PSY-354 Child Psychology
June 28, 2014
Professor Shawana Allen
Family Influence on Children
Family Influences and some of their characteristics have a major in influence on a child and their development. As a child begins to develop the early stages of their childhood is molded by their parent’s morals, values and attitudes. These characteristics are passed on to the child. This is the crucial time where the child’s self-regulation and self-concepts are beginning to form and can be easily influenced by their parents according to Heather Weiss, (The Director and Founder of the Harvard family research project). www.hfrp.org/about-hfrp/heather-b.-weiss Children acquire skills that assist them as they develop the basic foundations for learning, Therefore a child needs to have a good strong support system that will aid and help them with their development. A family relationship and the environment in which the child’s live in can affect a child development positively if the child grows up with a supportive and loving family and includes parental involvement. The child should feel safe, secure and loved with in their family this will help the child with building good self-esteem. This can also lead to a child that will be more social and have great communication skills. A child that has parental involvement will have the abilities to jump right into a new activity they tend to have a more independent way of being. A child that has negative family relationships may be shy and unsure of them self. If there is a presence of drug abuse and domestic violence with in the family a child may act out around their peers. If the child is neglected according to The National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) the child may have behavioral issues and lack self control. This type of behavior can come from lack of parent supervision causing the child to make their own decisions and choices. The child may have a lack of respect for authority in some cases.