Running head: PERSONAL-CULTURAL ANALYSIS 1

Personal-Cultural Analysis and Identity Development

Elizabeth Cuttle

Department of Counseling, Wake Forest University

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Abstract

Reflecting on one’s own cultural identity development is a critical step in raising self-awareness,

understanding other diverse cultures, exposing personal implicit biases, and ultimately,

becoming a more effective counselor. This paper aims to serve the purpose as a personal-cultural

analysis while exploring roots of identity development. The analysis includes a reflection on my

current interaction with members of other diverse cultural groups, an examination of when I first

came to understanding the existence of racism and other ‘isms,’ my family’s influence on my

cultural identity development, and the relationship between my current stage of cultural identity

development and my ability to be an effective counselor.

Keywords: cultural identity development, counseling, diverse cultural groups, racism,

family influence
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Personal-Cultural Analysis and Identity Development

Reflecting on my own cultural identity development is a crucial step in raising my self-

awareness, understanding other diverse cultures, and becoming an effective counselor. Upon my

personal analysis, I realized that many of my interactions with other culturally diverse groups

occur in the professional context, so I would like to challenge myself to seek out actively seek

out authentic interactions in a social context, as well. Furthermore, I became aware of racism and

other various ‘isms’ from a young age, which impacted my personal cultural identity

development. My family’s unaccepting views of people from other diverse cultural groups

contributed to my development, too, but it also caused me to challenge their viewpoints. I

identify myself in the Pseudo-Independent stage of cultural identity development, and I want to

keep stretching myself toward the Autonomous stage to best serve my future counseling clients.

Interactions with Culturally Diverse Groups

I interact with many individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds, both in a professional

context and a social context. Due to my current profession as a middle school teacher at a Title I

school in Charlotte, North Carolina, I interact with members of diverse groups different from my

own on a very regular basis. About two-thirds of my students are Black, and the remaining one-

third are Hispanic. Of my Hispanic students, quite a few have recently immigrated from

countries such as Honduras, El Salvador, and Mexico, and they are English Language Learners.

Many of my coworkers are also from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Moreover, 100%

of my students come from low-income families. My students also have diverse gender and

sexuality identities. For example, one of my students identifies as a transgender boy, and a

couple other students are open about their bisexual identities. Although it is my job to teach these
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children, I enjoy getting to know them on a personal level and learning about their diverse

hobbies, interests, and backgrounds.

Most of my interactions with diverse cultural groups stem from my professional work as

a teacher, but it also occurs on a social level to a lesser extent. Upon reflecting, I realized that

when I am in novel social situations, I tend to gravitate toward groups that are most like myself –

White and middle class. This does not happen consciously or in every situation, but many of the

individuals I socialize with are culturally the same as myself. I do have several friends that I

interact with often that are from other diverse groups different from my own (African American,

Asian American, LGBTQ+), but not as many as I would like to admit. I would like to broaden

my social circle to include more individuals from diverse backgrounds and learn how to actively

seek out these relationships.

Understanding ‘Isms’ and the Cultural Identity Development Model

It is challenging for me to determine when exactly I realized that racism, discrimination,

sexism, and other ‘isms’ existed because I grew up very sheltered. My small, rural hometown in

southern Indiana has a population of less than 7,000, and about 95% of individuals living there

are White. While I cannot think of any specific instances in which I have personally been

discriminated, I can remember a few instances throughout my upbringing in which I witnessed or

even perpetuated discrimination and prejudice. However, it is not something that I noticed

regularly because of the homogeneity and close-knit nature of my hometown.

The first incident of racism that I can remember happened in first grade, and I am

ashamed to admit that I was the perpetuator of this act. There was a Vietnamese girl named

Vanthu in my class, and she was the only child that was not White. It was my classroom job to
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place my classmates’ plastic lunch cards in everyone’s cubbies, and one day I decided to bend

Vanthu’s in half. Since the cards were plastic laminated, I caused her lunch card to have a

permanent crease down the middle after bending it. I had no legitimate reason for doing this, and

I had never even spoken to her before. The only reason I did this was because she was ‘different’

from everybody else. I cannot understand why, at the age of six, I had such disdain for another

child my age just because she was a different race than myself. I still feel guilty to this day about

bending Vanthu’s lunch card just because she was Vietnamese. Looking back now, what I

learned from this experience is that subtle racism is unconsciously or consciously taught at home

and the school environment. With almost everyone in my hometown looking the same, parents

and teachers need to be vigilant and intentional about teaching anti-racism to children, starting at

a young age. It alarms me that I behaved in this manner, and being so young, I think it is up to

the adults to teach their kids about different cultures to foster a sense of respect for those who are

different from the majority.

