Culture and Growing Up

Culture plays a major role in the physical, emotional, spiritual, and psychological development of an individual. Culture is the backdrop that provides us with the possibilities and boundaries, the beliefs that give us power, the roles we create for ourselves, and the organization through which we find structure in our lives. It gives us the stories we tell ourselves about who we are and who we can be, a place from which we can start our journeys, and the constructs we can use to create meaning and significance. 

The idea of our society as an integral part of development is cultural determinism, because it is our culture that determines who we are. I was raised in Midwestern America, in a middle class home, with predominantly European American parents (there is some Native American blood as well, but the European blood and culture dominated the household). My family valued education, responsibility, hard work, and love. These values, and the family and society that taught me these values, were the culture that affected my development.