How does a sole parent family impact on children in their development into adolescence? How does a sole parent family impact on children in their development into adolescence? The family plays an essential role in the socialisation of children. Experiences as a child can impact on development through learned behaviours and access to resources. The experience of parental divorce or separation, or the death of a parent can impact adversely on a child's psychological wellbeing and their economic and social success as an adult.
Brain development in infants is positively affected when parents work to understand and meet their basic needs for love and affection and provide comfort when they are hungry, bored, tired, wet or cold. Negative experiences with parents of abuse, neglect and exploitation can overwhelm children. For example in the video Genie the wild child, Genie was raised in social isolation from an infant to 13 years of age. If she made a single noise, her father would abuse her. Abusive parents who use hitting, neglecting basic needs, and other action that lower an individual’s sense of self-worth, have a negative impact on the health of a child.
Single parenthood can play a major role in the child’s social and cognitive development, together with family functioning. The effects of the absence of one parent can be a major factor in the child’s social developmental, self-esteem, emotional and academic development, including academic achievement. Whether children in two-parent families fare better than children in single-parent families is however, questionable. We are all aware that nature and nurturing is as a major obstacle to families functioning in single parent homes, as well as two parent households. According to an Article written by Zabriskie, R. B., for the American Physiological Journal, it states that “The United States is experiencing a significant increase in single-parent families,
Divorce has many effects on children and however the parents adjust to the divorce relates to how the child will adjust. Divorce can change negative effects on the development of a child. It can affect A child’s feelings, behaviors, emotions, communication skills, and health (Lewis, 1999) The effects can be long lasting into their adulthood. It is important that parents communicate and help their children on how to cope with a divorce. Divorce affects each member of the family which children experience it differently.
Sociological model- Child Abuse is considered a sociological phenomenon because it is not the norm behaviour pattern for human beings to follow. This kind of behaviour is usually learned by the parents of the abuser. One group that human beings interact with are their family. Humans are made up of what they have been taught by their family and people around them. Hence if abuse is learnt as a child, they will often grow up to be abusers Psychological model – Family dysfunction theorists look at the dynamics within a family relationship.
Parents play a big part in influencing a child’s gender identity both mother and father. The family has big influence on children at certain ages, adolescence is the main time. At this age children are insecure and look for role models for examples their elder brother, sister or mother and father. Feeling insecure influences young children to go on a journey to become more independent from their families and so therefore they look for norms and values in these situations. From this children will then pick up subtle hints which have a great impact either positive or negative.
Parents are a positive influence for many children who otherwise may fall behind, failing, or even dropping out of school. The background of the child’s family combined with passed down values and experiences will determine the student’s education. The role of technology in early childhood education is an effective tool for students, so the lack of technology in a child’s upbringing can affect their educational career. For example, students who do not begin using various types of technology from kindergarten can fall behind. Studies found that students who are less likely to access technology at home are at an academic disadvantage.
Regardless of age, the emotional impact of children will differ between boys and girls. The manner in which Boys act their emotional pain is visible through external actions while girls tend to internalize their emotional distress. In a study involving 60 families several common emotional issues that children encountered were identified: fear, confusion, sadness, worry, feeling rejected, loneliness, divided loyalties, anger, and acute depression. The Journal of Marriage and Family published an article in 2010 that analyzed the connection between divorce and the performance of children in school while taking the impact of psychosocial wellbeing into consideration. Based on the results of the study a direct correlation between children from divorced homes and lower test scores can be seen, when compared to families without divorce.
Some parents remain unaware of the impacts of divorce among children aged zero to three years or infants (Levin, 2013). The parents normally attribute the lack of effects as a result of failure to understand matters yet the children at that age become affected equally. The effects occur on children of varying ages starting from infants to toddlers to pre-scholars and eventually on to adolescents. The significance of the effects is mostly evidenced through the change of children’s behavior, which varies with age. The paper therefore examines the overall effects of divorce among children of different age.
Despite opposing ideas that suggest parents don’t have the qualifications or resources to successfully educate their children and are pursuing home education only to avoid opposing values, research show the positive social, emotional, and psychological development of homeschoolers; there are, in fact, many public school parents that would benefit greatly by embracing some of the characteristics of homeschooling that create such a positive learning atmosphere. People oppose homeschooling for a number of reasons. The two primary points of concern are children’s necessary resources and the parents’ alleged lack of teaching qualifications. One homeschooling article states that homeschooling short-changes students by leaving them without trained teachers, proper resources, a comprehensive education, and exposure to more than a single intellectual or ethical point of view (Lee & Maureen, 2011). Another suggests that because public schools are regulated, they are also obligated to educate children who fall behind, and parents who homeschool have no such accountability (Rawls, 2012).