Culture and Family Dynamics

Posted by Marcia Carteret, M. Ed. in Special Topics

This article addresses cultural differences in family dynamics, introducing a few fundamental
concepts and covering important questions that need to be asked by providers to understand the
family experience unique to each individual patient and how that affects decision-making,
compliance, and successful treatment outcomes.
Individuality vs. Interdependence
Cultures differ in how much they encourage individuality and uniqueness vs. conformity and
interdependence. Individualistic cultures stress self-reliance, decision-making based on
individual needs, and the right to a private life. In collectivist cultures absolute loyalty is
expected to one’s immediate and extended family/tribe. The term familism is often used to
describe the dominant social pattern where decision-making processes emphasize the needs of
the family/group first, and the concept of having a “private life” may not even exist.
Nuclear vs. Extended Family Models
In western cultures, and particularly in European American culture, families typically follow a
nuclear model comprised of parents and their children. When important health care-related
decisions must be made, it is usually the parents who decide, though children are raised to think
for themselves and are encouraged to act as age-appropriate decision makers as well. Upon
reaching adulthood, when parental consent is no longer an issue, young American adults may
choose to exercise their right to privacy in health care matters. This is markedly different from
collectivist cultures that adhere to an extended family model. In cultures such as American
Indian, Asian, Hispanic, African, and Middle Eastern, individuals rely heavily on an extended
network of reciprocal relationships with parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles,
cousins, and many others. Many of these people are involved in important health care decisions,
including some who are unrelated to the patient through blood or marriage. For example, in some
Hispanic families the godparents play a critical role. In American Indian families, tribal leaders,
the elderly, and medicine men/women are key individuals to be consulted before important
decisions are made.
Multi-generational Households
It is very common for families in collectivist cultures to establish multi-generational households.
(This is less true when a family becomes acculturated in the United States or other western
countries where privacy is more highly valued and in cases where socio-economic gains create
opportunities for greater independence.) In most multi-generational households, there are at least
three generations living together; the grandparents are expected to live under the same roof as
their adult children and grandchildren. In multi-generational households the family of orientation
(one’s self, siblings, and parents) often takes precedence over the family of procreation (one’s
self, spouse, and offspring). This is the reverse of how European American family households
usually function. In traditional Asian families, it is the oldest male in the family who brings his
bride to live with his parents. The daughter-in-law is often expected to be submissive to her
mother-in-law who rules the roost. In Hispanic families, grandparents from either side may live
under that same roof as their children and grandchildren.
Mothers often gain a great deal of support from the grandmothers in domestic matters, but this
varies depending on the dynamics unique to each family.
It is extremely important for health care providers to ask who lives in a patient’s household in
order to better understand how relationships are structured. Who are the authority figures? In
Asian and Hispanic traditional families, the father is the main authority figure. He will most
often make decisions about matters outside the home, speaking for the family in public settings
and signing consent forms. It is usually a female figure who takes charge of domestic life.
Depending on the family, this matriarch may be the mother, but it may be the mother’s mother.
Thus healthcare providers need to ask the mother, “Who gives you advice about raising your
children?” And “who will participate in making important decisions?” In Asian and Hispanic
families especially, grandmothers often decide about using traditional medicines and healing
practices, thus having enormous influence on patient compliance.
Role Flexibility & Kinship
In dealing with culturally diverse families it is useful for health care professionals to understand
the basic concepts of role flexibility and kinship and how these affect family dynamics.
American kinship structure is bilateral; we are not “more related” to our father’s family than our
mother’s, or vice versa. In unilineal cultures, family membership is traced either through a male
or female ancestor. In the Middle East, for example, a patrilineal pattern is established so family
belonging is passed via the father’s side. Some American Indian cultures, like the Navaho and
Hopi tribes, are matrilineal cultures, passing membership through the mother’s family. In the
Navaho tribe, property and privilege are passed from male to male, but it is the mother’s brother
who will pass both to his own sister’s children. Thus it makes sense that a Navaho maternal
uncle might bring his nephew into the hospital expecting to be empowered to sign an informed
consent.
Similarly, in both American Indian and African American families, role flexibility can be an
important issue. It is not uncommon for Native American grandparents to raise grandchildren
while the parents leave the reservation to find work. In African American families, the mother
sometimes plays the role of the father and thus functions as the head of the family. In addition,
older children sometimes function as parents or caretakers for younger children. The concept of
role flexibility among African American families can be extended to include the parental role
assumed by grandfather, grandmother, aunts, and cousins. (Boyd-Franklin 1989) It is a good idea
to determine if older children will be involved in patient care and to include them when possible
in patient care training. This is important to consider for all multi-generation households.
Family Dynamics and Acculturation
Finally, it is important to consider the enormous stresses families encounter in the process of
acculturation due to sudden and radical shifts in family dynamics. Parents in a recently migrated
family often are aligned with the culture of the country of origin, while their offspring are likely
to adapt to the dominant culture more rapidly. This often leads to intergenerational conflicts. For
example, a father may lose his traditional role as the head of the family if his wife begins to work
outside the home, earning income and greater independence. Similarly, if his children quickly
adopt the attitudes and values of the new dominant culture, he may find it harder to communicate
with them. Both parents and grandparents may feel a loss of status due to language barriers,
especially if their children learn the language of the dominant culture more quickly. This can be
especially problematic in healthcare settings where responsibility is shifted to younger family
members who can navigate the health care system better than their parents can. In cases where
children are able to communicate with health care workers in English, they may be asked to
interpret for their parents. This leads to a host of potential problems for the family, including
feelings of shame and betrayal that children would relay information of a personal nature to
someone outside the family. This is one of the main reasons children should not be used as
interpreters.
Summary
Because cultures adapt and change, making assumptions about family dynamics is problematic;
families in the United States today from all cultures display a variety of configurations.
Arguably, there is no longer any such thing as a “typical” family. One can, however, expect that
families from more traditional cultures not acculturated in U.S. ways will tend to value familism
and display family structures that are quite different from the middle-class European American
family model. There are many aspects of culturally-based family dynamics not addressed within
the scope of this newsletter article. Some of the best resources for learning more about cross-
cultural family dynamics come from the mental health and child development fields.
THE EFFECTS OF FAMILY CULTURE ON FAMILY FOUNDATIONS

Most people do not think of their family as having a “culture.” They associate culture with
countries and ethnic groups. But the family? For most of us, it’s just a group of familiar people
doing what they always do.

Yet it is exactly this—a characteristic way of thinking, feeling, judging, and acting—that defines
a culture. In direct and subtle ways, children are molded by the family culture into which they
are born. Growing up, their assumptions about what is right and wrong, good and bad, reflect the
beliefs, values and traditions of the family culture. Most take for granted their family’s ways, and
they carry into adulthood numerous attitudes and behaviors acquired in childhood.

