Cultural

Looking across cultures, we can see a difference in the levels of acceptance of diversity in families, as well as their prominence in the media.  In areas of Europe, for example, diversity in families is very well accepted.  An interracial family, single parent family, or same sex family is looked upon with similar, if not the same eyes as a traditional family.  While this is not true for everyone, the majority of the population in these areas is overall more accepting.  When diversity is seen in the media, it is not shocking or taboo, it is just normal.  A clear difference we can see in the media from the US to areas of Europe is the presence of diverse families in ads- they are very present in Europe, though not much at all here in the US.

In areas such as the Middle East, there is not as high of a level of acceptance of this diversity.  As with the more conservative areas of the US, religion plays a big role in this.  Another aspect to look at is that there is not as much televised media in the Middle East as there is in regions such as the US or Europe.  This lack of media, and so lack of family in the media, inevitably leads to lack of diversity in family in the media, and again we can relate the level of acceptance of diverse families to their presence in the media.