Question

The recognition of the role of the family is the cure to problems facing society. Explain why

Answer 1

When a child is born, he is born into a society. It is the society that lays down the foundation of the know-how of any behaviour that occurs within its setting. It sets a boundary that individuals or social beings are expected to adhere to, in terms of action, emotional expression, value system, and so on. It is thus the society that assesses and ultimately determines whether an individual has a fully functioning personality or not, based on their ability to adhere to these social standards.

Family is the first social institution in the life of an individual. The first social development in terms of interactions, formation and maintenance of relationships, understanding the role of sharing and caring, guidance and disciplining, all take place first within the family setting. The role of family is thus indisputable in the development of personality of an individual.

In this light, it may be elaborated that family structures are extremely important in determining whether an individual will develop and portray normally functioning behaviour patterns or not. Behaviour is the basic element of psychology. Thus disrupted, maladaptive and sub-normal behaviour would indicate some degree of psychopathology.

Family interaction patterns, especially those between those of parents with their children, assume great responsibility in moulding the behaviour of the child. Extreme leniency in disciplining patterns (extremely permissive parenting) tend to misguide the child and make the child incapable of distinguishing between the right and wrong. Extremely authoritarian parenting on the other hand might lead to complete disregard for the child’s wishes, interests and freedom, and may either lead the child to become introverted, depressed, and extremely dependent on their guardians on one hand or may cause them to develop rebellious and antisocial traits on the other hand.

Physical or mental abuse of children by assaultive parents may scar their childhood. Sexual assault by family members can lead to personality disorders like Dissociative Identity Disorder. Parents arguing among themselves, even hitting each other in the process, or each party making an attempt to draw the child to their respective sides, create a lot of conflict within the child, and this may lead to many types of disorders, or even create schizophrenic tendencies within such children. Family theories of schizophrenia also refer to double-bind messages (verbally expressing love towards the child, but rebuking the child when he tries to come closer to the parent, thereby exhibiting a contradiction between spoken messages and displayed behaviour) that may cause schizophrenic tendencies within such children. Neglectful parenting also leads to the development of unsocial or antisocial traits within the child. Observing other assault-based relationships among different members of the family-parents, siblings, grandparents, uncles, aunts etc. may all contribute to a disturbed childhood and a faulty learning pattern with regard to formation and maintenance of new relationships.

Other forms of disorder like depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders, anxiety disorders, may all occur due to disturbed family structures, or by observation of parents or family members suffering from such disorders. Although genetics do play an important role in the transmission of such disorders, the way the family manages or attempts to manage these problematic traits, determine to a great extent whether these traits would manifest into full-fledged disorders in the near or distant future, or not. As supported by the Diathesis Stress Model, any predisposition to any disease or disorder in an individual does not guarantee the occurrence of the disorder unless the individual is constantly exposed to stressful situations. Family here plays a very important role in managing the stressful situations to which the child is exposed. A balanced family environment not only provides a sense of security to the child, but also helps him develop stress-tolerance capacities and this helps him combat stressful situations.

Family thus determines how an individual or social being would act or behave in a social setting. Society-related problems are mostly based upon faulty behaviour of the social beings that ultimately lead to crimes and other social problems with regard to wrongful and unethical behaviour patterns. Family is responsible for imbibing a strong value system within their children that adheres to the expected standards of social behaviour. Thus it is invariably evident that by looking into the role family plays in the lives of every individual, and by making attempts in restoring a balanced family structure in case of those which have been disrupted, it may be assured that society will be cured of most of its problems.

Thank you.