic identity (Waters, 1990 ; Schwartz et al., 2013 ) because the minority-group spouse is more likely to have greater ethnic consciousness than the majority-group spouse (Ellman, 1987 ). Usually, the majority group is more influential than the minority group on a child’s ethnic identity, but if the minority parent’s ethnicity does not significantly decline, the child’s ethnic identity could still reflect some characteristics of the minority parent. If parents want their children to maintain the minority group’s identity, letting the children learn the language of the minority group might be a good way to achieve this. By learning the language, children form a better understanding of that culture and perhaps are more likely to accept the ethnic identity that the language represents (Xin & Sandel, 2015 ).

In addition to language socialization as a way to contribute to children’s identity in biracial families, Jane and Bochner ( 2009 ) indicated that family rituals and stories could be important in performing and transforming identity. Families create and re-create their identities through various kinds of narrative, in which family stories and rituals are significant. Festivals and rituals are different from culture to culture, and each culture has its own. Therefore, exposing children to the language, rituals, and festivals of another culture also could be helpful to form their ethnic identity, in order to counter problems of self-esteem derived from the feeling of being an outsider.

To conclude this section, the parenting dilemma in intercultural marriages consists of deciding which culture they want their children to be exposed to and what kind of heritage they want to pass to children. The following section will provide two examples of intercultural marriages in the context of American society without implying that there are no other insightful cultures that deserve analysis, but the focus on Asian-American and Hispanics families reflects the available literature (Canary & Canary, 2013 ) and its demographic representativeness in this particular context. In addition, in order to acknowledge that minorities within this larger cultural background deserve more attention due to overemphasis on larger cultures in scholarship, such as Chinese or Japanese cultures, the Thai family will provide insights into understanding the role of culture in parenting and its impact on the remaining familial interaction, putting all theories already discussed in context. Moreover, the Hispanic family will also be taken in account because of its internal pan-ethnicity variety.

An Example of Intercultural Parenting: The Thai Family

The Thai family, also known as Krob Krua, may consist of parents, children, paternal and maternal grandparents, aunts, uncles, grandchildren, in-laws, and any others who share the same home. Thai marriages usually are traditional, in which the male is the authority figure and breadwinner and the wife is in charge of domestic items and the homemaker. It has been noted that Thai mothers tend to be the major caregivers and caretakers in the family rather than fathers (Tulananda, Young, & Roopnarine, 1994 ). On the other hand, it has been shown that Thai mothers also tend to spoil their children with such things as food and comfort; Tulananda et al. ( 1994 ) studied the differences between American and Thai fathers’ involvement with their preschool children and found that American fathers reported being significantly more involved with their children than Thai fathers. Specifically, the fathers differed in the amount of socialization and childcare; Thai fathers reported that they obtained more external support from other family members than American fathers; also, Thai fathers were more likely to obtain support for assisting with daughters than sons.

Furthermore, with regard to the family context, Tulananda and Roopnarine ( 2001 ) noted that over the years, some attention has been focused on the cultural differences among parent-child behaviors and interactions; hereafter, the authors believed that it is important to look at cultural parent-child interactions because that can help others understand children’s capacity to socialize and deal with life’s challenges. As a matter of fact, the authors also noted that Thai families tend to raise their children in accordance with Buddhist beliefs. It is customary for young Thai married couples to live with either the wife’s parents (uxorilocal) or the husband’s parents (virilocal) before living on their own (Tulananda & Roopnarine, 2001 ). The process of developing ethnicity could be complicated. Many factors might influence the process, such as which parent is from the minority culture and the cultural community, as explained in the previous section of this article.

This suggests that there is a difference in the way that Thai and American fathers communicate with their daughters. As a case in point, Punyanunt-Carter ( 2016 ) examined the relationship maintenance behaviors within father-daughter relationships in Thailand and the United States. Participants included 134 American father-daughter dyads and 154 Thai father-daughter dyads. The findings suggest that when quality of communication was included in this relationship, both types of families benefit from this family communication pattern, resulting in better conflict management and advice relationship maintenance behaviors. However, differences were found: American fathers are more likely than American daughters to employ relationship maintenance behaviors; in addition, American fathers are more likely than Thai fathers to use relationship maintenance strategies.

