The Effects of the Environment on Children Essay

In the article “ Child Rearing Styles”, author Diane E. Papalia and Sally Wendkos Olds persuades us that parents need to remember what their children bring to the family how child rearing practices can effectively help identify your child. The article discusses how basic temperament affects children at a young age. On rare occasions children are born with temperaments. Another behavioral influence is caused by the way parents treat their children.

The lives of children are greatly influenced by the environment they grow up in, and the people they come in contact with. For years, psychologists, researchers, and social workers have studied children, and why they do what they do. All have developed many different perspectives on how to view social problems and the development of individuals.

Human development perspective examines the biological, psychological and social development of individuals pertaining to behavior (Hutchison, 2015). The ecological system is a theoretical perspective that examines the individual within the environment that it lives (Garbarino, 1992). There are five subsystems to consider when examining this the individual subject within this perspective; microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem and chronosystem. According to Garbarino (1992) the ecological perspective tries to explain how the environment effects the development of the individual. The ecological perspective also explores the risks and opportunities in the social environment that affect the subject within each sub-systems (Garbarino, 1992). Risk can be described as any thing that threatens development of the individual, while opportunities support and assist in the development. This paper will review the effects of the environment on an individual by applying the ecological perspective to the life and experiences main character in the film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.

Communicational patterns are strong within the family communicating, interacting, and listening to each other. Mom and Dad have open communication between them and with the children. No dysfunctional communication observed. The decision-making process is between Mom and Dad. The role structure is as equal as can be; Mom works full time and has two part time jobs because Dad is unemployed so Dad has a larger care-giving role. Family values are based upon strong Christian faith. Family attends church every week and children are enrolled in private religious school. Prayer is said before each meal and at bedtime. The family shares a strong religious core with tradition, values, and beliefs.

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 many factors that can influence the development of infants and toddlers. Two of the largest are biological and environmental influences. Biological influences can include gender, prenatal care, and the mother’s prior states of health. Environmental influences are widely ranged and can include, but are not limited to, income, housing, teratogens, and stimuli. While these two influences are different, they sometimes interlock, creating a cycle within each other.

In The Family Crucible, Augustus Napier and Carl Whitaker’s form of therapy was strongly influenced by family systems theory, a burgeoning theory of the time. General systems theory examines relationships between elements that constitute a whole (Andreae, 2011, p. 243). When applied to families, this theory views the family as an emotional unit and uses systems thinking to describe the complex interactions in the unit (The

It is difficult for researchers to isolate specific causes of child behaviour because each child’s environmental settings and values are different from one to another.

In today’s world, families are dynamic and interdependent systems. The developmental processes of the children in the family are deeply affected by how the family system operates. However, a family’s structure does not determine whether it is a healthy family system or not. Today, families consist of single parents, stepparents, divorced parents, remarried parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. They are all able to contribute to a healthy functioning family system by meeting each family member’s needs and encouraging positive communication (Jamiolkowski, 2008). Unhealthy family systems have negative and possibly

In There are No Children Here, by Alex Kotlowitz, the way of life in Chicago's Henry Horner projects has a profound effect on all the residents who live there. The children become desensitized by the constant violence that they are forced to witness every day. Children are forced to walk home from school through the urban war zone of these housing projects. It is not unusual for the children to run home from school to avoid becoming casualties of the ongoing battle between rival gangs. The violence has affected Lafeyette and Pharaoh as much as anyone in the projects.

Reconstruction and change are essential for the family system to facilitate the homeostatic process, as explained by the fourth principle of the theory (Minuchin, 1985). It includes family questioning current methods, evaluating and developing potential arrangements. While earlier principles analyse the wholeness of the family system, the fifth principle explains that families can be examined in various segments such as the parent-children subsystem, sibling subsystem and spousal subsystem (Minuchin, 1985). Within the family, relationships between members are formed, and the interactions between each subsystem are regulated by unspoken rules and arrangements, and this is the final principle of family systems theory (Minuchin, 1985). Each subsystem operates independently, and it may encounter changes in the relationship due to various determinants.

The family is always the first, most persistent, endless, persevering, and important educational setting for the development of the personality and intellect of children throughout their lives. In particular, parents are the ones who always have the method of adjusting their children in the most appropriate way. In contrast, children always listen to and place their belief in their parents almost absolutely. I have seen it. My friend son’s story happened in an English

Once a child is born and their development continues, then starts the controversy and wonder as to whether how the child is raised effects their outcome in adult hood, or whether they are just born to be a certain way. Child psychology looks into the many different factors that affect the pregnancy and raising a child. Such as, parenting styles, and how the environment (nurture) and the genetics (nature) play an important role in the child’s development.

When I consider family systems, I am reminded of a metaphor I heard while in undergraduate school about a mobile. A mobile is used to soothe an infant, normally placed above a crib or basinet. Each of its parts are in balance, when working correctly, however if one section becomes off balance the objects become out of sync. This is true with families. If each member of the family unit is doing their part, there is complete balance or homeostasis (Henson). This balance is viewed as a healthy family system. However, if one part of the unit becomes off balance, it disrupts the whole unit causing an unhealthy response with possible long term consequences. As families grow, each member plays an equally important role in the family unit. Children learn quickly the importance of relationships and adapt quickly to their environment. No one can deny the family unit is the most complex system in existence.

The Bowen family systems theory can utilize to understand the Gillison’s family dynamics. According to the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family (2016) the Bowen family system theory views family as an emotional unit that utilizes systems thinking to comprehend the complexity of the interactions within the unit. The theory describes families as having a major influence on their member’s thoughts, feelings and actions, which leads them to feel as if they are composed of the same “emotional skin”. The members of families, according to this theory, are driven by each other’s attention, approval, and support. The members therefore, react to each other’s expectations and wants and needs. The family is therefore interdependent. One change in one member’s function leads to a change in the functioning of the others. This is evidence in the case of the Gillison family.