External Factors Affecting Child Development

A child’s environment, for example, their family or school play a huge part in their development. Some of the main factors that influence a child’s development are their family, where the child lives, and socio-economic status. These factors often cross over and blend as they are related.

If a child is in poor health then this will have an impact on their development. For example, a child with uncontrolled asthma or cystic fibrosis may not be able to run around and be as active as their peers. Therefore, this would mean that his physical development might not be the same. Not being able to play outside would almost certainly affect the social development, as children make many friendships on the playground and at after school clubs.

Describe with examples the kinds of influences that affect children and young people’s development, including:

Socially and Emotionally the family is a big influence in a child’s development. Parents have a big role by providing care and guidance for their development. Unfortunately some families cannot promote the development of a child because of the conflict among the parents. A single parent can have difficulties in boosting a better development in children and young people, sometimes a child is separated from its siblings and this can affect them too.

There are different things that can affect a child’s development in their background these are just a few of them: -

Factors such as gender and income affect development in numerous ways. Biological and environmental influences are not limited to those discussed, however these influences are the most commonly seen. While these influences frequently affect development and can be directly related, they do not always result in a developmental delay or handicap. Infant and toddler development are influenced by a wide variety of things and can be affected by any number of those factors. Both biological and environmental factors interact frequently, sometimes directly linking one to

The area a child grows up in has an effect, for example if a child is brought up on a council estate in poor housing they are more likely to have health problems. If parents are not working or have low income jobs they are likely to buy cheaper food and usually this means lower quality which can lead to health problems. Children and their families may have lower expectations. They might settle for the life that id mapped out. If a child lives in high rise flats or appartments they have less oppportunities to play. In poor quality housing there may not be a garden or safe playing area. This is reducing the childs opportunities to develop their physical gross motor skills. This of course is not always the case

Family stability can be described in many ways. Traditionally it is defined in terms family structure (for example, single parenthood, extended families, working families, foster care etc) Exploring the various family processes that pertain to stability may be a useful means of understanding the specific characteristics of family stability that support healthy child development. For example,

Family dynamics can have a positive effect on child’s development because the child will feel settle and have a positive input into their lives and good support to help them develop and achieve what they want to achieve, this has a positive effect on their behaviour to. If family dynamics are negative then this have a negative affect on their developments such as divorce because the child may be spending time at different house and having one parent missing so they will feel unsettled and not able to concentrate on things. They may also experience missing one of their parents of relatives being in prison.

On top of the expected pattern of children and young people’s development including “physical, communication & intellectual & social, emotional & behavioural development there are also “personal and external” factors which will affect how they develop.

2.2. Explain how children and young people’s development is influenced by a range of external factors

Without it, it can negatively impact on social development. Health-poor nutrition can have a negative impact on development psychologically and physically. It can cause weight problems and unhealthy eating can have other negative effects if they are not taught to eat healthy early on in life. Parental interactions-this can have a positive or negative effect on a child's development. If a child has time spent playing, reading, doing activities with them, it will have a positive impact on their development. However if a child is neglected/ignored by their parents, it may affect their development in a more negative way. Learning environment-a strong learning environment both at home and at school/nursery that is informative/supportive is very important as this may improve their development. If the educational environment is poor or under privileged, development will be negatively affected. Therefore good parental support and involvement can play an important part in a child's development. Pollution-pollutants from within the environment can affect a child's physical development, they can lead to breathing difficulties and growth restrictions. Social background-factors

According to Dr. Christine A. Christle “Risk factors are disabling, cultural, economic, or medical conditions that deny or minimize opportunities and resources for a child and place him or her in jeopardy of failing to become a meaningful member of the home, school, and community.” There are two types of risk factors; internal and external risk factors. Internal risk factors would be risk factors that are within the own individual; such as having concentration problems, anger problem or having a disability. Internal risk factors only involve the one child and they are built from within the child. Now, external risk factors are those that involve the child’s “environment conditions such as family, school, and community”; an example of that is the family living in poverty, living in a bad neighborhood with crime and drugs, attending a bad school or not having any friends.

This paper will discuss how a child’s development is influenced by environmental and cultural influences as well as parenting styles and education. This will be argued through four topics including

Infant development is greatly influenced by the environment which the infant grows in. Some important environment factors are the economic circumstances, cultural values, family structure, etc. These types of environmental factors can shift how the infant develops, and if certain milestones are achieved earlier or later. The environment has more of an impact on the infant than people may think it does.