Even those who later reject all or part of the family culture often discover that they are not
entirely free of their early influences. No matter that they promise themselves they will never
repeat the mistakes of their own family—certain cultural attitudes and responses are so ingrained
in family members that they continue to affect their thinking and behavior, whether or not those
individuals are aware of such influence.

To say that families have identifiable cultures, however, is not to suggest that they are static.
Families are in a constant state of transition as each member moves through the cycles of life and
the family itself moves from one stage of development to the next. Marriages, births, divorces
and deaths change the family constellation and, in profound ways, alter the family culture.
Simultaneously, larger political, economic and social forces also impinge on the family culture.
The social revolution that began in the 1960s, for example, changed—among other things—
attitudes and expectations about the roles of men and women. The boy or girl raised in a family
in which mother and aunts are professional women is exposed to a very different family culture
from the one their grandparents knew.
Organizational Cultures

In the 1980s, management theorists and consultants popularized the concept of organizational
culture. They described corporations in anthropological terms, pointing to their social structure,
norms and laws, language, dress codes and even their artifacts. Organizations with distinct
cultures invariably bore the imprint of their founders. The corps of clean-shaven IBM executives
dressed in white shirts and blue suits reflected the personality, beliefs and style of Thomas
Watson, Sr., just as the bearded Apple employees wearing jeans, T-shirts and Birkenstock
sandals reflected those of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

Like corporations, family foundations have distinct organizational cultures, and they are as
varied as the families that generate them. They run the gamut from formal, with tightly run
meetings held in foundation boardrooms, to informal, with gatherings around a family member’s
dining-room table. As in corporations, the values and norms of the founders and their families
determine the focus of the foundation as well as how it is governed, how conflicts are handled
and how emotions are expressed.

To recognize the effects of family culture on the style and direction of a family foundation,
Chapter 1 will look at four particular cultural attributes: values, norms, traditions and conformity.
Each is examined below.

Values

The values of the family set the basic tone for the family foundation. They inspire the choice of
mission as well as the foundation’s policies and practices. Typically, the values of the individuals
who have created the family’s wealth predominate. Entrepreneurs with the single-mindedness
and drive to amass fortunes often have powerful and compelling personalities to match. Not
surprisingly, then, they shape foundations in their image and according to their values,
philosophy and preferred style of management—just as they did their business.

One such man was A. Lincoln Filene, who founded the Lincoln and Therese Filene Foundation
in 1946. Born shortly after the assassination of President Lincoln, he was named by his
immigrant parents in honor of the fallen president. Filene remained true to his namesake;
throughout his life, he held progressive political views and acted on them.
Innovative businessman, Lincoln Filene and his brother Edward built a major retail business,
Filene’s department store in Boston, which had been started by their father. Later, Lincoln Filene
joined with other store owners to form Federated Department Stores. The Filene brothers were
the first to employ a full-time nurse in their store as an employee benefit in an era when most
workers could not afford good medical care. They also promoted the creation of credit unions to
help workers generate purchasing power.

Lincoln Filene was as engaged in the world as he was in his store. In the 1930s he established
programs for Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany with the dual purpose of helping them get
jobs and learn what it means to be an American. In the 1950s he created the Filene Center for
Civic Participation at Tufts University, and he also helped establish the first public broadcasting
station in Boston.

Fifty years after the family foundation was founded, Filene’s social and political commitments
still prevail. Lincoln Filene would be pleased that today, members of the third, fourth and fifth
generations of the family serve side by side on the board and on program committees carrying
out the work he began on issues involving civic education, public broadcasting and job training.

The values of entrepreneurs who have created their family’s wealth do not always inspire family
members to follow in their footsteps. In some cases, they motivate them to take an opposite
course. Charles Demeré, the founder of the Debley Foundation in St. Mary’s City, Maryland, is
one who took a different path from that of his father and brothers.

Demeré grew up hearing the story of his father Raymond’s “Horatio Alger” rise from rags to
riches. Forced to leave school to support his family, Raymond began delivering oil from a single
barrel on the back of a truck. He eventually built his one-man business into the largest oil
company in the Southeast. Yet even as a young man, Demeré recognized that his father was
unhappy.

“I’d see my father reading books about how to gain peace of mind,” says Demeré, “but I could
see that he didn’t have it. He spent his health in gaining wealth, and then spent his wealth to
regain his health. I realized that wealth alone didn’t make life satisfying. I decided to look for
meaning elsewhere.”

While his brothers followed careers in business, Demeré turned to spiritual pursuits. Ordained as
an Episcopal priest, he and his wife, Margaret, chose to raise their family in modest
circumstances. In 1962, after Demeré and his brothers dissolved a business partnership they had
inherited from their father, Demeré used 10 percent of his money to endow the Debley
Foundation. The name Debley, which combines the surnames of his father (Demeré) and his
mother (Mobley), symbolizes the family philanthropic effort that Demeré hoped the foundation
would foster. He invited his brothers, along with his cousins from the Mobley side of the family,
to sit on the board.

“My idea was to pool our money and ideas,” says Demeré, “and, in the process to strengthen ties
between the two sides of the family. It never happened. They’d just ask me what I wanted to give
to, and then they’d rubber-stamp it and adjourn the meeting.”

Demeré’s dream of involving the extended family in creating a family culture built on
philanthropic values never took hold. Later, he would try again, inviting his children on the
board when they came of age. Today, two of Demeré’s four children serve on the board, along
with his wife and two cousins.

It is not only the values of the person who creates the family wealth that stamp the family
culture. The O’Neill family in Cleveland traces the value it places on family unity to Hugh
O’Neill, who emigrated to the United States in 1884. Settling in Ohio, Hugh O’Neill raised his
children to respect and maintain family ties. His grandson, William (Bill) J. O’Neill, Jr., explains
that when he was growing up, “all the branches of the family lived nearby. We were almost as
close to our cousins as were to our own brothers and sisters. My grandfather passed on his value
of family cohesiveness to his children, who passed it on to us. Now my generation is doing the
same for the next generation.”

O’Neill family members worked together in the family business, Leaseway Transportation, a
publicly traded company started by Bill’s father and his two uncles. They, with Bill and some of
his cousins, built the trucking and warehouse business into a billion-dollar-a-year operation.
After the family sold its shares in Leaseway, Bill set up a family office to manage the family’s
investments.

