Role of the Family in Child Development - Case Study Example

Role of the Family in Child Development The profile of beliefs, salient emotional moods, cognitive abilities, coping defences and ethical values that characterizes every child at every developmental stage is a result of several different influences that operate in complex ways. Many scholars in the field of human development share the belief that there are a number of determinants or factors of the various profiles. These include: the historical background of early adolescence and late childhood, quality of education given, peer relationships, ordinal position in the family, temperamental qualities or inherited physiologic patterns and, finally parental personality and practices. Each of the factors mentioned above impacts only certain elements of the psychological profile, and is most effective at specific age ranges. For example, the child’s quality of social relations with playmates affects his/her beliefs about their acceptability to others and by extension affects, to a significant level, after school entrance. On the other hand, the way a parent converses with the child may, for example, affect its future verbal talents, and has its maximal effects in the first six years of its life. The family structure significantly influences child development. Children may be brought up in nuclear families, single-parent families, lesbian and gay families, extended families or in child care environments. In some cases, a child may be brought up in a home in which one parent is an absentee. This paper seeks to analyze the role of family in child development. Great focus will be given to the psychosocial aspect of the child’s life under three main conditions: single-parent family setup, gay and lesbian family setups, and divorce situations. Family and Child Development Common knowledge has it that every child needs its parents to develop. Parents would always like to see their children getting along well in the company of other people (Kagan, 1999). This means that the child should be well behaved and cooperative with people of positive influence and yet resistant to companions and adults that are of negative influence. While this is the case, it must be noted that the family –father, mother, siblings and relatives - plays a significant role in the determination of the social competence of the child. From infancy to toddlerhood and beyond, parents play a great role in the social and psychological development of the child according to Kagan (1999). Parents, for example, always have to introduce the child to its peers at some point in life. The child’s parents then have to maintain interest in the child’s interactions with its peers, and many times will need to invest in the child’s ability to cope with its playmates. Effect of Divorce on Child Development When two married people decide that the marriage cannot work any more, a divorce is effected. Several changes take place when parents divorce. For children, they may lose touch with one parent and one set of grandparents. The single-parent family may have to move to a new location as a direct result of the family split and routine changes may be implemented. In cases where parents were in constant conflict and battles before the divorce, children may feel relieved and more at peace (Royal and Knoff, 1990). Divorce is usually quite stressful for both children and their parents. Given that every child is unique, every one of them will react uniquely to divorce as they have different feelings and understanding of the situation (Amato, 1993). Several factors affect children’s ability to cope with divorce. It is estimated by researchers that the adjustment period for families in cases of divorce may range from three to five years depending on the specific circumstances that surround the separation or divorce. Following a divorce, children will have both short-term and long-term reactions to the situation. These reactions may be negative or positive depending on how parents and members of family help the children. Factors that may affect adjustment include developmental level and age of the child, personality, ability to respond to stress, support available, level of parents’ conflict, parents’ adjustment to the divorce and the information the child is given with respect to the divorce (Goetze, Natrajan and Nithya, 2009). Babies and toddlers generally cannot appreciate divorce although they may notice the parent’s feelings and stresses. As a parent moves out, they may notice the change and will find it difficult to bid farewell to one parent or another. This could also be the case when a non-custodial parent pays a visit to the child. Children at this stage experience stress and will probably lose some skills that they had earlier learnt (Goetze et al., 2009). For pre-school children, divorce may be taken as a punishment for their wrong-doing. They hence tend to develop a fear that the other parent could also abandon them. As a result of changes in family structure and routines, children at this stage often show a mixture of feelings; sadness, worry and anger being most common (Goetze et al., 2009). One other notable effect of divorce on pre-school children is the prevalence in daydreaming. This could also be the case as the child continues to advance in age. Further, children often become fretful, aggressive, anxious and prone to accidents. A feeling of loss and loneliness may also be accompanied by physical symptoms such as loss of appetite, frequent urination, stomach problems and frequent urination. Older children often feel angry, worried, rejected and disillusioned. Many times they adopt extreme and high risk behaviours such as drug abuse and shoplifting (Goetze et al., 2009). In an attempt to re-unite the family, some children become moralistic. In the long run, divorce can result in the child being unable to get into a successful and long-term relationship. Effect of Single Parenthood on Child Development Single parenthood is a situation in which one parent cares for children without being assisted by the other parent. Several factors may result in single parenthood. Some of these include death of one partner, artificial insemination, divorce, adoption, extramarital pregnancy, surrogate motherhood, and abandonment by the other parent. Theoretically, single parent families may not compete with couple families in terms of psychological, social and economic resources that contribute to constructive and harmonious family processes (Millar and Ridge, 2001). Under a single-parent family, children are more likely to engage actively in the family’s daily running. Further, children often share more responsibilities under this kind of setting than their counterparts in both parent families. In several cases, single-parent families are strained financially which means children may have to live without certain needs being catered for. As of 2006 in the United States of America, close to 12.9 million families were single-parented. Eighty percent of these families had a female as the head of the family. Since 1994 single parent households has steadied at about 9% although this is almost double what it was in 1970. In 2005, there were