Furthermore, there have also been multiple occasions from my childhood in which I

witnessed various ‘isms,’ causing me to realize the existence of discrimination and prejudice.

The earliest memory I have involves my maternal grandfather who lived in Tennessee at the

time. I did not realize it at the time, but he was extremely racist, and he had no problem showing

it. When I was about eight years old, he gave me a bag of state quarters because I collected them.

As he handed them to me, he said something along the lines of, “Don’t go spending those at the

McDonald’s down the road. That’s where all the Black people work.” I cannot remember my

exact reaction to this blatant and horrible racist comment since I was so young, but I knew

something was not right, and I was confused about why he hated Black people so much. At that

point in my life, I am not sure if I had ever interacted with an African American because of the
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lack of diversity in my hometown. From this experience I learned that ‘different’ is synonymous

to ‘bad,’ and I wish my parents would have spoken out against these racist words and taught me

how to stand up for others.

I have changed and developed my cultural identity quite a bit since these early childhood

experiences, and I would now place myself in the Pseudo-Independent stage of the cultural

identity development model. According to Helms (1984), this is the fourth stage of racial

consciousness for White people, and it is “characterized by an intellectual acceptance and

curiosity about Blacks and Whites” (p. 156). I am interested in the similarities and differences

between those of different cultural groups, and I have contact with people who are from different

cultures, although not as much as I would like. I am stretching myself to move into the

Autonomy stage as I yearn to “supplement [my] intellectual understanding of racial issues with

affective understanding” (Helms, 1984, p. 156). I can do this by actively seeking cross-racial

interactions, accepting racial differences or similarities, realizing that cultural norms exist, and

becoming secure in my own racial identity (Helms, 1984).

Family Influence on Cultural Identity Development

For the most part, I believe my parents negatively impacted my cultural identity

development based on the suggestions and beliefs they passed down to me. Looking back, I

realize now that my mother was not very accepting or tolerant toward people who belonged to

differing cultural groups than us. We were a White, middle-class, Baptist, heteronormative

family, and anything other than that was looked down upon by my mother. One aspect I

remember is how much she hated Catholics. A large percent of my hometown practices

Catholicism, and my mother despised the fact that many people around us were Catholic and not

Baptist like us. She always talked about how wrong they were in their faith and essentially that
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they were all doomed to hell because they worship Mary instead of Jesus. Since so many people

I went to school with were Catholic, everyone I dated in high school ended up being Catholic.

My mother loathed the fact that I dated Catholic boys, and she frequently reminded me that the

Bible warns against marrying someone outside of your own religion because you would be

‘unequally yoked.’ However, I never heeded her warnings because I thought it was outright

ridiculous and excessive not to date someone just because their religion is slightly different. The

experience with my mother’s strict Baptist beliefs caused me to rebel against this identity in my

teenage years. I started to realize that the church we attended was toxic and unaccepting of

others, and I detested going to church there. My parents dragged me there every Sunday

morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evening. I remember one Sunday afternoon I changed

all the clocks in our house (this was before cellphones) so that we would miss the Sunday

evening service. I believe my parents’ adamant religious beliefs caused me to challenge their

views and rebel against it by dating Catholic boys, secretly attending Catholic services with

them, and hiding the fact that I was having sexual relationships before marriage. These memories

have had a significant impact on my cultural identity development to this day. I currently identify

as Christian, even after my rebellious years, because that was the foundation for my spirituality.