As a consequence, knowing the process of ethnic identity development could provide parents with different ways to form children’s ethnic identity. More specifically, McCann, Ota, Giles, and Caraker ( 2003 ), and Canary and Canary ( 2013 ) noted that Southeast Asian cultures have been overlooked in communication studies research; these countries differ in their religious, political, and philosophical thoughts, with a variety of collectivistic views and religious ideals (e.g., Buddhism, Taoism, Islam), whereas the United States is mainly Christian and consists of individualistic values.

The Case of Hispanic/Latino Families in the United States

There is a need for including Hispanic/Latino families in the United States because of the demographic representativeness and trends of the ethnicity: in 2016 , Hispanics represent nearly 17% of the total U.S. population, becoming the largest minority group. There are more than 53 million Hispanics and Latinos in the United States; in addition, over 93% of young Hispanics and Latinos under the age of 18 hold U.S. citizenship, and more than 73,000 of these people turn 18 every month (Barreto & Segura, 2014 ). Furthermore, the current Hispanic and Latino population is spread evenly between foreign-born and U.S.-born individuals, but the foreign-born population is now growing faster than the number of Hispanic children born in the country (Arias & Hellmueller, 2016 ). This demographic trend is projected to reach one-third of the U.S. total population by 2060 ; therefore, with the growth of other minority populations in the country, the phenomenon of multiracial marriage and biracial children is increasing as well.

Therefore, family communication scholarship has an increasing necessity to include cultural particularities in the analysis of the familial system; in addition to the cultural aspects already explained in this article, this section addresses the influence of familism in Hispanic and Latino familial interactions, as well as how immigration status moderates the internal interactions, reflected in levels of acculturation, that affect these families negatively.

With the higher marriage and birth rates among Hispanics and Latinos living in the United States compared to non-Latino Whites and African American populations, the Hispanic familial system is perhaps the most stereotyped as being familistic (Glick & Van Hook, 2008 ). This family trait consists of the fact that Hispanics place a very high value on marriage and childbearing, on the basis of a profound commitment to give support to members of the extended family as well. This can be evinced in the prevalence of extended-kind shared households in Hispanic and Latino families, and Hispanic children are more likely to live in extended-family households than non-Latino Whites or blacks (Glick & Van Hook, 2008 ). Living in extended-family households, most likely with grandparents, may have positive influences on Hispanic and Latino children, such as greater attention and interaction with loving through consistent caregiving; grandparents may help by engaging with children in academic-oriented activities, which then affects positively cognitive educational outcomes.

However, familism is not the panacea for all familial issues for several reasons. First, living in an extended-family household requires living arrangements that consider adults’ needs more than children’s. Second, the configuration of Hispanic and Latino households is moderated by any immigration issues with all members of the extended family, and this may cause problems for children (Menjívar, 2000 ). The immigration status of each individual member may produce a constant state of flux, whereas circumstances change to adjust to economic opportunities, which in turn are limited by immigration laws, and it gets even worse when one of the parents isn’t even present in the children’s home, but rather live in their home country (Van Hook & Glick, 2006 ). Although Hispanic and Latino children are more likely to live with married parents and extended relatives, familism is highly affected by the immigration status of each member.

On the other hand, there has been research to address the paramount role of communication disregarding the mediating factor of cultural diversity. For example, Sotomayor-Peterson et al. ( 2013 ) performed a cross-cultural comparison of the association between coparenting or shared parental effort and family climate among families from Mexico, the United States, and Costa Rica. The overall findings suggest what was explained earlier in this article: more shared parenting predicts better marital interaction and family climate overall.