In 1987, the family discovered yet another way to tie its members together. Bill and his mother,
Dorothy, the principal donor, established the William J. and Dorothy K. O’Neill Foundation. In
keeping with the clan mentality, their goal was to involve every family member in the foundation
at whatever level they could participate. Bill and his mother are the only trustees, but his five
siblings sit on the disbursement committee along with Bill’s wife and three members of the third
generation. Whether or not they are active on committees, adult members of the family’s six
branches are invited to attend meetings, and all receive detailed minutes of each foundation
meeting explaining what was decided and why.
Norms

Norms are the spoken and unspoken rules of cultures. Reinforced over time, they operate as
invisible constraints on family members’ behavior. Norms set standards for how family members
dress, talk and act. They also set limits on what is permissible or impermissible behavior under
different circumstances and conditions. More than just rules of etiquette, norms provide family
members with a guide for living both within the home and without.

When families establish foundations, they bring with them the rules of behavior that have
governed the family culture. In 1985, John and Marianne Vanboven (not their real names) set up
the Theodore Vanboven Family Foundation in honor of John’s father, a Dutch immigrant who
built the family fortune. Originally, the board was composed of John and Marianne and their two
children, Thomas and Alexandra. Then, two years, ago, the children’s spouses Joan and Michael,
were added to the board.

“In our family, good manners count for everything,” says Thomas. “As children, my sister and I
learned not to raise our voices, never to ask personal questions, and to avoid dissension at all
costs. If we violated those rules, my parents would only have to raise their eyebrows to let us
know that our behavior was out of line.”

When Thomas and Alexandra went away to college in the 1970s, they encountered a different set
of norms. There, free expression was not only encouraged but considered healthy. Both Thomas
and Alexandra spent several years in therapy learning how to express their feelings, and both
married spouses who grew up in family cultures in which arguing and shouting were
commonplace. Nonetheless, when Thomas and Alexandra are in the company of their parents,
they still follow the rules of behavior they were taught as children.

Before the spouses joined the board, meetings to discuss allocations ran smoothly. The
foundation funds higher education and church-run social services programs. Although Thomas
and Alexandra wanted to be more adventurous grantmakers, they were reluctant to introduce
proposals outside their parents’ purview.

When the spouses joined the board, however, they had a different understanding of what their
roles would be. They expected that as trustees, they would be free to debate ideas and grant
proposals. Joan quickly caught on to the Vanbovens’ unspoken norms and backed away from
controversy. But Michael persisted in arguing his positions, sometimes quite aggressively and
long after they were voted down by the board.

“It was evident from my parents’ silence and body language,” says Thomas, “that they were
uncomfortable when Michael raised his voice or banged his fist on the table, but Michael seemed
oblivious to their signals. When I mentioned his behavior to my mother, she denied that anything
was wrong. That’s the way my parents are. They close their eyes to whether they don’t want to
see, and then hope that the problem will clear up by itself.”

As hard as the Vanboven family tries to avoid controversy, the Jacobs family welcomes it. They
refer to themselves as a “loud and feisty bunch,” and there is no mistaking who inspired that
image. Joe Jacobs, a child of Lebanese immigrants, grew up in poverty in Brooklyn. After
earning a degree in chemical engineering, he started a small consulting business in 1947 that he
built into the billion-dollar Jacobs Engineering Group.

As an undergraduate student, Joe was trained in Socratic dialogue, and this discipline sparked a
love of intellectual sparring that he passed on to his three daughters. Over the years, the family
has had plenty of opportunities to practice its debating skills. Joe is a political conservative and
advocate of the free enterprise system, and his daughters are liberals. One rule guides the
family’s arguments: say what you have to say with passion and heat, and then give others the
same opportunity.

Once, in a particularly fiery argument between Joe and his daughter Linda, an exasperated Joe
asked Linda what made her so opinionated. Her instant reply was, “Where do you think I learned
that, Dad?” A few days later, Linda gave her father another answer. She presented him with a
plaque imprinted with a quote from Jonathan Swift: “We love each other because our ailments
are the same.” Joe hung it on the kitchen wall.

In 1989, Joe and his wife, Violet (Vi), set up the Jacobs Family Foundation in San Diego,
California, and invited their daughters, and later their two sons-in-law, to serve on the board.
Until the family discovered a common interest, funding microenterprises, their arguments over
the foundation’s mission were long and furious. But they all agreed that they wanted their
foundation to break new ground in philanthropy; and once again, the norms of the family culture
prevailed. Joe had taken risks in building his business and wanted the foundation to do the same
in philanthropy. For years, he kept on his desk a cartoon of Babe Ruth at bat; its caption read
“Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times.” As Joe says, “Defeat can’t be avoided. It’s part of daring.
That’s why I tell my family, listen kids, we may get knocked on our behinds fighting the system,
but we’re going to do it.”
The Jacobs Family Foundation has had many successes as well as its share of disappointments.
In sticking its neck out, it has made mistakes and misjudged the capacity of certain individuals
for leadership. But what some families might regard as failures, the Jacobs see as valuable
lessons. Undaunted, they are confident they are on the right track.

Traditions

All families have traditions that are passed down from one generation to the next. In the past,
when the extended family all lived in one place, traditions were built into the routines of daily
life and kept alive by family elders. As family branches diverged and the elders died, the
traditions often died with them.

With family members scattered around the country, families now have to work hard to create and
maintain their traditions. The O’Neill family, for example, holds reunions every three years for
the entire clan—some 235 relatives who live in the United States. For one family branch of the
clan whose members want to meet more regularly, there is also an annual weekend gathering
every summer, which nearly half the family attends. Typically, one person in the family takes the
initiative in organizing family events; in the O’Neill family, that person is often Bill O’Neill. To
keep track of this large family, he prints and distributes a clan telephone directory, which he
updates annually.

Several trustees interviewed for this guide mentioned traditional summer gathering places where
the family comes together for fun and relaxation, usually at the summer home of the
grandparents or at a family camp. It was through childhood experiences of those places, some
say, that they first developed the sense of belonging to something larger than their immediate
family.

For 200 years, for example, the Pardoe family has maintained a family farm in New Hampshire.
Purchased in 1796, the farm had been continually occupied by family members until the death of
the family matriarch, Helen Pardoe, in 1988. Now the ownership and management of the farm
have passed to the younger generation. Although younger family members live on both coasts,
they still regard the farm as their symbolic family home.
“My grandmother was a large presence in the family,” says Charles Pardoe II, “and we were all
close to her. The farm symbolizes the values my grandmother lived by and passed on to us about
the importance of a tight-knit family, hard work and positive attitudes.”

The farm continues to be a family gathering place, and because the current owners of the farm
are also the directors of the Samuel P. Pardoe Foundation in Washington, DC, at least one of the
foundation's meetings is held there annually. The family foundation is now exploring ways to
fund educational and charitable programs that use the farm’s fields, barns and livestock in their
activities.

