Health and Families

Health and Families

by Sarah Van Hoose -
Number of replies: 16

Wiley chapter 13 discusses the relationship between health and families. Wiley states that "Family is among the most powerful influences on health, as it provides economic, social, and psychological resources (and strains) that protect (or threaten) the health of its members" (Wiley 255). Before we can analyze how families impact our health, first we have to define health and how we measure it. Wiley defines health in families as being centered around physical and mental health, as well as symptoms and heath behaviors. 

For my question I want to focus on how family's impact specifically children's health. Externalizing and internalizing behaviors show by children are often the best indictors of their health. Externalizing behaviors can be aggressive behaviors, antisocial tendencies, and bad temper. While internalizing behaviors refer to phycological stress such as depression, anxiety, and self-esteem issues. 

Out of the following, which do you believe effects a child's health the most, having two parents in the household, the father's involvement, or the parental socioeconomic status? This can be a positive or negative effect. And why? What are some ways you think families could actively try to make sure they have good overall physical and mental health? 

If you feel comfortable, please share how you have personally seen or experienced a change in your or someone else's health due to a family situation. 

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In reply to Sarah Van Hoose

Re: Health and Families

by Deleted user -
Parental SES absolutely effects children's’ health the most. Regardless of the child's’ caregiver, mom, dad, grandma, etc,. High SES means high resources. Household stress is lower, k-12 education likely has more quality, and cultural capital is much higher than their lower SES counterparts. I think micro level activities are ways families could actively make sure they have good mental and physical health. Home made family dinner most nights of the week, with no phones allowed. Family walks before dinner. In my opinion, giving your children healthier food alternatives from a young age enables healthy habits. After eating clean for years, bad food tastes awful to me. However, restricting your kids diet too much can be very harmful. It is all about moderation. As far as menthol health in families, communication is key.

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In reply to Deleted user

Re: Health and Families

by Sarah Van Hoose -
I like your point that no matter the family structure, high SES can positively affect a child. I think we can be naive to the reality that money really can solve a lot of problems especially in a child's life. I agree that small family activities can reinforce a healthy environment. I like how you added that there should be no phones present at family dinner. This is important to have communication between family members and allow open discussions to be held. I also agree that exposing your children to healthy habits but not extremely enforcing them gives them the knowledge to make healthy choices but the ability to make moderation for themselves.

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In reply to Sarah Van Hoose

Re: Health and Families

by Deleted user -
Health of children comes directly from their environment with their family life. Children can directly tell people how life is at home just by the way that they act. Many children go through all of the challenges that are mentioned in the question and all of them have very negative impacts on the way that the child will go through life. I can speak on this in two ways because my sister is an elementary school teacher and her experiences with children that have parents going through divorce tend to revolve around aggression. The children that she teaches are young enough to not fully grasp what all is going on but old enough to get mad about the situations. another situation that i can speak on is about my cousin who had parents going through a pretty nasty divorce. He used to be very outgoing, loud, and funny but now that his parents have gone through a ruff divorce he rarely talks and has lost multiple friends due to his increasing aggression towards them. He tends to just play video games with his friends that understand what his situation is but he has become a much different person.

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In reply to Sarah Van Hoose

Re: Health and Families

by Colin Glover -
I think having two parents affects a Childs health the most in an internalizing way because it can help children to deal with depression, anxiety and other effects. Having two parents in a household also helps a child to feel safer due to two people doing everything they can to make sure the child is physically, mentally and socially healthy as opposed to one parent. The lack of father can affect a child in a negative way because many children look to their fathers for protection and without that protection children may feel unsafe which could lead to social anxiety and mental health issues for the child. Parents can actively create a good living environment for their child, as well as make sure the child is well nourished. These are some ways parents can make sure their child has overall good health.

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In reply to Sarah Van Hoose

Re: Health and Families

by Sarah Kaye Carpenter -
I think that all three play a significant role in the Childs health as Wiley defines it. Two parent households would benefit a Childs overall health, only if the family had a healthy dynamic in itself. The same goes for paternal involvement. If the father is a good man and a healthy man his involvement in the Childs life would be a positive one, however if the father is abusive or unhealthy his involvement would only have an overall negative affect on the Childs life. The overall SES would allow the child to be open to different opportunities. The higher SES the better opportunities and more doors become open to these kids. These kids also don’t become stressed or anxious about money issues within the family if they are of a higher stats. Children with lower SES would have less opportunities and are more likely to feel the need to help support the family financially or emotionally which can be unhealthy for children.

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In reply to Sarah Van Hoose

Re: Health and Families

by Deleted user -
I believe the socioeconomic status of a family has the highest effect on a child. Families with higher status usually have less to worry about since they can afford more than those on the lower end of the status. Lower-status families tend to struggle more when it comes to their child's needs, which could have a more complicated effect. Next, I feel comes having a father involvement in a family because a son growing up without a dad seems to have a problematic impact on their childhood. I am saying this because my dad did everything with me as a child and helped shape me into who I am today, and I have no idea where I would be without him. My friend in high school grew up without his dad, and he told me how hard it was when it came to sports and not having him there supporting him along the way.

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In reply to Deleted user

Re: Health and Families

by Sarah Van Hoose -
I agree that having a high SES can positively affect a child. I think a large part of that is not stressing over money and not having to worry about judgement from peers. Being an athlete growing up as well I can relate to the importance of having my father around to support and encourage me. I think that's why having good coaches for high school sports is especially important because it can give kids without fathers a father figure in their life to look up to and guide them in the right direction.