In addition, parenting quality has been found to have a positive relationship with children’s developmental outcomes. In fact, Sotomayor-Peterson, Figueredo, Christensen, and Taylor ( 2012 ) conducted a study with 61 low-income Mexican American couples, with at least one child between three and four years of age, recruited from a home-based Head Start program. The main goal of this study was to observe the extent that shared parenting incorporates cultural values and income predicts family climate. The findings suggest that the role of cultural values such as familism, in which family solidarity and avoidance of confrontation are paramount, delineate shared parenting by Mexican American couples.

Cultural adaptation also has a substantial impact on marital satisfaction and children’s cognitive stimulation. Indeed, Sotomayor-Peterson, Wilhelm, and Card ( 2011 ) investigated the relationship between marital relationship quality and subsequent cognitive stimulation practices toward their infants in terms of the actor and partner effects of White and Hispanic parents. The results indicate an interesting relationship between the level of acculturation and marital relationship quality and a positive cognitive stimulation of infants; specifically, marital happiness is associated with increased cognitive stimulation by White and high-acculturated Hispanic fathers. Nevertheless, a major limitation of Hispanic acculturation literature has been seen, reflecting a reliance on cross-sectional studies where acculturation was scholarly operationalized more as an individual difference variable than as a longitudinal adaptation over time (Schwartz et al., 2013 ).

Culture and Family Communication: the “so what?” Question

This article has presented an entangled overview of family communication patterns, dyadic power, family systems, and conflict theories to establish that coparenting quality plays a paramount role. The main commonality among those theories pays special attention to interparental interaction quality, regardless of the type of family (i.e., intact, postdivorce, same-sex, etc.) and cultural background. After reviewing these theories, it was observed that the interparental relationship is the core interaction in the familial context because it affects children from their earlier cognitive development to subsequent parental modeling in terms of gender roles. Thus, in keeping with Canary and Canary ( 2013 ), no matter what approach may be taken to the analysis of family communication issues, the hypothesis that a positive emotional climate within the family is fostered only when couples practice a sufficient level of shared parenting and quality of communication is supported.

Nevertheless, this argument does not suggest that the role of culture in the familial interactions should be undersold. While including the main goal of parenting, which is the socialization of values, in the second section of this article, the text also provides specific values of different countries that are enacted and socialized differently across cultural contexts to address the role of acculturation in the familial atmosphere, the quality of interactions, and individual outcomes. As a case in point, Johnson et al. ( 2013 ) provided an interesting way of seeing how cultures differ in their ways of enacting parenting, clarifying that the role of culture in parenting is not a superficial or relativistic element.

In addition, by acknowledging the perhaps excessive attention to larger Asian cultural backgrounds (such as Chinese or Japanese cultures) by other scholars (i.e., Canary & Canary, 2013 ), an insightful analysis of the Thai American family within the father-daughter relationship was provided to exemplify, through the work of Punyanunt-Carter ( 2016 ), how specific family communication patterns, such as maintenance relationship communication behaviors, affect the quality of familial relationships. Moreover, a second, special focus was put on Hispanic families because of the demographic trends of the United States, and it was found that familism constitutes a distinctive aspect of these families.

In other words, the third section of this article provided these two examples of intercultural families to observe specific ways that culture mediates the familial system. Because one of the main goals of the present article was to demonstrate the mediating role of culture as an important consideration for family communication issues in the United States, the assimilationist approach was taken into account; thus, the two intercultural family examples discussed here correspond to an assimilationist nature rather than using an intergroup approach.