However, I do not identify as Baptist because of the negative experiences growing up, so I am

non-denominational and attend a modern, non-denominational Christian church. I am also

accepting of everyone regardless of their faith (or lack thereof), and I realize how important this

is due to my mother’s attitudes. However, I still have some thoughts lingering and ingrained in

my head about who is ‘right’ and who is ‘wrong’ about their religious beliefs. Since my mother

always intensely believed that her faith was the only ‘right’ one, I sometimes find myself

thinking that Christianity is the only legitimate faith, and other religions are not valid. This is a
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challenging mentality to overcome because by dismissing others’ faiths, I am being prejudice,

but by acknowledging that other people practice different legitimate religions, I feel like I am

dismissing my own faith. I hope to further explore this aspect of my cultural identity

development as it pertains to religion.

Moreover, my parents’ views on sexual orientation also impacted my cultural identity

development. This is also related to my parents’ strict religious views because their reasoning for

not accepting other sexual orientations is because the Bible warns against it. My mom frequently

quoted the Bible passage that claims, ‘homosexuality is an abomination.’ I would challenge her

and ask her why it mattered to her who other people chose to love. Her only response would be

that it is against God’s word, and it is the only sin that God declares as an ‘abomination.’ When

the laws started to pass to legalize gay marriage, my mother was against it and talked about how

wrong it was. This impacted my cultural identity development because I realized it was my place

to judge who other people chose to love. My best friend in high school was gay, and I always

supported him and stood up for him when others made fun of him. My mother did not dislike gay

people – in fact, she really liked my friend – but she just opposed their sexuality and made that

clear to me. These words have stayed with me, and it currently affects my cultural identity

development because I still disagree with her sentiments about people with differing sexual

orientations. However, similar to the ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ notion about religion mentioned in the

previous paragraph, I still have some lingering thoughts about which sexual orientation is ‘right’

or ‘wrong.’ I want to challenge myself to break these long-ingrained thoughts to acknowledge

that there is no correct sexual orientation; everyone is valid in how they choose to express (or not

express) their gender or sexuality.

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Further, my parents also impacted my cultural identity development as it pertains to race

and ethnicity. I specifically remember a conversation with my mother about an interracial couple

I knew, and I asked her how she would feel if I ever dated a Black man. She said something

along the lines of ‘God made the different races for a reason.’ By this comment, it was clear to

me that my mother would not approve of me dating outside of my race, and yet again, her

reasoning was rooted in some sort of twisted religious belief. This impacted my cultural identity

development because it suggested to me that the races should be separate, but I was still

confused as to why. However, I challenged this belief in later years, and I now vehemently

oppose that notion. Moreover, when I was about five years old, my family was traveling to the

south. We stopped at a Walmart in Alabama, and I remember being so confused because I had

never seen a black person before. I asked my parents, “Why is everyone brown?” My parents

thought my confusion and oblivion to different races was funny, and they never discussed the

fact that different races exist. My parents still bring up this story occasionally and laugh about it,

but I wish they would have had a more serious talk about it. This affected my cultural identity

development at the time because I realized that there were people that looked different than me.

This memory still affects my cultural identity development because I realize the importance

about talking to my kids about race. I do not want to be like my parents in this aspect, and even

though my daughter is only three years old, I often read her books about people of other races or

cultures and expose her to differing cultures.

Cultural Identity Development and Becoming an Effective Counselor

My current cultural identity development has a major impact on my ability to become an

effective counselor. As mentioned previously, I would identify myself in the Pseudo-

Independent stage of the cultural identity development model. Helms (1984) describes that the
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Pseudo-Independent counselor can provide the client with knowledge to help them navigate

racial issues. However, Helms (1984) also points out that counselors in this stage may have

difficulties empathizing with emotional aspects of racial concerns because “knowledge at this

stage may be more intellectually diverse than it is affectively diverse” (p. 158). This is another

important reason as to why I want to stretch myself to move into the Autonomy stage of cultural

identity development. I need to be able to empathize with my clients when it comes to racial

concerns, which requires me to feel confident in tackling the issues for the benefit of my clients.

Reaching the Autonomy stage as a counselor would ultimately “help clients in [their] search for

a more tolerant world” (Helms, 1984, p. 159).

