To What Extent Do Families Shape Children’s Lives?

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Are changing family structures likely to have a negative impact on the lives of young children who grow up in “non-traditional families”?

Family composition, specifically the ones belonging to “non-traditional families” provide children with negative experiences in terms of their life perception, outlooks, behavior, and beliefs (Taylor, 2006). Family separations, therefore, were among the most frequent events in lives of children.

The study proves that 80 % of children under the age of 11-12 live in full families whereas 20 % live in one-parent families (Taylor, 2006). It has also been found that children “seemed less likely to be positive about the separation than their parents” (p. 3). A number of children mentioned their sadness of not seeing a parent living separately. Emotional influence of separation, therefore, can become an important factor in further psychological and cognitive development of children.

Regarding the fact that there is a strong connection between chronic anxiety and differentiation, as well as between psychological distress and martial satisfaction, children’s views are largely shaped by environment their families create (Miller, Anderson, & Keala, 2004). However, no empirical support has been found concerning the influence of “non-traditional” family structures on children’s physical health state, as well as their adaptability to the external environment.

Even if children live with a sole parent does no imply incompleteness in terms of emotional stability and readiness to face external factors. Overall, non-traditional family structures are likely to have a negative impact on children development because that directly affects children perception of family relations, which significantly differ in untraditional families. For instance, full family structure provides children with a conventional outlook on building families.

To what extent do families shape children’s lives? What other factors are likely to influence children’s development across different contexts?

Family education has a potent impact on children’s development and, therefore, external factors influencing family relations have shaped children’s attitudes and beliefs on different family and social concepts (Darling & Turkki, 2009). In particular, economic, politic, and demographic situation can have a negative impact on families resulting in disconnection of families and migration of some of the members, which does not contribute to educating and upbringing children and ensuring a healthy family background for those.

In addition, Oleson et al. (2010) emphasize, “[a]dverse life events and stressors that occur to a child’s parent or within their familial context have also been connected to health, behavioral and social difficulties during childhood…” (p. 43). As a result, emotional pressure can have a significant impact on further development and growth of children.

Ungerer and Harrison (2009) also attain much importance to the external influence of social and economic factors in the family relations. Moreover, they provides a research on the interaction of family with other social, cultural, and political context can also provide an insight into children’s view on the external environment and relationships between family members.

In this respect, Ungerer and Harrison (2009) apply to an ecological system model and present children in different environmental systems within which individuals interact. These systems involve individual school, family, neighborhood, and peers.

Using several dimensions of environmental system – mesosystem, exosysten, macrosystem, and chronosystem – the researchers have managed to identify patterns of transitions and events that children experience in the course of their lives. Therefore, because these environmental systems differ with regard to experiences, circumstances, and events, children can also encounter various situations that affect their future psychological development.

References

Darling, C. A., & Turkki, K. (2009). Global Family Concerns and the Role of Family Life Education: An Ecosystemic Analysis. Family Relations, 58(1), 14-27.

Miller, R. B., Anderson, S., &Keala, D. K. (2004). Is Bowen theory valid? A review of basic research. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 30(4), 453-466.

Oleson, S. C., Macdonald, E., Raphael, B., & Butterworth, P. (2010). Children’s exposure to parental and familial adversities. Family Matters, 84, 43-52.

Taylor, J. (2006). Life Chances: Including the children’s view. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 31 (3), 31-39.

Ungerer, J. & Harrison, L. (2009). Research on children, families and communities. In J. Bowes & R. Grace (Eds.). Children, Families and Communities: Contexts and consequences, 3^rd ed., Melbourne: Oxford University Press. pp. 22-36.

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To What Extent Do Families Shape Children’s Lives?

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