Discover how a dysfunctional family can cause difficulties in childhood development

Here's how a dysfunctional family can lead to wayward behaviour on a child...

Whenever social workers conduct an assessment on a child's alleged mischievious behaviour or when they are in conflict with the law, they usually trace how the child was brought up by his or her parents. This helps them make a good character analysis of the child and assist in pre-judgement in a juvenile delinquency case.

One of the most punishing tasks would be to identify and admit that a child was brought up in a dysfunctional family. Acknowledging this fact is however crucial to outgrow such relationship issues and transform oneself into an emotionally stable and happy person.

A dysfunctional family is a disastrous unit which can lead to repeated malfunctioning of children in their adult lives. The effects can be realized at a later stage in life when they achieve an enormous form of destructive psychological effects on children. The social workers should always assess the home environment and look at the socio-economic background of the child’s parents because that has a bearing on the upbringing of child. For instance, a substandard environment meted out to the child by such parents may be attributed to the unpleasant memories of their own childhood.

Here are some of the characteristics of a dysfunctional family

Lack of trust
Absence of security
Absence of the feeling of love and belonging
Lack of understanding between family members
Parents' failure to nurture and support the children
Needs and desires of the child are always neglected
Verbal, physical, or sexual abuse in the family
Family member(s) creating an unpredictably unhealthy environment
Disputes develop on petty issues like money, love, work or almost anything
Negative dealing of stressful situations
Family values and rules are rigid, incomprehensible and illogical.
In some cases, parents’ over protecting of the child may affect the child's upbringing.


Negative Impact on Child’s Psychological well-being

In dysfunctional families, parents’ distorted attitudes have a traumatic effect on children. As such, unnatural relationships become the norms of child’s life.
The behaviours displayed by children tend to reflect those of their deficient parents. These traits can be exhibited singly or in combination as reflected below:

Feelings of loneliness
Being too hard on oneself
Difficulties in relaxing and enjoying oneself.
Difficulties in expressing feelings openly.
Extremist responses and decisions
Problems in forming intimate relationships
Involving themselves in abusive relations
Concerned of others’ responsibilities
Apprehensive to seek approval
Taking over more than they can handle
Being unable to handle anger, frustration and hatred
Children’s Compliance to Unusual Roles.

An affected child normally exhibits disorders like study problems, drug or alcohol addiction and other disturbances in the family. It is common in some cases, to attribute the family dysfunction to the problem child even if he or she is not causing significant trouble. People always attribute the child's behaviour to that of his or her parent or a dysfunctional family that brought him or her up. In some cases, growing kids can use their sense of humour to rescue themselves and act as entertainers in groups. On rare occasions a few children love to stay in social isolation. Moreover, some children rarely play more than one of the above roles causing pain and confusion among those living with him or her.

Good Parenting - being more sensitive to the child’s feelings

It is apparent most of the parents do not wish to really hurt their children by choice, but they should intentionally be more sensitive to the child’s feelings. Family disputes are inevitable but should not be an accepted pattern. Each person should also preserve his own space and not invade others’ while being free to express, discuss and opine. One can focus on the plight of the problem child, the over-achiever or the silent sufferer. However, there is one thing in common applicable to each of these personality types i.e. an attempt to understand them, being a friend than being a parent or sibling.

Parental Support on the Child’s Needs and Helping him Recover


One of the prominent accomplishments of difficult childhood is that the child is fine tuned to being adjustable which helps him pull through adversity. It is advisable for the child to seek support from parents, friends and other companions whom they trust is helpful. The child should express himself or herself and most importantly keep yourself away from deficient members who are likely to hurt you. Moreover the child should accept that his or her accomplices too have limitations and react optimistically. He or she should take a break from daily chores to involve in his or her favourite hobby and recreational activities.

The best way to prevent dysfunctional relationship is to detect it at an early stage, find ways to cope with it through communicating, counselling and transforming the conflict into a productive life plan. As a parent you should be able to empower yourself through this tough situation which will ultimately transform you into an outstanding person and help you live life to the fullest.
So far so good.