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In reply to Sarah Van Hoose

Re: Health and Families

by Deleted user -
I personally think that socioeconomic status has one of the biggest effects on a child's health. Either in a positive or negative way depending on whether the family is of high or low SES. Families in higher socioeconomic statuses may face less overall stress in general and have better opportunities for resources that help maintain good mental and physical health. Parents of these families can put more time in energy into things like supporting their child on an emotional level, rather than their primary focus being to just survive or make ends meet. There are many things families can do to have overall good physical and mental health. Things like setting aside time to spend as a family with no distractions, making sure to communicate well and often with one another, and eating meals prepared at home are all ways to do that.

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In reply to Sarah Van Hoose

Re: Health and Families

by Elijah Ingleson -
Obviously, all three of those factors have an important role in the mental and physical health of a child, but I would not say one is more important than another. Rather, I would say these factors depend on the family's dynamic. There are many kids born to rich households with abusive or neglectful fathers. There are kids born to single parent families that grow up happy and healthy. Yes, these factors matter and affect how a child will turn out in the future, but if a family is a able to create a loving and nurturing home for a child, then that child will most likely find success in the world and know how to stay healthy.

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In reply to Elijah Ingleson

Re: Health and Families

by Sarah Van Hoose -
I really like this perspective. It's hard to determine which is the most important because there are so many different family dynamics and factors that play into a child's family experience. There can be positives and negatives to all three. For example, you may have a high SES, but your parents may work a lot to uphold that status and therefore you may not spend a lot of time with them. A father's involvement could be beneficial if the father is a good person and a positive influence on the child, however if the father is abusive, or a bad influence it will negatively impact the child. Finally, a two parent household could provide a good example of a healthy relationship for the child and give them lots of support, but other times living in a single parent household may be healthier than living with two parents who are in an unhealthy relationship.

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In reply to Sarah Van Hoose

Re: Health and Families

by Masaki Oguni -
Having two parents and the parent's social status will connect to how long they spend time with their child. If these parents have to spend much more time working for their living than being with their parents, it has negative effects on the child's mental growth. I think that social status supports a child's physical growth. When their parents have enough income to offer appropriate food and environment, they can also give them a good living and education as well. The living environment is one of the biggest components which form a child's growth physical and mental, so a parent needs to spend time as much as possible with their child and offers an environment that helps the child's effective mental and physical growth.

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In reply to Sarah Van Hoose

Re: Health and Families

by Joshua Leerssen -
I believe that having two parents in the household has the largest effect on a child's overall health. Two parents who love and support their child in every way they can have much more of a positive effect on their child's overall health than if only one parent is present in the home. Families can actively try to make sure that their children have good overall mental and physical health by being emotionally available for their children, providing for them in whatever way they can in terms of supporting their physical health, and raising them in a nurturing environment where the children are comfortable to be themselves without fear of judgement from their parents.

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In reply to Sarah Van Hoose

Re: Health and Families

by Benee Fincher -
For your first question, I think all three have a strong factor and impact on a child’s health and perspective on their own health. Two-parent households can have good parents but one parent might not be so intune in their health as the other, or only one parent is involved in the child’s health. Either way it can be a positive or negative effect on the child. A fathers involvement is a key factor in a child’s life and their health too, because some dads can be physcially there in the child’s life but not present. For boys its more because it is who they look up to regardless of the mother because it is the man. The parental socioeconomic status can be either a have a big or little impact on teh child because if the parents can’t provide for the child’s health the child can endure things far worse than other children whose parents can afford.

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In reply to Sarah Van Hoose

Re: Health and Families

by Audrey Chatfield -
I think that while they all can play a factor in a child's health, children in a family with a higher socioeconomic status will always have more opportunities and resources at their disposal. If a child is apart of a family that is better off financially, their physical health will be higher because they will always have things like food to eat and a place to sleep. While having only one parent could hurt the child's mental health in some capacity, they might not have the resources to get help from a therapist or somewhere else.
I think it is hard to answer how families could help their child to have good physical and mental health because that leans into the question of "How to be the best parent". If there was a way to be the perfect parent everyone would be doing that. But, something that did help me with my mental health was the fact that my parents would always listen to me. I never really worried about making them mad because they would always help me with whatever I had going on. If that was not the case I know that I would have been so anxious.

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In reply to Sarah Van Hoose

Re: Health and Families

by Regan Skedgell -
I think the parental socioeconomic status effects the child the most because a child's physical and mental health is directly correlated to things like having a safe place to live, nutritional food, clean clothes etc. If a child is worried about not having those basic necessities, it is going to take a toll on their health. It can increase their chance of having those internalizing and externalizing behaviors, which will in return affect how they perform in and out of school. In my opinion, having a supportive caring teacher is one of the most important things for a child's physical and emotional health. Especially if the child does not have a stable family life at home. Some children do not get the love and support they need at home, so it becomes the teachers responsibility. When I was in elementary and middle school, my mom would travel a lot for her job, leaving me and my two brothers home with my dad. Whenever she would leave, a huge wave of anxiety would hit me. I am not a very emotional person, but during this time, I wouldn't be able to stop crying and I ended up missing a lot of school because of it. That is a very minor issue compared to what a lot of children have to deal with, so I cannot even imagine the significant effects on their mental and physical health.

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In reply to Sarah Van Hoose

Re: Health and Families

by Krislyn Dapprich -
I personally believe that having two parents and the fathers involvement effects a child's health the most. Of course having a better socioeconomic status causes for less stress and less arguments in families every day lives and it can lead to more educational and life opportunities, but I personally believe that a real source to happiness is having a loving family. Like Elijah said, even a kid with a higher socioeconomic status can still have a neglectful father and cause stress and bad mental health. I personally do not have any externalizing or internalizing behaviors or stress due to family problems but I do know some people that do. One example being my friend that I talked about last week in my divorce example. He has a lot of phycological stress, such as depression and anxiety due to his father recently not being in his life.

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