This decision was made without intending to diminish the value of other cultures or ethnic groups in the country, but an extensive revision of all types of intercultural families is beyond the scope of this article. Second, the assimilationist approach forces one to consider cultures that are in the process of adapting to a new hosting culture, and the Thai and Hispanic families in the United States comply with this theoretical requisite. For example, Whites recognize African Americans as being as American as Whites (i.e., Dovidio, Gluszek, John, Ditlmann, & Lagunes, 2010 ), whereas they associate Hispanics and Latinos with illegal immigration in the United States (Stewart et al., 2011 ), which has been enhanced by the U.S. media repeatedly since 1994 (Valentino et al., 2013 ), and it is still happening (Dixon, 2015 ). In this scenario, “ask yourself what would happen to your own personality if you heard it said over and over again that you were lazy, a simple child of nature, expected to steal, and had inferior blood? . . . One’s reputation, whether false or true, cannot be hammered, hammered, hammered, into one’s head without doing something to one’s character” (Allport, 1979 , p. 142, cited in Arias & Hellmueller, 2016 ).

As a consequence, on this cultural canvas, it should not be surprising that Lichter, Carmalt, and Qian ( 2011 ) found that second-generation Hispanics are increasingly likely to marry foreign-born Hispanics and less likely to marry third-generation or later coethnics or Whites. In addition, this study suggests that third-generation Hispanics and later were more likely than in the past to marry non-Hispanic Whites; thus, the authors concluded that there has been a new retreat from intermarriage among the largest immigrant groups in the United States—Hispanics and Asians—in the last 20 years.

If we subscribe to the idea that cultural assimilation goes in only one direction—from the hegemonic culture to the minority culture—then the results of Lichter, Carmalt, and Qian ( 2011 ) should not be of scholarly concern; however, if we believe that cultural assimilation happens in both directions and intercultural families can benefit both the host and immigrant cultures (for a review, see Schwartz et al., 2013 ), then this is important to address in a country that just elected a president, Donald Trump, who featured statements racially lambasting and segregating minorities, denigrating women, and criticizing immigration as some of the main tenets of his campaign. Therefore, we hope that it is clear why special attention was given to the Thai and Hispanic families in this article, considering the impact of culture on the familial system, marital satisfaction, parental communication, and children’s well-being. Even though individuals with Hispanic ancentry were in the United States even before it became a nation, Hispanic and Latino families are still trying to convince Americans of their right to be accepted in American culture and society.

With regard to the “So what?” question, assimilation is important to consider while analyzing the role of culture in family communication patterns, power dynamics, conflict, or the functioning of the overall family system in the context of the United States. This is because this country is among the most popular in the world in terms of immigration requests, and its demographics show that one out of three citizens comes from an ethnic background other than the hegemonic White culture. In sum, cultural awareness has become pivotal in the analysis of family communication issues in the United States. Furthermore, the present overview of family, communication, and culture ends up supporting the idea of positive associations being derived from the pivotal role of marriage relationship quality, such that coparenting and communication practices vary substantially within intercultural marriages moderated by gender roles.

Culture is a pivotal moderator of these associations, but this analysis needs to be tethered to societal structural level, in which cultural differences, family members’ immigration status, media content, and level of acculturation must be included in family research. This is because in intercultural marriages, in addition to the tremendous parenting role, they have to deal with cultural assimilation and discrimination, and this becomes important if we care about children’s cognitive development and the overall well-being of those who are not considered White. As this article shows, the quality of familial interactions has direct consequences on children’s developmental outcomes (for a review, see Callaghan et al., 2011 ).

Therefore, the structure and functioning of family has an important impact on public health at both physiological and psychological levels (Gage, Everett, & Bullock, 2006 ). At the physiological level, the familial interaction instigates expression and reception of strong feelings affecting tremendously on individuals’ physical health because it activates neuroendocrine responses that aid stress regulation, acting as a stress buffer and accelerating physiological recovery from elevated stress (Floyd & Afifi, 2012 ; Floyd, 2014 ). Robles, Shaffer, Malarkey, and Kiecolt-Glaser ( 2006 ) found that a combination of supportive communication, humor, and problem-solving behavior in husbands predicts their wives’ cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)—both physiological factors are considered as stress markers (see 2006 ). On the other hand, the psychology of individuals, the quality of family relationships has major repercussions on cognitive development, as reflected in educational attainment (Sohr-Preston et al., 2013 ), and highly mediated by cultural assimilation (Schwartz et al., 2013 ), which affects individuals through parenting modeling and socialization of values (Mooney-Doyle, Deatrick, & Horowitz, 2014 ).

