Post by holly on Oct 5, 2008 9:27:32 GMT -5
Families Count: Effects on Child and Adolescent Development
It is imperative to understand family dynamics when contemplating risks and challenges of childhood. “Families count: Effects on Child and Adolescent Development” is divided into six partitions which will each be discussed separately. Issues affecting children that will be reviewed are individual resilience, the relationship between family and peers, parental work and childcare, divorce or parental separation, and new family forms.
Resilience is defined in the Encarta Dictionary as “The ability to recover quickly from setbacks.” Individual differences in children account for different levels of resilience. It is speculated that some children who are resilient after enduring traumatic experiences develop a greater propensity for recuperation in future traumatic experiences. Resilience in the individual child is dependent on the child’s environment and the child’s genetic makeup. At times, life experiences of the child result in self defeating thought patterns which increase the risk of future traumatic experiences. Although it is difficult to predict and protect children from many traumatic experiences, the book mentions a host of personal qualities that can be promoted in a child to increase the chances of resilience should a traumatic experience occur. These include, but are not limited to: good intelligence, strong attachments to caregivers, multiple harmonious relationships, and a feeling of confidence in one’s own abilities (p. 39). It is of particular importance to recognize what can be fostered in a child to increase the welfare of the child. A healthy family structure is vital to promote and encourage these personal qualities that help protect the child from adversity.
Children’s relationships with friends and family have an impact on their physical, emotional, and social development. Healthy relationships with family predict healthy relationships with people apart from family at a later date. The book refers to both peers and family as socialization agents. It maintains that although peer relationships affect development, family relationships do as well. It provides research data and evidence that validates the premise that positive familial relationships can counteract negative peer modeling.
Parental work outside the home can affect the child in a variety of ways. Not only does a parent’s work indirectly connect the child to the community through values gleaned by the parent through work; it also connects the child directly to the community through childcare. If a parent utilizes modeling of other competent parents whom they meet at work, the child benefits greatly. The parent is also encouraged and supported through positive associations. If the parent has to work long hours and is in a negative work environment, the home environment sometimes suffers. When the home environment is negative, it can cause negative responses from the child. Depending on the quality of the childcare provided, the child can either profit or be put at risk for negative factors that affect development. The book shows how at-risk children benefit more from high quality childcare than other children. If a child is put in a negative childcare situation, the effects are counterproductive, but can be buffered by a supportive, caring family life.
Divorce and parental separation almost always have negative consequences for the child involved, with the exception of separation after extreme domestic conflict. The child’s sense of stability will increase in this particular situation, but other negative consequences may still apply. Children often either internalize parental conflict or find it hard not to be drawn to the middle of arguments observed. When children find themselves in similar situations they often model their reactions by what was observed during arguments between parents.
Age at the time of divorce seems to be of relative importance to educational progress. Preschool and elementary age children seem to suffer more negative educational consequences than adolescents. This is also true of the consequences associated with intimate father –child relationships. It seems when a child is an adolescent, the father-child relationship is more mature and stable and suffers fewer negative effects.
Children are often distanced from either one or both parents during and after divorce or separation because of parents’ limited financial and emotional resources and because of parents’ negative reactions to stress. This can lead to stunted social and emotional development because of neglect of the child’s needs. In turn, when faced with immediate or upcoming decisions the child often doesn’t know how to correctly respond. This consequence often carries into early adulthood.
The book shows detailed findings from “The Marital Instability Over the Life Course Study”. It was a study researched in the United States in 1980. The study revealed the effects of marital discord and divorce on children.
In reference to the study the book states:
Compared with children who grew up with continuously married, low-discord parents, children who experienced divorce obtained less education, reported lower psychological well-being, were less close to their mothers, were less close to their fathers, and experienced a larger number of disrupted intimate relationships. (pp 185-187)
The book also states, “The estimated effects of parental discord, however, do not appear to be as strong or as pervasive as the effects of divorce (p.188).
