Introduction
The surrounding environment has the potential to impact the mental abilities and overall wellbeing of young children. The attributes and opportunities available at the home setting will determine a person’s experiences and opportunities. Parents and relatives who provide appropriate support, resources, and guidelines will ensure that most of their children develop healthy and functional brains. When the home setting is safe, the young individuals will grow physically, experiment with new ideas, explore, and eventually learn. Proper solutions are needed since home environments characterized by domestic violence, reduced income, single-headed, and overcrowding disorient the overall academic, mental, and economic developments of young children.
Background Information
The home setting plays a huge role in the cognitive, mental, physical, and emotional development of a child. In a study by Selvik and Thjømøe (2021), it occurred that dwellings characterized by poor support, abuse, or ignorance led to negative cognitive outcomes. Some notable challenges identified in the study included poor academic performance, reduced language abilities, and behavioral problems (Selvik & Thjømøe, 2021). In another report by HHS (2021), it was reported that the domestic setting of a given children could contribute to specific long-term results, such teen parenthood, employment opportunities, personal health, and possible graduation. These observations support the notion that the quality of the home environment will have significant implications on a person’s life achievements.
Scientific inquires have offered unique views regarding the nature of child development and how it relates to the home setting. For example, Huang et al. (2021) revealed stressful households led to poor brain development in most of the affected children. In families with poor income levels, the subsequent economic challenges made it impossible for these young people to focus on their goals. Some of these individuals would experience negative developmental abilities and reduced social interactions. Without proper support mechanisms, most of the affected individuals would find it hard to lead better lives as adults, thereby failing to provide better environments to their children in the future.
Research Process
To complete the intended study, the investigator identified parents and guardians with diverse backgrounds and issued them with questionnaires. The respondents were guided to offer their views regarding the nature of the home environment and how it affected their respective children. Due to the limited nature of the available time, the individuals were only required to provide a summarized response detailing the challenges and opportunities most of the children encountered (HHS, 2021). The completed interviews were essential towards providing adequate information and insights for completing the research paper. Based on this information, it is notable that the primary interest was to learn more about the risks most of the children had to experience in their respective home settings.
Findings
The identified respondents presented unique views and ideas that exposed specific challenges and risks affecting many young individuals. To begin with, one of the interviewees identified herself as someone who was in a troubled and violent marriage. Her husband was abusive and created unfavorable home environment that made it impossible for the children to focus on their academic goals. The individual was convinced that the existing disturbance affected the time available to the learners (Huang et al., 2021). Such children were observed to perform poorly in class since cases of absenteeism remained high. These findings supported the argument that chaos and domestic violence were capable of affecting the promoted home environment negatively.
The second respondent identified herself as a Latino whose family had been living in the selected urban centers for around two decades. Being a single mother, she was compelled to provide for her two children without any form of external financial support. Poverty remained a major challenge that affected this family and its ability to achieve most of the anticipated goals. The situation appeared to disorient the overall experiences and outcomes of the children. The absence of resources discouraged the individuals from competing directly with their fellow schoolmates (Niklas et al., 2021). These individuals lacked books, learning materials, and childcare that could result in improved brain development. Additionally, the respondent revealed that she lacked adequate time to empower her children. These challenges led to negative educational, social, and cognitive development for the two young children.
Another respondent revealed that her family lived in an urban setting characterized by overpopulation and insecurity. Most of the children in this town were able to access or interact with strangers and neighbors with diverse opinions regarding life. The interviewee was keen to blame overcrowding since it led to poor educational outcomes. Numerous forces appeared to work synergistically to influence the overall outcomes and experiences of most of the children (Niklas et al., 2021). For example, the respondent revealed that majority of the people lacked adequate time to bond with their children. This gap was associated with poor child monitoring, lack of timely instructions, and absence of disciplinary mechanisms.
The final respondent identified for this exercise focused on the issue of family structure or type. The individual blamed single-headed families since they lacked adequate resources to meet the changing needs of more people. Most of the children from such backgrounds had increased chances of recording poor health, risky behaviors, drug abuse, alcoholism, behavioral issues, and truancy challenges (Levy, 2022). In families characterized by two parents, it was possible for most of the children to receive personalized guidance and instructions, thereby being able to become responsible adults.
