CRC Cultural Competency & Diversity in Relationships Flashcards

In coaching an interracial couple, the most important initial step is to:

Answer: Create space for them to share how race and culture affect their relationship on their own terms

Allowing interracial couples to define how race and culture affect their relationship respects their unique experience and avoids the coach projecting assumptions.

A coach who consistently interprets clients' behaviors through the lens of their own cultural background is demonstrating:

Answer: Ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism is the tendency to evaluate other cultures according to the standards and norms of one's own culture, which undermines culturally competent coaching.

Which approach best supports LGBTQ+ clients in relationship coaching?

Answer: Applying an affirmative model that validates diverse sexual orientations and gender identities

An affirmative coaching model explicitly validates LGBTQ+ identities and relationships as healthy and normal, providing a safe and effective foundation for coaching work.

When a client's religious or spiritual beliefs shape their relationship values in ways that differ from mainstream Western norms, a culturally competent coach should:

Answer: Respect and work within the client's value system unless it involves harm

Culturally competent coaching respects clients' religious and spiritual values as core to their identity, working within their framework except where safety or harm is a concern.

Which communication style difference can create misunderstandings between partners from different cultural backgrounds?

Answer: High-context versus low-context communication styles

High-context cultures rely on implicit meaning, shared understanding, and nonverbal cues, while low-context cultures prefer direct explicit communication — a common source of cross-cultural misunderstanding in couples.

A client reports that extended family interference in their marriage is normal and expected in their culture. The coach's best response is to:

Answer: Explore what the client finds helpful or challenging about this dynamic without imposing Western boundary norms

Exploring the client's own experience of the family dynamic without imposing Western boundary norms is culturally humble and client-centered.

Why is it important for a relationship coach to be knowledgeable about immigration stress and acculturation when working with immigrant couples?

Answer: Acculturation stress can create differing adaptation rates between partners, straining the relationship

When partners acculturate at different rates, one may adopt host-country norms faster, creating value conflicts and role strain that directly impact the relationship.