Moreover, as I progress into more advanced stages of cultural identity development, I

would like to place an emphasis on empathy, rather than sympathy, as the Autonomy stage

suggests. Counselors in the Autonomy stage have both the knowledge and the affective ability to

empathize with their clients, which is critical in becoming an effective counselor. In my current

Pseudo-Independent stage, I am concerned that my response would come off as displaying

sympathy or pity rather than authentic empathy. Schwarzbaum and Thomas (2017) describe that,

while comforting comments can sometimes provide the client with a degree of solace, “if the

comment is based more on the therapist’s sadness, it may come across as patronizing, which may

alienate the client” (p. 40). Therefore, it is important for me to continue to grow in my cultural

identity development, so that I can best serve my clients’ emotional needs when it pertains to

racial or cultural issues.

Furthermore, advancing my current cultural identity development can help me maintain

positive and lasting relationships with clients. In my current state of Pseudo-Independence, I am

confident that I could be an effective counselor, but there is more work and growth to be done to
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reach an utmost level of effectiveness. My upbringing and the messages my parents ingrained in

me about culturally diverse groups concern me because I am worried that I may have some

unconscious or implicit biases lingering under the surface. Sue et al. (2007) relays, “White

therapists who are products of their cultural conditioning may be prone to engage in racial

microaggressions…clients of color perceive White therapists as biased, prejudiced, or unlikely to

understand them as racial/cultural beings” (p. 280). This, in turn, would cause the therapeutic

alliance to be weakened or terminated. Shin, Smith, Welch, & Ezeofor (2016) explain that

counselors should “be challenged to explore their internalized biases and stereotypes about

various marginalized groups” (p. 1203). Additionally, Ratts et al. (2016) claims that one must

first develop self-awareness of one’s own biases, values, and beliefs to deeply understand diverse

cultural groups as it pertains to their strengths, weaknesses, group statuses, and more. I believe

that by exploring possible biases and stereotypes that I may have internalized unconsciously, I

can work towards becoming a more effective counselor and possess a deeper respect and

understanding for culturally diverse groups.

All in all, upon analyzing my personal-cultural and identity development, several key

points were brought to my attention. First, I realized that many of my interactions with members

of other diverse groups different from my own occur in the professional context. While I do

interact with several individuals who identify differently, I would like to push myself to seek out

more diverse relationships. Moreover, I first came to acknowledge the existence of racism and

other ‘isms’ from a young age, both as a perpetuator at the age of six and as a witness throughout

my upbringing. The homogeneity of my hometown and strict religious views of my parents

contributed to my limited exposure of individuals from other diverse cultural groups. Although I

grew up not knowing much about other cultures, I have since grown and expanded my
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knowledge, awareness, and acceptance. I would classify myself in the Pseudo-Independent stage

of the cultural development identity model, and I want to stretch myself to reach the Autonomy

stage. The more I develop my own cultural identity, the more I will be able to learn about other

cultures, increase my empathic responses, and ultimately, become a more effective counselor.

Shin, Smith, Welch, & Ezeofor (2016) asserted, “The only way to be freed from behaviors that

are driven by unconscious racial biases is to uncover and dismantle them” (p. 1203).
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References

Helms, J. E. (1984). Toward a theoretical explanation of the effects of race on counseling: A

Black and White model. The Counseling Psychologist, 12(4), 153–165.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000084124013

Schwarzbaum, S. E., & Thomas, A. J. (2017). Culture and identity: Life stories for counselors

and therapists (3rd ed.). Sage.

Shin, R. Q., Smith, L. C., Welch, J. C., & Ezeofor, I. (2016). Is Allison more likely than Lakisha

to receive a callback from counseling professionals? A racism audit study. The

Counseling Psychologist, 44(8), 1187–1211. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000016668814

Sue, D. W., Capodilupo, C. M., Torino, G. C., Bucceri, J. M., Holder, A. M. B., Nadal, K. L., &

Esquilin, M. (2007). Racial microaggressions in everyday life: Implications for clinical

practice. American Psychologist, 62(4), 271–286. https://doi-

org.go.libproxy.wakehealth.edu/10.1037/0003-066X.62.4.271

Ratts, M. J., Singh, A. A., Nassar, M. S., Butler, S. K., & McCullough, J. R. (2016).

Multicultural and social justice counseling competencies: Guidelines for the counseling

profession. Journal of Multicultural Counseling & Development, 44(1), 28–48.

https://doi-org.go.libproxy.wakehealth.edu/10.1002/jmcd.12035