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Case Study – A Family Divided

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Case Study: A Family Divided

A Case Study by Robert L. Potter Discussion Questions by Rosemary Flanigan

A forty-five-year-old man with a three-year history of cardiovascular disease has entered the hospital with a stroke that has paralyzed his right side and caused him to aspirate food of any consistency. His mental status is clouded and there is disagreement as to whether he has decisional capacity. His language capacity is only “yes” and “no,” and his responses are inconsistent. The attending physician is convinced that the patient has lost decisional capacity while two family members are equally convinced that he has decisional capacity. The patient’s wife and two other children are ambivalent about his competency to make decisions. The prognosis for recovery of safe swallowing and speech approaches zero because of the dense damage to the cerebral cortex visible on brain imaging. Two neurological consultants have verified that recovery is likely to be minimal and that permanent, severe disability will be the outcome.

The patient does not have an advance directive. The patient’s wife says that they never did discuss his preferences about life-sustaining treatment. She is convinced that he would not want to live in this disabled condition but is uncertain whether to request the placement of a feeding tube. Two of her four adult children are strongly opposed to the tube placement, while the other two insist that not to do so would be to “kill our father.” The patient’s wife is torn between these two positions, but finally requests that the tube be placed.

The attending physician and the rest of the treatment team are opposed to placing the feeding tube. Their argument is that the patient has “minimal consciousness” and will not improve. They define this as a futile situation with no reasonable expectation of recovery. Furthermore, two nurses claim that during previous hospitalizations for episodes of cardiovascular events the patient told them that he would not want to be sustained by artificial means — not by ventilators, renal dialysis, or tube feeding. It is their position that the patient has expressed his preference to not be kept alive in a futile situation.

The family requests an ethics consultation.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. The judgment of futility should be a conclusion of a communications process, not a beginning. How would you propose beginning the communication?

• Who should be present?
• What information should be shared?
• What alternatives are on the table?
• What is your goal in participating in the discussion?

2. The family is divided over whether their husband/father should be placed on a feeding tube. Consider and discuss the following statements:

• The effectiveness of the feeding tube is a clinical matter.
• The benefits of the feeding tube for the patient depend on the patient’s wishes and quality of life, which the patient or the patient’s surrogate and family must determine.
• The burdens the treatment (feeding tube) imposes are a consideration for both parties.

3. Role play the discussion. Express your assumptions and loyalties and listen attentively to the other speakers.

4. Evaluate the role-playing experience. Did it affect your view of the case? If yes, how will you advise the family and the healthcare providers? If not, what is to be done now?

5. How would this case have been different if the attending physician had been the one asking for a consultation?

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A Family Case Study

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Asha Degree: Warrants reveal new details in case of girl missing for decades

SHELBY, N.C. ( WBTV /Gray News) - A girl who went missing in North Carolina in 2000 is now believed to have been killed, according to search warrant documents released Monday.

The Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office believes Asha Degree, who was 9 years old when she went missing in February 2000, was actually a victim of homicide.

Investigators think Degree’s disappearance may be linked to a family from Cleveland County.

A series of search warrant applications were made public on Monday, Sept. 16, in connection with searches recently carried out by the sheriff’s office, FBI and state investigations bureau. Law enforcement executed search warrants at multiple properties, including a home and property in Shelby, an assisted living facility in Vale, and a home in Charlotte.

The locations are owned and lived in by members of the Dedmon family. The search warrants were requested after DNA samples linked Degree with AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez and a man named Russell Underhill, according to the documents.

Investigators believe local family played role

Degree has not been seen since she went missing the night of Feb. 14, 2000. Some of her belongings, however, were found in Burke County more than one year after her disappearance.

