A Youth Leader's Guide to Building Cultural Competence 

Chapter One 

Cultural Components 

What Is Culture? 

Anthropologists and other social scientists offer many different definitions of  culture.  Most people 

understand that culture has something to do with the customs and beliefs of a group of people. It is 

common to explain a holiday tradition, a spiritual belief or a child rearing practice as part of someone's 

cultural background. 

A useful definition of culture is: 

An individual's culture strongly influences his or 

The body of learned beliefs, traditions, 

her behavior, beliefs, attitudes and values. This is 

principles and guides for behavior that are 

not a surprising statement; we all have an 

commonly shared among members of a 

understanding that many of our present day beliefs 

particular group. Culture serves as a road map 

and behaviors have their roots in what we learned 

for both perceiving and interacting with the 

growing up in our own particular cultures. 

world.

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Of course, many Americans do not belong to just 

one cultural group. Our parents may have been of different racial or ethnic groups and our homelife would 

then have been a mixture of the two. Likely, some of the cultural values of both groups were absorbed. 

For most people in the United States, in addition to specific racial or ethnic cultures, the national 

American culture is one that also influences us to some degree.  

Lesbian, gay and bisexual people almost always move within more than one cultural world. They are born 

into and raised as members of at least one racial or ethnic culture. In order to find others who share their 

sexual orientation, however, they commonly become part of larger gay/lesbian communities.  

Important Cultural Components 

The journey towards cultural competence includes gaining knowledge about important components of 

both your own culture and the cultures you work with.  

The following list of cultural components is good to keep in mind, first as you examine your own 

experience and beliefs, and later as you focus on learning about different cultural backgrounds. Keep 

HIV/AIDS prevention in mind; many of the cultural components are directly related.  

Language and Communication Style  

Language and communication style refers to a wide variety of verbal and nonverbal patterns and 

behaviors, including social customs about who speaks to whom   both how and when.  

Questions to consider about cultural groups: __________ 

What language or dialect is spoken in the home? How is that dialect or language perceived by 

those who speak Standard English? Is there a generational split among family members, with older 

family members speaking one language and younger ones speaking English better than the other 

language?  

What expressions, gestures and posturing (body language) commonly accompany 

communication? Is eye contact considered polite or rude? Is usual tone of voice soft or loud? How 

close do people stand next to each other when speaking? Is touching acceptable?