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Risky families: Family social environments and the mental and physical health of offspring (2002)
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| Venue: | Psychological Bulletin |
| Citations: | 185 - 7 self |
BibTeX
@ARTICLE{Repetti02riskyfamilies:,
author = {Rena L. Repetti and Shelley E. Taylor and Teresa E. Seeman and Rena L. Repetti and Shelley E. Taylor},
title = {Risky families: Family social environments and the mental and physical health of offspring},
journal = {Psychological Bulletin},
year = {2002},
pages = {330--366}
}
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Abstract
Risky families are characterized by conflict and aggression and by relationships that are cold, unsupportive, and neglectful. These family characteristics create vulnerabilities and/or interact with genetically based vulnerabilities in offspring that produce disruptions in psychosocial functioning (specifically emotion processing and social competence), disruptions in stress-responsive biological regulatory systems, including sympathetic-adrenomedullary and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenocortical functioning, and poor health behaviors, especially substance abuse. This integrated biobehavioral profile leads to consequent accumulating risk for mental health disorders, major chronic diseases, and early mortality. We conclude that childhood family environments represent vital links for understanding mental and physical health across the life span. Good health begins early in life. In the first years of childhood, the family is charged with responsibilities for the care and development of the child. In healthy families, children learn that they can count on the environment to provide for their emotional security and their physical safety and well-being, and they acquire behaviors that will eventually allow them to maintain their own physical and emotional health independent of caregivers. From this vantage point, a healthy environment for a child is a safe environment; it provides for a sense of emotional security and social integration and it offers certain critical social experiences that lead to the acquisition of behaviors that will eventually permit the child
Keyphrases
physical health risky family social environment emotional security childhood family environment safe environment poor health behavior healthy family life span psychosocial functioning stress-responsive biological regulatory system healthy environment vantage point certain critical social experience emotional health mental health disorder social competence good health begin integrated biobehavioral profile early mortality family characteristic major chronic disease hypothalamic pituitary adrenocortical functioning vital link first year social integration physical safety substance abuse emotion processing