Degree’s backpack was discovered more than 30 miles from where she was reportedly last seen about 17 months after she went missing. The girl’s belongings were “wrapped in two sealed black plastic garbage bags” and were found along North Carolina Highway 18 near Morganton, court documents read Monday.

Two of the items in the backpack reportedly returned evidentiary results, linking DNA to AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez, who was 13 years old at the time Degree went missing, and Underhill.

According to the documents, a sample of a hair stem taken from Degree’s undershirt appeared to match AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez’s DNA.

There were two other sisters of AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez who were ages 15 and 16 years old in February 2000.

Investigators now believe Degree is a “victim of homicide, with her body concealed,” authorities wrote in the search warrant application.

Because of the Dedmon sisters’ ages at that time, investigators believe “adult assistance” from their father, Roy Dedmon, and their mother, Connie Dedmon, “would have been necessary in the execution and/or concealment of the crime.”

Several people, places searched

Several search warrants were carried out for the Dedmon parents, AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez and multiple properties associated with them.

Roy Dedmon’s home at 621 Cherryville Road is about 3.7 miles from Degree’s last known location near North Carolina Highway 18 and Wallace Grove Drive, officials said. His home and property were searched by law enforcement on Sept. 10 and Sept. 11.

Law enforcement confirmed Friday that the search was connected with Degree’s disappearance.

Roy Dedmon’s home was first searched by a drone in February.

Another one of the searched properties included an assisted living home known as North Brook Rest Home located in Vale. The assisted living facility is owned by Roy and Connie Dedmon.

Russell Underhill, the man whose DNA may be a match with what was found on Degree’s belongings, lived in “at least two facilities” operated by Roy and Connie Dedmon at the time the young girl disappeared. He resided at the North Brook Rest Home between 2002 and 2004.

Underhill died in 2004.

It was not entirely clear how Underhill was related to or connected with the Dedmons. Underhill “knew and associated with” Roy Dedmon, investigators found. Roy Dedmon was listed as Underhill’s emergency contact, according to medical records.

AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez’s home in Charlotte was also searched, documents showed.

What was found during searches

Several items were seized from Roy Dedmon’s home on Cherryville Road.

There are reportedly 29 vehicles registered in Roy Dedmon’s name. Three green vehicles and one red truck were seen at his property in Shelby.

At least one of those older green vehicles was seized from the property last week. The vehicle resembled a car wanted in connection with Degre’s disappearance. Authorities believe Degree got into a 1970s-era green vehicle on the night she went missing.

In 2016, the FBI said they were looking for a 1970s-era green Ford Thunderbird or Lincoln Mark IV. The vehicle taken last week from the Cleveland County property was identified as an AMC Rambler.

Authorities also took a variety of computers, laptops, cellphones and records from Roy Dedmon’s home. There was also a human tooth in a plastic bag that was retrieved, according to the search warrant documents.

Roy Dedmon also had a DNA sample taken from him during that time.

Connie Dedmon does not currently live at the home on Cherryville Road, officials said, but authorities searched her home and removed two computers, flash and hard drives, a tablet, and various CDs and SD cards.

From AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez’s home, authorities only reported seizing a Blackberry cellphone.

No human remains were found at any of the properties.

Relevance of North Carolina Highway 18

Two witnesses saw Degree walking along North Carolina Highway 18 on the night she went missing.

Roy Dedmon’s home on Cherryville Road is fewer than four miles, and about six minutes, away from where Degree was last seen by a witness.

Degree’s backpack, which contained some clothing and a book, was also found along North Carolina Highway 18, though several miles away near Morganton, which is in Burke County. The backpack was also about 7.2 miles away from Broughton Hospital, also in Morganton.

According to the released search warrants, investigators found that Roy Dedmon used to send one of his daughters to “transport patients in an unreliable vehicle to/from Broughton Hospital in Morganton,” around the time Degree disappeared. North Carolina “Highway 18 is the most logical route to travel to and from Northbrook Rest Home and/or Brighton Hospital,” investigators said.

