Impact of Culture on Infant Development

Impact of Culture on Infant Development

Introduction

Child development refers to a series of sequential steps going through which a child develops a personality and becomes a whole person living within the community. Moreover, this developmental process does not take place in isolation and is a result of a number of different variables affecting the child development simultaneously (Young & Mundial, 1996). Culture is one of the biggest of such factors which affects the development of a child's psychology. In order to better understand about what culture is and how it affects the process of child development; an in depth discussion regarding the relevant factors is required.

Discussion

Culture refers to a multitude of components existing within a person's environment and community. Moreover, these factors have a great impact on every person living within the society regardless of the age bracket that he or she belongs to. Children are the most affected because of culture as they grow in a particular culture after they are born. The following factors are noticeable with regards to the topic of child development in the reference of surrounding culture.

Family's Culture: The First Affecting Factor

The family can be considered the system that most directly influences the child's development emerging as the most powerful system of socialization for the healthy development of children and adolescents. The interactions established in the micro family are the ones that bring more significant implications for the development of the child, although other social systems such as school, the workplace of the parents and clubs also contribute for its development.

The vast majority of children experience with family situations early learning and internalization of standards, norms and values, and if the family is not functioning properly, the interactions, especially parent-infant and society, will suffer. Thus, the family is seen as the first system in which a pattern of activities, roles and interpersonal relationships are experienced by the person in whose development and exchanges are the basis for the study of the development of the individual (Papalia, Olds & Feldman, 1990).

Risk Factors Involved in Child Development

Risk factors for child development can be described as characteristics of the child, the family and the environment that decrease the likelihood of children becoming competent and have a sense of well-being and therefore that increase the likelihood of negative and undesirable.

Risk factors for child development include: development history of parents, parents 'personality, parenting skills, alcohol and drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, parental depression, low educational attainment, high levels of stress, single parenthood, the presence of criminal activity, psychiatric illness, lack of social support, inadequate housing, health, education, food, age of the child, child temperament, neurophysiologic deficits or difficulties of the child, subclinical levels of conduct disorder and intellectual and academic performance of children.

Poverty and Child Development

Poverty, in turn, appears as the most serious risk factor to reach the family, because it alone can generate lead and other risk factors as the development history of the parents and their parenting skills, and limit opportunities for positive child ...