Discussions
Youth people are usually delicate members of the society since their brains are still under development. During early childhood, children would be keen to monitor a wide range of issues and behaviors recorded in their homes and start to replicate them. They will rely on the common words used by different family members to communicate with each other. This human attribute would explain why most of the young children would tend to exhibit most of the behaviors or tendencies that are associated with the other members of the family (Levy, 2022). In nuclear families, the involved parents would provide timely instructions and disciplinary mechanisms to shape behaviors, communication systems, and critical thinking abilities. The absence of such strategies, as it is the case with single-headed families, means that most of the young children would borrow inappropriate ideas from elsewhere.
In most cases, some homes tend to be associated with various challenges that put most of the young people at risk. For example, the completed exercise has revealed that children from families characterized by poor income levels and poverty would experience numerous problems. Some of them would include lack of resources to support learning processes and absence of personalized guidelines (Holmes et al., 2019). Most of the parents from poor families might spend more time looking for money while ignoring the welfare of their children. This behavior or trend worsens the situation for these children, thereby being unable to pursue their academic goals.
The problematic issue of domestic violence remains a major concern for young children who plan to pursue their social and economic goals. Levy (2022) supports most of the ideas gained from the completed interviews by revealing that domestic violence could have detrimental impacts on a young person’s development. Specifically, majority of the affected individuals might become disoriented and unwilling to continue pursuing their academic goals. They will remain unhappy and withdrawn even when in the class setting. The absence of social support and adequate resources to meet the changing needs of the affected children would increase their chances of reporting additional behavioral problems, such as truancy. The situation would worsen if most of the parents are unemployed or lack stable sources of income.
Congested urban settings are known to present unfavorable home environments for most of the children. Most of these neighborhoods expose young individuals to drugs and misbehaviors at a tender age. Most of the parents find it hard to offer direct instructions or support to their children due to the problematic issue of peer pressure. School going children will be compelled to copy inappropriate behaviors from their classmates, such as smoking, binge drinking, and drug abuse (Huang et al., 2021). Most of these individuals will have increased chances of becoming addicts, thereby being unable to complete their education or pursue their career objectives. In most of the crowded neighborhoods, crime, violence, and inappropriate behaviors tend to be the norm (Holmes et al., 2019). Young children growing up in these environments will be compelled to copy some of the malpractices. The described outcomes could have detrimental impacts on their future life experiences and goals.
Lessons Learned
The completed investigation has presented numerous lessons that could guide stakeholders to address the risks affecting many young people. First, the exercise has revealed that there are different groups and populations that lack adequate social protection and support. This problem exists because cases of domestic violence and child abuse remain common in different communities. Second, the investigation has indicated that federal and local governments have done very little to cushion young people who are living in poor neighborhoods (HHS, 2021). The specific gap has led to higher cases of poverty and poor economic outcomes. Majority of the affected individuals find it hard to provide for their children who might eventually decide to quit school.
Third, the recorded observations present a strong case for the government to appreciate that most children are facing a wide range of risks that eventually disorient their behaviors. The absence of personalized support and measures to tackle inequality could explain why most of the outlined problems exist. The involvement of all key stakeholders could help mitigate most of the outlined risks, such as politicians, economists, social workers, government officials, policymakers, and community members (Huang et al., 2021). The effort will allow more children to grow up in favorable ad supportive home environments.
Conclusion
The competed study has identified numerous challenges and risks associated with many young people in this country. These individuals could be unable to pursue and achieve their economic and career goals due to the experienced home environment. Some households associated with violence, inadequate resources, overcrowding, and absence of resources would worsen the situations for most of the children. Family structures could dictate the experiences and opportunities available to most of the children. A renewed approach that integrates all key stakeholders is recommended to mitigate the identified risks and empower more children to succeed in their lives.
References
HHS. (2021). Protecting youth mental health: The U.S. surgeon general’s advisory. Web.
Holmes, C. J., Brieant, A., Kahn, R. E., & Deater-Deckard, K. (2019). Structural home environment effects on developmental trajectories of self-control and adolescent risk taking. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 48(1), 1-13. Web.
Huang, X., Hua, L., Zhou, X., Zhang, X., Zhang, M., Wang, S., Qin, S., Chen, J., & Wang, X. (2021). The association between home environment and quality of life in children and adolescents in Hangzhou City, China. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 30(1), 1416-1427. Web.
Levy, S. (2022). Behavioral problems in adolescents. MSD Manual. Web.
Niklas, F., Cohrssen, C., Lehrl, C., & Napoli, A. R. (Eds.). (2021). Children’s competencies development in the health environment. Frontiers Media SA.
Selvik, S., & Thjømøe, C. (2021). Children fleeing domestic violence to emergency accommodations: Education rights and experiences. Journal of Family Violence, 36(5), 1003-1015. Web.