Not all traditions are formal practices or celebrations; some are customary ways of doing things
that go unquestioned. Often family members think and behave in certain ways because “that’s
how it’s always been.” When families set up family foundations, they generally structure those
foundations according to the same traditions. Foundations that do not have private offices, for
example, often hold meetings in the home of the family elders (the traditional meeting place).
Similarly, families with a tradition of vesting authority for business and investment decisions
exclusively in the hands of the men in the family or the family elders generally set up a similar
hierarchy in the foundation.

Traditions respected within the context of the home, however, may be challenged when carried
over to the foundation. Coming together under different circumstances and in a wholly different
arena, family members who have been excluded from decision making may no longer be as
willing to abide by the usual traditions when they become trustees. Sometimes, even the family
leaders themselves recognize that a different management structure is needed for the foundation.

Conformity

Family cultures vary greatly in their tolerance of differences. Some demand total allegiance to
the values of the culture and regard any divergence from the norm as threatening to the well-
being of the family. Some even go as far as to cut off all contact with family members who
embrace different philosophies or styles of living.

When families of this cultural type set up foundations, they impose the same demand for
conformity on trustees. Typically, little if any debate takes place, and new voices or perspectives
on issues are discouraged. One trustee, the granddaughter of the founder of a large foundation in
the South, tells of her experience of joining the board when she was well into middle age.
Married at age nineteen to escape what she described as an oppressively proper family life, she
lived on the West Coast until her divorce several years ago. Back in her hometown, she was
eager to serve on the family board, seeing the foundation as a way to reintegrate into the
community.

In her absence, the control of the board had passed from her grandmother, the founder, to her
father, and then to her three brothers, who, for the past eight years, had followed the same
“cookie-cutter” approach to broaden the foundation’s grantmaking. She began meeting with
members of the community to learn more about the foundation’s funding areas and to explore
new approaches that the board might take in supporting local groups. Excited by her findings,
she recommended that some of these individuals be invited to speak to the board at its next
meeting. The board turned down her suggestion.

“They reacted as if I were a traitor to the family,” she says. “They regard any changes from the
way my grandmother and father did things as betrayal. It’s frustrating that they shut the door to
new ideas because with the amount of money we give away each year, this foundation could be a
real force for change in this town.”

Other families, like the Stranahans, go to great lengths to ensure that everyone’s voice is heard.
In 1956, Duane and Virginia Stranahan formed the Needmor Fund in Boulder, Colorado, with
money earned from the family business, Champion Spark Plug, started by Duane’s father and
uncle. The Stranahans are a large family (Duane and Virginia had six children who had sixteen
children of their own), and their politics run the gamut from conservative to progressive. Despite
their diversity, they place great value on inclusiveness.

“My grandfather is a quiet man who set an example of not imposing his views on others,” says
Abby Stranahan, the current board chair. “He wants the family to work together, and he trusts
them to make good decisions.”

The family’s tolerance for diversity was tested during the 1970s when the family and the
foundation were in turmoil. Duane and Virginia divorced, as did several other family members,
and others moved away from the family home in Toledo, Ohio. Meanwhile, Virginia left the
board, and members of the third generation, politicized by the events of the times, had their own
ideas on how to give money away.

To preserve family unity and encourage family participation, the foundation revised the trust
agreement. Under the new guidelines, any family member who contributed $1,000 to the
foundation was considered a voting member of the foundation. Moreover, the family felt a need
to develop a broad mission that would include the wide sweep of political philosophies. To that
end, they hired a strong and experienced executive director who helped them cut through their
political differences to find a common interest in funding grassroots empowerment.

“Ironically,” says Stranahan, “the board’s impulse to move toward a more unifying and less
politicized mission led us to more progressive funding. What was dividing the family was not
values but rhetoric. Once family members discovered they had similar concerns and that those
concerns cut across political differences, they were able to focus on foundation goals.”

This brief introduction to family culture points at the many strands that weave together two
systems, the family and the foundation. As will become clearer in later chapters, that influence
does not move in one direction but rather is reciprocal. The family is changed by the experience
of running the foundation, and the foundation, in turn, is influenced by the changes in the family.
Founders die, and with them often go their styles of leadership and management. In-laws join the
family, importing beliefs, norms and traditions from their own family cultures, The younger
generation comes on board, reflecting a new set of values and experiences and, often, different
funding agendas. Conflicts erupt, circumstances change and new challenges arise that require
trustees to rethink their old ways or to devise different strategies for managing situations.

And so life moves inexorably forward as both internal and external forces continuously shape
and influence the cultures of the two systems—the family and the foundation. Later chapters of
this guide will explore in more detail the interaction between these two systems.
Family Culture
Family is also very important to how a person develops because even within culture, a
family forms its own unique culture, that is, its family culture. This family culture influences
members of the family because the culture of a family teaches individuals how to handle conflict,
listen, learn rules and communicate in general. All of these factors influence how a person
behaves towards other family members and towards others in society and are based off what they
are taught by their families.

Within each unique family culture there are also family rules which are the expectations
of appropriate behavior and obligations from each family member. Although a larger culture may
have an expectation that family members support each other, how the family culture goes about
doing so may be unique. An example of this was shared by an intercultural communication
partner, Rana Al’atobi, who shared that during a party her mother expects her to behave as a
proper hostess towards all the guests, including strangers, even if it may seem uncomfortable.
(Rana Al’atobi, personal communication, October 06th, 2012). This expectation of behaving as a
proper hostess is a family rule that varies by family culture where mothers may have different
expectations for how their daughters need to behave at a party. Family rules also vary based on
how rigid these rules must be obeyed. Some families may have expectations for how their
children need to behave but disobeying a certain rule may not be frowned upon. This depends on
the family culture and the larger culture’s view of family structure and collectivism which will
be discussed now.

Overall, the family culture has significant implications in how an individual behaves in
society. Family culture influences how people can adapt to others and cultures that are different.
Family culture also effects how family members handle conflict with other people and their
listening skills. These various communication behaviors that are taught significantly affect how
people behave in culture, so in cultures where everyone in a family reflects upon the family’s
image it is important for members to be taught the appropriate ways of behaving.

Family Structure
Within the United States, the most common family structure used to be the nuclear
structured family which simply consisted of two parents and their children. The nuclear family
was primarily responsible for teaching their children the norms and expectations of society.
However, the family unit has begun to change in the United States as many factors have changed
since the middle of the twentieth century to include a greater variety of people. Along with step-
children and parents from the increasing divorce rates, families have also begun to include older
generations into the intimate setting of the home. Older generations, primarily grandparents, used
to be not as involved in families day to day lives but they also had short life-expediency. With
grandparents living longer and changing expectations of involvement in grandchildren’s lives,
American families are more likely to have a closer relationship to more generations.