Three types of new family forms are: high tech families, non-traditional families, and surrogacy families. High tech families include families whose children are conceived through alternative ways or through assisted reproduction technology. Alternatives to natural conception included in this book are; in vitro fertilization (IVF), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), donor insemination (DI), and egg donation. In long term studies, there are no significant differences in development of children whether conception is natural or assisted. However, one main concern is parents using ICSI or gamete donation may not disclose the information of assisted conception to their children. Although this may not affect the children when they are younger, it may come as a shock if they happen to find out when they are older. Adjustment to this type of information could certainly be difficult.
Non-traditional families included in this book are lesbian and solo-mother DI families. Main concerns with lesbian DI families are acceptance issues from peers and gender confusion for the dependent child. There is no solid evidence for either of these concerns. Children in lesbian DI families have no comparable differences in gender development than children raised in traditional families. Self reports from lesbian DI families have showed concern over peer acceptance to be largely unfounded as well.
The main concern expressed with solo-mother DI families is how the absence of a father figure will affect the development of the child. It has been reasoned that the child would have the same difficulties as a child of divorced parents. There is no evidence to support this claim.
The main concern expressed with surrogacy families is the fact that often the surrogate is a family member. After relinquishing the child, the biological mother often has continuing contact with the child.
Concern is voiced about confusion in the child if the child should come to know who his biological mother is. There are no comparable differences of development of children conceived through surrogacy to children conceived traditionally.
The book concludes with proof positive that family matters a great deal in a child’s development. It then provokes thoughts and suggests policies that would emphasize prevention measures for the child and the family. In applying these policies the book suggests that we will bridge the communication gap between family and community thus creating more stability in both.
I found this book very informative, thought provoking, and refreshing. The main concern in this book is the family unit and how it helps develop our future generation. It is very important to understand how specific risks apply to child and adolescent development to help protect the child, improve social resources, and be aware of consequences the child and family encounter in both positive and negative experiences. The knowledge and openness in thought provoked by the text is very beneficial to me as a future collaborator in community and family wellness.
This is a book report I wrote for school---thought the info may be interesting and helpful to some! Wonderful, insightful book!
Holly
It is imperative to understand family dynamics when contemplating risks and challenges of childhood. “Families count: Effects on Child and Adolescent Development” is divided into six partitions which will each be discussed separately. Issues affecting children that will be reviewed are individual resilience, the relationship between family and peers, parental work and childcare, divorce or parental separation, and new family forms.
Resilience is defined in the Encarta Dictionary as “The ability to recover quickly from setbacks.” Individual differences in children account for different levels of resilience. It is speculated that some children who are resilient after enduring traumatic experiences develop a greater propensity for recuperation in future traumatic experiences. Resilience in the individual child is dependent on the child’s environment and the child’s genetic makeup. At times, life experiences of the child result in self defeating thought patterns which increase the risk of future traumatic experiences. Although it is difficult to predict and protect children from many traumatic experiences, the book mentions a host of personal qualities that can be promoted in a child to increase the chances of resilience should a traumatic experience occur. These include, but are not limited to: good intelligence, strong attachments to caregivers, multiple harmonious relationships, and a feeling of confidence in one’s own abilities (p. 39). It is of particular importance to recognize what can be fostered in a child to increase the welfare of the child. A healthy family structure is vital to promote and encourage these personal qualities that help protect the child from adversity.
Children’s relationships with friends and family have an impact on their physical, emotional, and social development. Healthy relationships with family predict healthy relationships with people apart from family at a later date. The book refers to both peers and family as socialization agents. It maintains that although peer relationships affect development, family relationships do as well. It provides research data and evidence that validates the premise that positive familial relationships can counteract negative peer modeling.
Parental work outside the home can affect the child in a variety of ways. Not only does a parent’s work indirectly connect the child to the community through values gleaned by the parent through work; it also connects the child directly to the community through childcare. If a parent utilizes modeling of other competent parents whom they meet at work, the child benefits greatly. The parent is also encouraged and supported through positive associations. If the parent has to work long hours and is in a negative work environment, the home environment sometimes suffers. When the home environment is negative, it can cause negative responses from the child. Depending on the quality of the childcare provided, the child can either profit or be put at risk for negative factors that affect development. The book shows how at-risk children benefit more from high quality childcare than other children. If a child is put in a negative childcare situation, the effects are counterproductive, but can be buffered by a supportive, caring family life.
