Some family troubles know no borders.
That’s why John Miller, a professor in the University’s Marriage and Family Therapy program in the College of Education, has spent the past two Decembers in China discussing his field of study with a country that has next to no experience with such therapy.
Linguistic barriers are another story: Miller doesn’t speak much Chinese, but he spent two and a half weeks in December 2006 speaking with a number of Chinese universities and hospitals that were interested in the subject, which he said is starting to establish itself in the country.
At his private office across the street from Prince Lucien Campbell Hall , festooned with Chinese paintings, landscapes and sculptures, he said things are changing for the world’s most populous nation.
“China is opening up – economically, politically, nationally, culturally. Probably five years ago that would have been unheard of for family therapy to have any kind of foothold in China,” Miller said. “They’re interested in it now.”
A total of 24 other American delegates joined Miller in teaching about the practices used by American professionals in the field. Much of the interest and need for family and marriage therapy services in China has come from hospitals and universities hoping to establish a program, stemming partly from China’s one-child law that allows married couples to have only one child, Miller said.
What that creates, in Miller’s and others’ observations, is the “six to one problem” that puts added pressure of two parents and four grandparents on that child.
“That’s six adults all together, all funneling all their hopes and dreams into one child, and what that sets up for some kids is great expectations for performance. That can be crushing,” Miller said.
Miller also said he felt the family unit in China often a much stronger force than it is in America, despite a rising divorce rate that is now nearing 25 percent of all Chinese marriages. In the United States, that number is closer to 50 percent.
“Family is very central to the sociology in China, so family’s a big deal,” he said. “More so than it is here; you’re more likely to have many generations living under one roof.”
Some of these differences, Miller said, will likely lead to a different approach to family therapy when the practice becomes more established in China, perhaps placing less of an emphasis on the individual like the “six to one” issue might suggest. The profession will likely end up a mix of Eastern and Western ideals, he said.
“In the United States, we often just pull out the individual who has the problem – you would only see the kid,” Miller said. “But in China, this idea of seeing the whole family makes perfect sense to the average person on the street.”
University sophomore Wayne Zhang, who lived in China with his family until he was 11, said he noticed a large difference in the way children are raised in China compared to the United States.
“Asians are really dependent on their parents in a way,” he said. “Americans are really taught to be independent.”
As someone whose parents were divorced before he moved out of China, Zhang also said the relationship between a married couple can often be problematic or even abusive in some cases, and work like Miller’s could be beneficial.
“That is definitely a problem,” Zhang said. “If they go to China and they help, that is a number one priority.”
Before leaving on the program, Miller said he prepared for the experience of immersing himself in a foreign culture by meeting with a number of people in the University’s international programs. These included Vice Provost of International Affairs and Outreach Chunsheng Zhang and Lori O’Hollaren at the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies.
“I was very pleased with the University for all the resources that I had set up,” Miller said.
One of those resources was Mark Unno, another faculty member who has worked internationally through the CAPS. Unno said he met with Miller a number of times before last December’s trip, offering his help having done work similar to Miller’s in Japan.
Unno said China could very well have growing social problems as it expands its economic influence, as Japan has.
“China is in full gear in terms of changing the transformation of their society into a high-tech society,” Unno said. “They can’t just import our technology. They also import some of our problems.”
Much of Miller’s work is offering several Western ideas in family therapy, then letting the Chinese decide what could work and what couldn’t.
“It’s really a two-way conversation,” he said.
Nearly all of the Chinese destinations visited by Miller’s delegation received the group extremely warmly, Miller said. One of the main places where the family therapy profession is trying to get off the ground is at Beijing Normal University, where faculty are pushing to form a program in the field, Miller said. Though therapy doesn’t yet have deep roots in China, the establishment of a profession might lead to an increase in demand, he added.
“It will sort of be like ‘Field of Dreams:’ If you build it, they will come,” Miller said. “If you provide the therapists, people will probably start to access them.”
After two trips, Miller said he has noticed a strong improvement in the reception of the American delegations. He plans to return this summer.
“Even from the first year to the second year there was a remarkable difference in how many people were open and in the interest of the profession,” he said.
Miller said both cultures could learn and pick up new ideas from each other, as China seems to already be doing.
“By and large, I think they’re just very interested and very eager to make this connection happen with the West,” he said. “There’s this great export right now of Western ideas, and they’re open to it.”
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