This change in many family structures in the United States could provide even more
benefits than those simply within the family. This structure is actually more similar to the Saudi
Arabian family model which includes multiple generations and aunts, uncles and cousins. For
those traveling to Saudi Arabia it may now be less of a shock if invited to a celebration or a
family gathering that includes a very large party of people because we may expect that more in
the United States too. Along with that, for an American traveler staying with a host Saudi
Arabian family, the constant presence of extended family members at the house may not be so
overwhelming now as it was twenty or more years ago. This isn't to deny that there would be
adjustments in family dynamics or family roles since every family in both the United States and
Saudi Arabia is different. Next we will explore these differences within Saudi Arabian family
life that may be an adjustment for Americans.
 This model of the inter-generational family is comparable to the normal Saudi Arabian
family. Even if a there is only the nuclear family living under one roof, the extended family is
still extremely important. It is the norm for families to be bigger in size in the Middle East, with
many children. On top of that, when children grow older and are married, there is still a strong
desire to live near their parents in order to maintain a strong relationship. Children will still visit
their parents as often as possible for pleasure or for advice. Family also grows when a couple
marries, as the spouse’s family becomes their own family and just as important. This is one
concept that may be difficult for Americans to understand because the term “in-laws” comes
with some negative connotations.
European wildlife
Europe is defined as a separate continent in political terms, but biogeographically it's part of
Eurasia. Europe has few natural wilderness areas as most of its habitats have been created or
influenced by mankind over millennia. Left alone, most of Europe would revert to forest, as it
was after the end of the last ice age. Even today, some 25% of the land is forested, if you include
managed woodlands. Europe's original fauna and flora were therefore mostly forest dependant or
tolerant species, such as bears, boar and badgers. As agriculture opened up the landscape,
opportunities arose for other species.
Ancient forests
From First Eden
Europe's medieval forests contained a few animals long since gone.
Lively lakes
From The Living Planet
As life flourishes in fertile lakes Prespa and Ohrid, new species evolve.
Alpine glory
From The Private Life of Plants
As the Alpine sun warms the slopes in early summer, snowbells pierce through the melting snow
blanket. Timelapse shows their progress as they push their heads through the thinning ice,
already in full flower.
Aerials of the Alps
From Planet Earth
These stunning views of the different parts of the Alps took 10 days to film using the high-
definition heligimbal camera. The camera's ability to swivel 360 degrees enables sweeping
panoramic aerials and tracking shots across the spikey peaks of the Italian Dolomites.
European wildlife
European Habitats
Freshwater habitats
A Scottish bog woodland in dawn mist
Bog
Rainforest and mangroves in a estuary in Malaysia
Brackish water
A lake in the mountains
Lakes and ponds
Early evening on a salt marsh
Marsh
River with trees on the bank and a over cast sky
Rivers and streams
Cypress swamp with bladderwort flowers in the USA
Swamp
Pond in England's New Forest National Park
Temporary pools
Okavango Delta in Botswana after the rainy season
Wetlands
Marine habitats
The Avon estuary in England
Estuaries
Mussels in the intertidal zone of the Atlantic coast
Intertidal zone
Tidal pools at low tide
Rockpools
Terrestrial habitats
European beech woodland in spring
Beech wood
European beechwood in pale autumnal sunlight
Broadleaf forest
Gasometer on brownfield land, Bath, UK
Brownfield land
Mixed flowers on chalk downland in Hampshire
Chalk grassland
The coastal landscape of Cornwall, England
Coastal
View up into the canopy of sequoia redwoods
Coniferous forest
Round straw bales in a field
Farmland
Wildflowers and pine trees in the New Forest National Park
Heathland
Hedgerow between two fields
Hedgerows
Frost on a limestone pavement in the Yorkshire Dales
Limestone pavements
Mountain vegetation in South Africa
Mediterranean forest
Bodmin Moor in late evening light
Moorland
A poppy field in the mountains of Italy
Mountain grassland
World map depicting elevation of the Earth's land surface above sea level.
Mountains
European oak woodland in autumn
Oak wood
Stourhead gardens in the autumn
Parkland
A winter snow scene in Canada
Taiga
An Argentinian meadow in summer
Temperate grassland
Alaskan tundra in autumn colours
Tundra
World map of urban areas. The brightest areas are the most urbanized, but not necessarily the
most populated.
Urban
Wildflowers amongst grass in a meadow
Wildflower meadow