Roy Dedmon reportedly would send his daughter, who was 16 or 17 years old at the time, and not AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez.

Roy Dedmon denies any connection with Asha Degree

The attorney for Roy Dedmon held a press conference last week amid news of the search at his home.

The attorney confirmed that the property searched that week by the FBI and local authorities belonged to Roy Dedmon, who is reportedly in his 80s. However, the attorney said that Roy Dedmon denies any involvement in or knowledge of Degree’s disappearance.

Search warrant documents did say that Roy Dedmon did not appear to have any ties with Degree or her family.

Roy Dedmon’s attorney asked the community to not jump to any conclusions once the search warrants were released. The attorney asked the community to “let law enforcement do their job,” and to avoid spreading any rumors.

The request was made after the sheriff’s office asked the community to not spread rumors or false information amid the investigation. Some online posts had falsely claimed that a body had been found amid the FBI raid.

No body or human remains have been found by law enforcement to date.

Roy Dedmon’s attorney alluded to Underhill in his press conference, saying that he may be the one who knows what happened to Degree. The attorney said the search would “sadly link” a person to Degree’s disappearance who is “no longer living.”

Law enforcement reportedly interviewed Roy Dedmon, who maintained that he doesn’t know what happened.

There have been no arrests made in connection with Degree’s case.

About Asha Degree’s case

The FBI, North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office have been investigating Degree’s disappearance for more than two decades. Degree’s family recently said that they believe the girl, who would be in her early 30s now is still alive.

The state, local and federal law enforcement agencies involved have a team dedicated to finding Degree. A $45,000 reward is available for information that leads to finding Degree.

The FBI Charlotte office previously told WBTV that they identified a number of people over the years who have been considered a “person of interest” for various reasons in this case. More specific details weren’t provided.

Anyone with information can contact the FBI’s Charlotte office by calling 704-672-6100.

Timeline: Asha Degree’s disappearance

Degree went missing on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, 2000.

Around 6:15 a.m. that day, Degree’s parents woke up to find the then-9-year-old girl was missing. Both her and her backpack were gone.

Degree was reported missing by 6:30 a.m. Family members said they last saw Degree asleep in her bedroom.

Earlier that morning, at around 4 a.m., two truck drivers reported seeing a little girl walking on North Carolina Highway 18. That girl matched Degree’s description.

At that point, she was about a mile from her home.

Investigators and community members spent months looking for Degree. In August 2001, more than one year after Degree disappeared, her bookbag was found 30 miles away in Burke County.

The items in the backpack were reportedly sent to an FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia.

For years, the family remained hopeful that Degree would be found. Investigators continued to search for the missing girl in the years that followed her disappearance.

Search for Asha Degree

In 2017, investigators brought in a special FBI team in an effort to generate new leads. The team recreated the early morning hours of Degree’s disappearance. At that time, officials said there were “multiple people of interest” looked at in connection with the case.

In 2018, detectives released pictures of two items found in the girl’s backpack that didn’t belong to her. Inside the bag was a children’s book from her school library that Degree didn’t check out and a shirt that wasn’t hers.

Investigators have continued to search for Degree and have been hopeful that new technology could help them solve the case. Detective Tim Adams, with the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office, told WBTV in recent years that “technology has advanced quite a bit over the years,” which could eventually lead to answers.

The investigation continued with this week’s Cleveland County raid, though it wasn’t immediately clear that the search was tied to Degree’s disappearance. As rumors of the connection swirled, family members spoke out, including Degree’s great uncle, Jesse Jackson.

Jackson told WBTV that he was moved by the community’s continued remembrance of his niece.

“Thank God for that,” Jackson said. “I thank God that they still have hope and faith.”

Jackson said the last 24 years have been very hard on the family and that even the possibility of having more answers gives him hope of some closure for them.

“I hope and pray to God that they find her, dead or alive” Jackson said. “Then we can be at rest and that’s all I can say.”

Copyright 2024 WBTV via Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

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