Strong Families Around the World

John DeFrain, PhD, is an extension professor of family and community development at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who has focused his professional energy for the past 35 years in better understanding how families learn to live happily together. He cofounded the National and International Symposium on Building Family Strengths, which grew into a consortium of groups organizing 35 allied conferences in the United States and around the world since 1978. His research with a team of investigators around the world has collected data on family strengths from 21,000 family members in 27 countries. DeFrain has served as consultant to courts, universities, churches, agencies, and individual families on marriage, parenting, grief, divorce, and child custody issues. He recently received the Outstanding New Extension Family Specialist Award, and the MISS Foundation Phoenix Award for service to bereaved parents who have lost children. He has coauthored more than 60 professional articles on family issues and 18 books. Sylvia M. Asay, PhD, CFLE, is an Associate Professor at the University of Nebraska, Kearney. She received her Ph.D. in Community and Human Resources at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, in 1998. She has receivd her Certified Family LIfe Educator credentials through the National Council on Family Relations. She has 13 years of post-secondary teaching experience with such courses as Infant Development, Lifespan Development, Human Sexual Behavior, and Marriage and Family Relationships, as well as Family Resource Management.

Comments (Suzanne K. Steinmetz)
Preface (Gary W. Peterson)
Strong Families Around the World: An Introduction to the Family Strengths Perspective (John DeFrain and Sylvia M. Asay)
AFRICA
Family Strengths: South Africa (Busisiwe Nkosi and Priscilla Daniels)
Family Strengths Perspectives from Botswana (Lois R. Mberengwa)
Family Strengths and Challenges in Kenya (Jane Rose M. Njue, Dorothy O. Rombo, and Lucy W. Ngige)
Strengths in Somali Families (Hawa Ibrahim A. Koshen)
THE MIDDLE EAST
The Resilience of Families in Israel: Understanding Their Struggles and Appreciating Their Strengths (Maha N. Younes)
The Omani Family: Strengths and Challenges (Thuwayba A. Al-Barwani and Tayfour S. Albeely)
ASIA
Chinese Family Strengths and Resiliency (Anqi Xu, Xiaolin Xie, Wenli Liu, Yan Xia, and Dalin Liu)
Strengths and Challenges in the Indian Family (Nilufer P. Medora)
How Strong Families Encounter Social Challenges in the Republic of Korea (Young Ju Yoo, Insoo Lee, and Gyesook Yoo)
OCEANIA
The Shaping of Strengths and Challenges of Australian Families: Implications for Policy and Practice (Judi Geggie, Ruth Weston, Alan Hayes, and Simone Silberberg)
New Zealand Families (Richard Cook)
NORTH AMERICA
Canada and Family Life (Benjamin Schlesinger)
Family Strengths and Challenges in the USA (John DeFrain and Sylvia M. Asay)
LATIN AMERICA
Strengths and Challenges of Mexican Families in the 21st Century (Rosario Esteinou)
Culture-Related Strengths Among Latin American Families: A Case Study of Brazil (Gustavo Carlo, Silvia Koller, Marcela Raffaelli, and Maria R. T. de Guzman)
EUROPE
Russian Families: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Problems and Strengths (Vladimir Zubkov)
The Family Strengths in Greece Then and Now (Theodora Kaldi-Koulikidou)
Family Strengths in Romania (Bogdan Nadolu, Ioana Delia Nadolu, and Sylvia M. Asay)
Epilogue: A Strengths-Based Conceptual Framework for Understanding Families World-Wide (John DeFrain and Sylvia M. Asay)
Index
Reference Notes Included