European animals
European mammals
Collapse
Hedgehog on a path (c) Chas Moonie
Hedgehog
Close-up of the prehistoric mammal, Leptictidium
Leptictidium
Brown long-eared bat flying through oak leaves
Brown long-eared bat
Daubenton's bat hibernating in a sandstone cave
Daubenton's bat
Greater horseshoe bat colony hibernating in a cave
Horseshoe bats
Lesser Horseshoe Bat roosting on a branch
Lesser horseshoe bat
Noctule bat in flight and showing its teeth
Noctule bat
Serotine bat resting on a tree trunk
Serotine bat
Soprano pipistrelle in flight
Soprano pipistrelle
Greater mouse-eared bat and Natterer's bat roosting
Vesper bats
Profile of an American mink
American mink
A white-furred Arctic fox in the snow
Arctic fox
Badger in the grass (c) Austin Thomas
Badger
Grizzly bear standing in river looking for fish
Brown bear
A common seal (c) Christine Hall
Common seal
Eurasian lynx walking through snow
Eurasian lynx
Portrait of a grey seal (c) Sam Eklund
Grey seal
Portrait of a grey wolf in a forest
Grey wolf
Portrait of the Mediterranean monk seal
Mediterranean monk seal
A dog otter amongst sea weed (c) Davy Renney
Otter
Pine marten on a branch (c) Andy Nayler
Pine marten
Polar bear walking through wind-blown snow at sunset
Polar bear
A European polecat
Polecat
Red fox checking for danger (c) Richard McManus
Red fox
Alert stoat on woodland floor (c) Judi Mahon
Stoat
Walrus with lower half submerged in water
Walrus
Weasel standing up on hind legs
Weasel
Wildcat stalking on edge of a pine forest
Wildcat
Wolverine walking through a snowy woodland
Wolverine
Fallow deer stag with antlers (c) Mike Warburton
Fallow deer
Red deer stag in the mist (c) James Morris
Red deer
A couple of reindeer in the snow
Reindeer
A male roe deer fawn looks alert
Roe deer
Sika stag in autumn
Sika deer
An Indian wild boar running
Wild boar
Brown hare looking with ears down (c) Mike Rae
Hare
Mountain hare in white winter coat stting on dark ground
Mountain hare
Rabbit in grass with yellow flowers (c) Peter Warne
Rabbit
Portrait of an injured adult male Barbary macaque
Barbary macaque
Assam macaques in a tree
Macaques
A bank vole
Bank vole
Portrait of an American beaver on a log, showing its teeth
Beavers
A brown rat
Brown rat
Red squirrel displaying its tail amongst flowers
Bushy-tailed squirrels
A pair of hazel dormouse sleeping in their nest during hibernation
Dormice
A dormouse in Autumn
Dormouse
Edible dormouse on a branch
Edible dormouse
A beaver feeding in the water
European beaver
Water vole sniffing the air (c) Robert North
European water vole
Field vole in a flower (c) John Dixon
Field vole
Grey squirrel standing up on its hind legs
Grey squirrel
Harvest mouse climbing a plant (c) Adrian Dutton
Harvest mouse
Norway lemming on tundra in Norway
Lemmings
Red squirrel eating a nut (c) Peter Trimming
Red squirrel
Wood mouse on woodland floor
Wood mouse
A common shrew sits on a moss covered log
Common shrew
European mole surfacing from a mole hill
Mole
European birds
Collapse
Adult male cuckoo in flight
Common cuckoo
Black-throated diver on water
Black-throated diver
Great Northern diver adult in breeding plumage on water in evening light
Great northern diver
Flamingo grooming pink wing feathers
Greater flamingo
A lesser flamingo preens its feathers with its large hooked beak
Lesser flamingo
Adult barnacle goose in flight
Barnacle goose
A displaying Bewick's swan
Bewick's swan
Brent goose landing on flooded salt marsh
Brent goose
Portrait of a goldeneye (c) Justin Burt
Goldeneye
Mallard duck on a wall (c) Ken Bentley
Mallard
Mandarin duck standing on a waterside log
Mandarin duck
Mute swan getting airborne (c) Andy Berry
Mute swan
A pair of whooper swans in flight through fog over water
Whooper swan
Female nightjar on nest
Nightjar
Collared dove perched on tree branch
Collared dove
Pigeon in flight
Pigeon
Stock dove on moss (c) George Findlay
Stock dove
Profile of a turtle dove
Turtle dove
Collared dove pair perched near water
Turtle doves
Juvenile great spotted woodpecker on a branch (c) Izzy Standbridge
Great spotted woodpecker
Green woodpecker on a stone (c) Paul Green
Green woodpecker
Black-necked grebe floating on water with young on its back
Black-necked grebe
Male great crested grebe with an erect crest
Great crested grebe
Buzzard looking through leaves (c) Ian Hassall
Common buzzard
Golden eagle perched on a rock
Golden eagle
Hen harrier in flight
Hen harrier
A hobby in flight (c) Mark Chivers
Hobby
Rear view of a honey buzzard looking around
Honey buzzard
A hovering kestrel (c) Collin Shore
Kestrel
Bearded vulture standing on a rock
Lammergeier
Marsh Harrier in flight over reed bed
Marsh harrier
A hovering merlin (c) Linda Lyon
Merlin
A female northern goshawk flying
Northern goshawk
Osprey in flight with fish (c) Chris Wilson
Osprey
Peregrine falcon in flight (c) Jamie Skipper
Peregrine falcon
A red kite diving (c) Steve Mackay
Red kite
A female sparrowhawk perched on the branch of an oak tree
Sparrowhawk
A white-tailed eagle over water (c) Kevin Robson
White-tailed sea eagle
Common crane pair displaying
Common crane
A common moorhen (c) Matt Cattell
Common moorhen
Coot looking behind (c) Jack Barton
Coot
A group of demoiselle cranes feeding from the ground
Demoiselle crane
Male great bustard in field
Great bustard
A wading water rail
Water rail
A male black grouse perched on top of a conifer
Black grouse
A capercaillie calling (c) Jamie MacArthur
Capercaillie
Common pheasant standing in snow
Pheasant
Portrait of a ptarmigan (c) Sandra Standbridge
Ptarmigan
A red legged partridge (c) Gordon Linton
Red-legged partridge
Perching kingfisher (c) Mark Medcalf
Kingfisher
Pied kingfisher perched on branch
Pied kingfisher
Three little owl juveniles perched on apple tree
Athene owls
Barn owl in flight (c) Simon Richardson
Barn owl
Close-up of a Eurasian eagle owl looking towards the camera
Eurasian eagle owl
Great grey owl hunting in the snow
Great grey owl
Little owl walking along a log (c) Russell Savory
Little owl
Long eared owl portrait
Long-eared owl
A short-eared owl landing on a rock
Short-eared owl
Snowy owl hunting for prey in winter snow
Snowy owl
Tawny owl landing on a tree stump (c) Phil Winter
Tawny owl
Hovering gannet (c) Steve Everett
Northern gannet
Silhouette of an Australian pelican
Pelicans
A bearded tit perched perched between two reeds (c) Ian Hull
Bearded tit
Blackbird perched on a branch (c) Elle Lee
Blackbird
Blackcap perched on branch singing (c) Adrian Dancy
Blackcap
Blue tit on a branch (c) Leonard Davis
Blue tit
Male bullfinch perched on lichen covered branch
Bullfinch
A carrion crow
Carrion crow
Portrait of a chaffinch perched on a branch (c) Graham Brownlow
Chaffinch
Male whinchat perched on a bush
Chats
Chiffchaff perched on a thorn plant (c) Tim Donovan
Chiffchaff
Coal tit perched on a branch (c) Tim Stenton
Coal tit
Male red crossbill on branch of spruce tree
Common crossbill
Crested tit perched on a tree trunk (c) Nichola Knight
Crested tit
Crows on tree branches in fog
Crows and ravens
Dartford warbler perched on a branch (c) John McHale
Dartford warbler
European dipper jumping on to a rock
Dipper
Fork tailed drongo perched on a branch
Drongos
Close up of a dunnock (c) Paul Fram
Dunnock
Fieldfare on branch
Fieldfare
Garden warbler on elderberry tree
Garden warbler
Male goldcrest, with crest showing, perched in a pine tree
