Negative Effect of Environment on Families
Negative Effect of Environment on Families
NUR 542
July 29, 2012
Negative Effect of Environment on Families
This debate statement will focus on the negative effect that the environment can have on families. There is a correlation between the direct environment in which a family lives and the degree of dysfunction in the household. This alone can be devastating to the family unit and to the individual members. There are some solutions that may help families to combat the negative effects that may have impact on their day-to-day life although at times change is not always easy or an advantage. Often, simply the physical setting is enough to disrupt and corrupt individual members in the family unit.
Family function versus dysfunction
Bad neighborhoods have common definite manifestations of their dysfunction. These neighborhoods have common characteristics that include unemployment, widespread deterioration, poverty, high crime rate, gang graffiti, and violence. In these areas, “life chances are severely limited to the point of being virtually nonexistent” (Hallcom, 1993, p. 1). With chances like these, many families in bad neighborhoods stop trying to improve their situation because they see no opportunities in the community to improve their lot. “One of the most difficult problems poor and working-class families face is that their home, neighborhood, and community environments are not conducive to wellness, and yet they do not have the option to move” (Bowden, Friedman, & Jones, 2003, p. 250). The few families able to improve their situation, through working two or more jobs and improving their financial picture, move out of the neighborhood to better conditions and remove their children from the negative influencing factors. The family
dysfunctional cycle continues again and again; generation after generation.
Preventing solution
There are steps that can be taken to minimize the harm in these neighborhoods. Two important valuable tools
NUR 542
July 29, 2012
Negative Effect of Environment on Families
This debate statement will focus on the negative effect that the environment can have on families. There is a correlation between the direct environment in which a family lives and the degree of dysfunction in the household. This alone can be devastating to the family unit and to the individual members. There are some solutions that may help families to combat the negative effects that may have impact on their day-to-day life although at times change is not always easy or an advantage. Often, simply the physical setting is enough to disrupt and corrupt individual members in the family unit.
Family function versus dysfunction
Bad neighborhoods have common definite manifestations of their dysfunction. These neighborhoods have common characteristics that include unemployment, widespread deterioration, poverty, high crime rate, gang graffiti, and violence. In these areas, “life chances are severely limited to the point of being virtually nonexistent” (Hallcom, 1993, p. 1). With chances like these, many families in bad neighborhoods stop trying to improve their situation because they see no opportunities in the community to improve their lot. “One of the most difficult problems poor and working-class families face is that their home, neighborhood, and community environments are not conducive to wellness, and yet they do not have the option to move” (Bowden, Friedman, & Jones, 2003, p. 250). The few families able to improve their situation, through working two or more jobs and improving their financial picture, move out of the neighborhood to better conditions and remove their children from the negative influencing factors. The family
dysfunctional cycle continues again and again; generation after generation.
Preventing solution
There are steps that can be taken to minimize the harm in these neighborhoods. Two important valuable tools
References: Bowden, V., Friedman, M., Jones, E. (2003). Family Nursing: Research, Theory and Practice (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Cleveland, H. (2003). Disadvantaged Neighborhoods and Adolescent Aggression: Behavioral Genetic Evidence of Contextual Effects. Journal Of Research On Adolescence (Blackwell Publishing Limited), 13(2), 211-238. Hallcom, F. (1993). Dysfunctional neighborhoods. Retrieved from http://www.csun.edu/-hcchs006/4.html Reiss, D. J. (2012). Three Principles for Federal Housing Policy. Probate & Property, 26(2), 40-44.