Divorce and parental separation almost always have negative consequences for the child involved, with the exception of separation after extreme domestic conflict. The child’s sense of stability will increase in this particular situation, but other negative consequences may still apply. Children often either internalize parental conflict or find it hard not to be drawn to the middle of arguments observed. When children find themselves in similar situations they often model their reactions by what was observed during arguments between parents.
Age at the time of divorce seems to be of relative importance to educational progress. Preschool and elementary age children seem to suffer more negative educational consequences than adolescents. This is also true of the consequences associated with intimate father –child relationships. It seems when a child is an adolescent, the father-child relationship is more mature and stable and suffers fewer negative effects.
Children are often distanced from either one or both parents during and after divorce or separation because of parents’ limited financial and emotional resources and because of parents’ negative reactions to stress. This can lead to stunted social and emotional development because of neglect of the child’s needs. In turn, when faced with immediate or upcoming decisions the child often doesn’t know how to correctly respond. This consequence often carries into early adulthood.
The book shows detailed findings from “The Marital Instability Over the Life Course Study”. It was a study researched in the United States in 1980. The study revealed the effects of marital discord and divorce on children.
In reference to the study the book states:
Compared with children who grew up with continuously married, low-discord parents, children who experienced divorce obtained less education, reported lower psychological well-being, were less close to their mothers, were less close to their fathers, and experienced a larger number of disrupted intimate relationships. (pp 185-187)
The book also states, “The estimated effects of parental discord, however, do not appear to be as strong or as pervasive as the effects of divorce (p.188).
Three types of new family forms are: high tech families, non-traditional families, and surrogacy families. High tech families include families whose children are conceived through alternative ways or through assisted reproduction technology. Alternatives to natural conception included in this book are; in vitro fertilization (IVF), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), donor insemination (DI), and egg donation. In long term studies, there are no significant differences in development of children whether conception is natural or assisted. However, one main concern is parents using ICSI or gamete donation may not disclose the information of assisted conception to their children. Although this may not affect the children when they are younger, it may come as a shock if they happen to find out when they are older. Adjustment to this type of information could certainly be difficult.
Non-traditional families included in this book are lesbian and solo-mother DI families. Main concerns with lesbian DI families are acceptance issues from peers and gender confusion for the dependent child. There is no solid evidence for either of these concerns. Children in lesbian DI families have no comparable differences in gender development than children raised in traditional families. Self reports from lesbian DI families have showed concern over peer acceptance to be largely unfounded as well.
The main concern expressed with solo-mother DI families is how the absence of a father figure will affect the development of the child. It has been reasoned that the child would have the same difficulties as a child of divorced parents. There is no evidence to support this claim.
The main concern expressed with surrogacy families is the fact that often the surrogate is a family member. After relinquishing the child, the biological mother often has continuing contact with the child.
Concern is voiced about confusion in the child if the child should come to know who his biological mother is. There are no comparable differences of development of children conceived through surrogacy to children conceived traditionally.
The book concludes with proof positive that family matters a great deal in a child’s development. It then provokes thoughts and suggests policies that would emphasize prevention measures for the child and the family. In applying these policies the book suggests that we will bridge the communication gap between family and community thus creating more stability in both.
I found this book very informative, thought provoking, and refreshing. The main concern in this book is the family unit and how it helps develop our future generation. It is very important to understand how specific risks apply to child and adolescent development to help protect the child, improve social resources, and be aware of consequences the child and family encounter in both positive and negative experiences. The knowledge and openness in thought provoked by the text is very beneficial to me as a future collaborator in community and family wellness.
This is a book report I wrote for school---thought the info may be interesting and helpful to some! Wonderful, insightful book!
Holly