Goldcrest
Goldfinch perched on a tree stump (c) Chris Barber
Goldfinch
Grasshopper warbler singing from a branch
Grasshopper warbler
A great tit in flight (c) Jerry Nicholls
Great tit
Greenfinch perched on a branch (c) Margaret Sweeny
Greenfinch
Grey wagtail collecting food for nestlings at the edge of a stream
Grey wagtail
A hooded crow in winter
Hooded crow
House sparrow perched on a fence post (c) Paul Cooper
House sparrow
Protrait of a jackdaw (c) Olive Taylor
Jackdaw
Jay perched on a branch (c) Mike Rawlings
Jay
Arctic warbler perched on a branch singing
Leaf warblers
Linnet perched on gorse (c) Jeff Cohen
Linnet
Long tailed tit on lichen-covered branch
Long-tailed tit
A magpie on the ground
Magpie
Nightingale singing in a tree
Nightingale
A male pied flycatcher perched on a branch
Pied flycatcher
Pied wagtail in the grass (c) Keith Cochrane
Pied wagtail
Raven walking (c) Jim MacKenzie
Raven
Red-billed chough flying
Red-billed chough
Redstart perched on a conifer tree branch
Redstart
Reed bunting perched on a grass stem (c) Chris Cox
Reed bunting
Reed warbler perched on reed stem singing
Reed warbler
Robin looking towards camera (c) Nick Stacey
Robin
Two rooks perched on fence post
Rook
Sand martin at nest entrance
Sand martin
Sedge warbler perched on a reed
Sedge warbler
Siskin on a teasel flower
Siskin
Skylark perched on a dry stone wall at dawn
Skylark
Song thrush at water
Song thrush
Spotted flycatcher perched on branch (c) Ian White
Spotted flycatcher
Starling on a tree branch (c) Ian Mitchell
Starling
Stonechat perched on a thorny bush
Stonechat
Swallow flying low over grass towards camera (c) Jacky Stuart
Swallow
Treecreeper clinging onto a tree trunk
Treecreeper
Pied wagtail perched on fence post
Wagtails
Bohemian waxwing perched on a branch
Waxwing
Whinchat perched on a stem
Whinchat
Willow warbler perched on a branch
Willow warbler
Profile of a wood warbler perched on a branch
Wood warbler
Wren perching on a branch (c) Gray Clements
Wren
Arctic skua with wings and tail spread in flight
Arctic skua
Arctic tern flying with fish in its beak
Arctic tern
Avocet landing in water
Avocet
Ringed plover walking in shallow water
Common ringed plover
Great black-backed gull taking off from the sea
Great black-backed gull
Portrait of a common guillemot
Guillemot
Looking up at herring gulls in flight
Herring gull
A kittiwake in flight
Kittiwake
Knots feeding at low tide
Knot
A lapwing with wing dipped in water (c) Ian Turner
Lapwing
Lesser black-backed gulls in flight
Lesser black-backed gull
Little ringed plover standing in mud (c) Mark Dunhill
Little ringed plover
Oystercatcher on sand
Oystercatcher
Puffin against a blue sky (c) Darren Ritson
Puffin
Stone curlew incubating eggs on nest
Stone curlew
Thick-billed guillemot standing on ice
Thick-billed guillemot
A Great Bittern stalking in the snow
Bittern
Grey heron with a fish (c) Daz / SWAN MAN
Grey heron
Little egret at water's edge (c) Jeff Lack
Little egret
Swift in flight (c) Mandy West
Common swift
Fulmar sitting on grass (c) John Moncrieff
Fulmar
Manx shearwater in flight over water (c) Shane Jones
Manx shearwater
A storm petrel resting on the ground at night
Storm petrel
European reptiles
Show all 6 Reptiles
A curled up adder (c) Mark Bowen
Adder
Common lizard on wood (c) Nicholas David
Common Lizard
Head of a coiled female grass snake
Grass snake
Sand lizard in breeding colours (c) Paul Cobb
Sand lizard
Close-up of a slow worm head (c) Graham Hall
Slow worm
Coiled smooth snake
Smooth snake
European amphibians
Collapse
Portrait of a common frog (c) David Murray-Smith
Common frog
Portrait of a toad on a stone (c) Steven Ratcliffe
Common toad
Marsh frog submerged in water
Marsh frog
A natterjack toad in the sand (c) Tim Melling
Natterjack toad
An underwater view of a male great crested newt
Great crested newt
A palmate newt (c) Arlyn Thursby
Palmate newt
European cartilaginous fish
A great white shark swimming
Great white shark
European ray-finned fishes
A three-spined stickleback
Three-spined stickleback
A female Atlantic salmon underwater
Atlantic salmon
Portrait of a river trout
Brown trout
European lampreys
A brook lamprey
Brook lamprey
European cephalopods
Cuttlefish amongst seaweed
Common cuttlefish
European insects
Collapse
A winged queen black ant on a leaf
Black garden ant
Buff-tailed bumble bee feeding from flower
Buff-tailed bumblebee
Bumble bee with tip of its tongue curled around a pollen dispensers (c) Martin Webber
Bumblebees
Head-on view of the common wasp
Common wasp
Close up of a honeybee
European honey bee
Two hairy wood ants on a branch
Hairy wood ant
Close up of a European hornet
Hornet
Swarming black ants on a leaf
Lasius ants
Mason Bee carrying grass to cover nest in snail shell
Mason bees
Wood ants carrying an egg
Scottish wood ant
Wood ant nest
Wood ants
Close-up of a mound ant tending larvae
Yellow meadow ant
A female Glow Worm beetle glowing at sunset to attract a mate
Common glow-worm
Dung beetle group on elephant excrement, South Africa
Dung beetles
A great diving beetle walking underwater towards the camera
Great diving beetle
A ground beetle
Ground beetles
Harlequin ladybird on a nettle
Harlequin ladybird
Two scarab beetles face each other on a branch
Scarab beetles
Seven-spot ladybird on fennel flowers
Seven-spot ladybird
A sexton beetle on a dead greenfinch
Sexton beetles
Male stag beetle (c) Kerry Mellor
Stag beetles
Adonis blue butterfly in flight
Adonis blue
Brimstone on a pink flower (c) Julia Martin
Brimstone
Five-spot burnet moth on a flower (c) Robert Carr
Burnet moth
Large white butterfly on a white flower (c) Jan Riley
Cabbage white
Dark green fritillary at rest on plant
Dark green fritillary
Gatekeeper on yellow flowers (c) Brian Kirby
Gatekeeper butterfly
High brown fritillary at rest on a fern (c) Andy Seely
High brown fritillary
Hummingbird hawk-moth feeding from flower (c) Bob Hopkins
Hummingbird hawk-moth
Large blue butterfly feeding on wild thyme flowers
Large blue butterfly
Marbled white butterfly on grass (c) Jo Maunder
Marbled white
Marsh fritillary clinging to a stem
Marsh fritillary
Painted lady on a post (c) Joshua Lamsdale
Painted lady
A peacock butterfly on grass (c) Dawn Burkey
Peacock butterfly
Purple emperor on green fern leaves (c) Iain Leach
Purple emperor butterfly
Grass-yellow butterflies on tropical rainforest floor
Sulphurs and whites
Swallowtail on a pink flower (c) Trevor Hannant
Swallowtail
Death's head cockroach climbing over a leaf
Cockroaches
Close-up of the face and eyes of a banded demoiselle
Banded demoiselle
A male broad bodied chaser (c) John Murray
Dragonflies
A male Norfolk hawker dragonfly
Norfolk hawker
A swarm of non-biting midge flies
Flies
Midge biting a human
Highland midge
Mosquito on a blade of grass
Mosquitoes
Common yellow dung fly on a leaf
Yellow dung fly
Two great green bush crickets
Bush crickets
Meadow grasshopper on a twig (c) Derek Budd
Grasshoppers and crickets
Mayflies emerging from lake
Mayflies
Tisza mayfly on a leafy branch
Tisza mayfly
Two lacewings feeding on moss
Net-winged insects
Praying mantis on a leaf
Praying mantis
Termites building a mud wall
Termites
Rose aphids on a plant stem
Aphids
European arachnids
Show all 9 Arachnids
Asian giant forest scorpion with tail raised.
Scorpions
A female black lace-weaver spider
Black lace-weaver