close to 5.9 million single parents in the UK, with 3.10 million children. UK government records indicate that about 48 percent of single parent families live below the poverty line. A number of factors impact children’s development under single-parent families. Some of the main factors include the family's income; the parent's occupation, education level, and age; and network of extended family members and friends that support the family. According to a research conducted in Sweden in 2003, people brought up under a single-parent family were three times likely to attempt suicide and end up in hospital than those from couple families. These finding greatly imply that higher childhood unhappiness occurs amongst those who survive at 26 years. There is a higher risk of single parent families living in poverty and poor health than couple families. Single parenting is greatly linked to increased prevalence of negative behavioural, social and emotional outcomes for children. It is however noted that on balance the numbers affected and effect size are modest. It has also been noted that majority of children that come from single-parent families excel in life as they take up more responsibilities early on in life (Millar and Ridge, 2001). A study conducted by the Institute for the Study of Civil Society once reported that after controlling a number of variables that included family wages, children from single parent families are still prone to having problems compared to their counterparts from couple families. In the case of a divorce or separation, children may feel disloyal to one parent especially if they loved both parents strongly. This may cause a lot of confusion and distress in their lives. In some cases, children tend to misbehave to their main care giver more especially if they feel they loved the other parent more. The negative impact of single-parent family on children’s wellbeing is multifaceted. Previous research shows that adolescents from families that are single-parented will most probably engage in high risk behaviours such as drinking, smoking, violence, unsafe sexual activity, suicide attempts and delinquency (Coie and Dodge, 1998). Such children are also more likely to suffer from childhood disability, stunting, minor and major accidents, conduct disorder and hyperactivity and somatoform. The impact of being natured by one parent can cause far reaching and long lasting negative health results in the child’s life (Hoffman, 1975). Gay and Lesbian Families and Child Development In the recent past, families mainly consisted of mother, father and children. Today, gay and lesbian families have increasingly been accepted in the society (Baumrind, 1971). According to a survey conducted in 2000, lesbian and gay families live in 99% of all counties in the USA (Gates, 2001). Through surrogacy, adoption, foster parenting and artificial insemination, many homosexual couples have become parents. It is also noted that some children in homosexual families are products of previous heterosexual relationships. While lesbian and gay families face similar challenges as traditional families, they encounter also certain unique issues according to Baumrind (1971). Children from homosexual families often face a lot of discrimination, much like all other minority groups do. This is in consideration that they come from non-traditional families. Children from lesbian and gay families many times are singled out by members of society and their peers (Asher, and Coie, 1990) for teasing, bullying and taunting. As a result of this, children from such families tend to be less honest and overly secretive. Also, their self esteem tends to be low considering that their families are quite unique and subject to public attention, scrutiny and mockery. Yet another concern that has been raised by different experts with regard to children from lesbian and gay families is sexual orientation. For example, children natured by gay fathers or lesbian mothers show disorientation in gender role behaviour and gender identity. Also, it has been suggested that children brought up in such family settings will most likely become gay or lesbian (Rickard, 2008). Other than sexual orientation problems, they could be less psychologically healthy, develop behaviour problems, find it difficult to adjust to difficulties and highly vulnerable to breakdowns. Yet again, children from lesbian and gay families have been noted to have more relationship problems. Judges have continuously expressed their worries that children living in homosexual families may be teased, victimised or stigmatized by their peers. There are also high chances that they could be abused sexually by parents or other acquaintances. Conclusion A child needs to be raised up in an environment that is warm, secure and safe with parents that are responsible enough to meet its needs. Peer relations is notably one of the numerous social relationships that must be mastered by a child. Past research on styles of parenting and the roles of family have shown noteworthy insights into the development, in the peer group, of social skills. Family is a vital setting in which socialization and child care takes place. For adolescents and older children, family resources and environment also comprise an important component of their life – one that affects their life chances and relational experiences. A lot of sociological work has been directed at understanding the impact of various family setups or conditions on children’s development. References Asher S. R., and Coie, J. D. (1990) Peer Rejection in Childhood, Cambridge University Press, New York. Amato, P. R. (1993) Children’s adjustment to divorce: Theories, hypotheses, and empirical support, Journal of Marriage and the Family, 55, 23-38. Baumrind, D. (1971) Current Patterns of Parental Authority, Developmental Psychology Monographs 4: 1-103. Coie J. D. and Dodge K. A. (1998) Aggression and antisocial behaviour, Handbook of Child Psychology, Wiley New York, Vol 3: 779-862. Hoffman, M. L. (1975) Moral Internationalization, Parental Power, and the Nature of Parent-Child Interaction, Developmental Psychology 11 228-239. EJ 116 432. Gates J. (2001) Gay and Lesbian Families in the United States: Same-sex unmarried partner households, A Preliminary Analysis of 2000 United States Census Data: A Human Rights Campaign Report. Goetze G., Natrajan R and Nithya K. (2009) How children experience divorce, retrieved 30th November, 2009 from http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache%3AIDt83wPsHk4J%3Awww.ces.purdue.edu%2Fproviderparent%2FPDF%2520Links%2FHowChildrenExperienceDivorce.pdf+divorce+and+child+development&hl=en Kagan J. (1999) The Role of Parents in Children's Psychological Development, Paediatrics Vol. 104 No. 1, pp. 164-167 Patterson C.J. (2009) Children of lesbian and gay parents, retrieved 30th November, 2009 from http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbc/publications/lgpchildren.html Rickard M. (2008) Children of Lesbian and Single Women Parents Research Note no. 41 2001-02, Social Policy Group, Parliament of Australia. Royal, S. W., & Knoff, H. M. (1990). Children and divorce. School Psychology Review, Vol. 19, Issue 2, 253-254. Read More