ABSTRACT
This chapter explains that with all other cultures in America, European Americans enrich and contribute to the nation's diversity with their varied traditions, customs, languages, and dialects. It focuses on European Americans in the four lifespan stages and their cultural, socioeconomic, family, and language diversity. Some European American groups speak English sufficiently well that English has become the primary medium of communication and the language spoken at home. European Americans, probably primarily first and second-generation, may experience communication problems. Elderly European Americans may feel neglected because of changing familial status and changing cultural attitudes toward the elderly. First-generation elderly European Americans who may not have mastered English and elderly persons who have elected, or been forced, to live in language enclaves may experience the most serious communication problems. Counsellors working with elderly European Americans must understand the common problems of the elderly, as well as the special problems resulting from limited English-speaking skills.