Black-palp wolf spider

Close-up of a white crab spider (c) Aaron Stanley
Crab spiders
Garden spider with insect prey
Garden spider
A jumping spider on a leaf
Jumping spiders
Upside down money spider
Money spiders
Wasp spider in its web with dewdrops
Orb weavers
Raft spider in ripple detection posture
Raft spiders
European crabs, shrimp and krill
Hermit crab on sand (c) Nick Davies
Hermit crabs
White-clawed crayfish in Ballinderry river, Republic of Ireland
White-clawed crayfish
European barnacles and copepods
Goose barnacles underwater
Goose barnacles
European snails and slugs
Common snail adult on moss covered stone at night
Garden snail
European jellyfish
A common jellyfish from below as it heads to the surface
Common jellyfish
European bivalvia
Speckled scallops on seabed
Scallops
European fungi
Sordariomycetes
Moth that's been killed by an entomopathogenic fungus
Cordyceps
Zygomycetes
Photomicrograph of Pilobolus crystallinus, the hat-throwing fungus
Hat thrower fungus
European plants
European pinopsida
Berries of the common yew tree
Common yew
Black pines and beech trees in the mist
Pines
European dicotyledons
Collapse
Rhododendrons in bloom in the Lake District
Rhododendrons
Acacia tree and dry scrubland in Tanzania
Acacias
Close-up of wind blowing dandelion seeds (c) Katie Pillidge
Dandelions
An ancient beech tree in its autumn colours
Common beech
English oak tree in a field with a rainbow
English oak
Arctic poppies growing on Ellesmere Is. Canada
Arctic poppy
Blackberries in various states of ripeness
Blackberry
Common hawthorn flowers
Hawthorn
Blossoms of flowering crabapple tree in spring
Rose family
Bright yellow flower head of a St John's wort
St John's wort
Common sundew with its sticky tentacles extended
Sundews
Close-up of a English elm tree branch
English elm
Close-up of frozen nettle leaves
Stinging nettle
The fruit of a horse chestnut tree
Horse chestnut
Sunlight on sycamore tree leaves
Sycamore
Sweet violet flower in France
Violets and pansies
European monocotyledons
Collapse
Snake's head fritillary flowers
Snake's head fritillary
Flowers of the Snowdon lilly
Snowdon lily
Purple tulip flowers
Tulips
A bee orchid (c) Ben Andrew
Bee orchids
Close-up of bluebell flower
Common bluebell
Close-up of a daffodil flower
Daffodil
Sepik blue orchids in a row
Orchids
Snowdrop flower in snow
Snowdrop
Wild garlic flower head
Wild garlic
A dense group of bamboo stems in the woods
Grasses

Best Places to Visit in Europe

From the England and France to Italy and Germany, European countries are full of vibrant cities
known for museums, restaurants, nightlife and architecture, so deciding which one to visit on
vacation can be difficult. That’s why U.S. News considered these factors – as well as user votes
– to round up the 17 best travel destinations in Europe. Use this list to guide your next trip, and
cast your vote to help us compile next year’s list.
Room
Porto
London
Paris
Florence
Prague
Venice
Barcelona
Amsterdam
Amalfi coast
Athens
Vienna
Santorini
Tuscany
Madrid
Seville
Valencia

4 major land regions in Europe

Northwestern Highlands
1. Far northern part of Europe (Norway and Sweden)
2. Steep sloped mountains with thin soil

North European Plain

1. Covers over 1/2 of north central Europe
2. Most productive farmland
3.Largest cities are located in this region today
4.Most of Europe's population lives on this landform
5.Loess-Rich dust like soil found in the European plain

Central Uplands
1.Area of mountains and Plautus
2.Rocky land-not good for farming
3.Mostly used for cattle and mineral resources

Alpine Mountains
1.Southern portion of Europe
2.From Spain across to Eastern Europe
3.Alps are the highest mountains in this system
4.Many popular vacation places
Category regions in Europe
Regions of Europe
*
List of European regions with alternative names
Region (Europe)
A
Adriatic Ionian Euroregion
Alcohol belts of Europe
Alpine Foreland
Alpine states
Arc Manche
Assembly of European Regions
Association of the Alpine States
Außerfern
B
Balkans
Baltic region
Belchen System
Benelux
Bremen/Oldenburg Metropolitan Region
British Isles
C
Caucasus
Central and Eastern Europe
Central Europe
Central European Highlands
D
Danube 21 Euroregion
E
East Prussia
East-Central Europe
Eastern Europe
Elbe Marshes
Elbe–Weser triangle
Euro-Mediterranean region
F
Far West (Taixi)
G
Galicia (Eastern Europe)
Germanic Basin
Greater Region of Luxembourg
H
Havelland Luch
Heinzenberg GR
Hildesheim Börde
I
Iberian Peninsula
Italian Peninsula
K
Kashubia
L
Latin Arch
Lechrain
Levant
Linteln Geest
List of traditional regions of Slovakia
Lower Danube (Euroregion)
M
Magdeburg Börde
Mediterranean Basin
Mitteleuropa
N
Nordic countries
Northern Europe
Northwestern Europe
R
REGLEG
Rheinwald
Röstigraben
S
Scandinavia
Schams
Southeast Europe
Southern Europe
T
Teufelsmoor
Thuringian Basin
W
Wasgau
Western Europe
Z
Zollfeld