Family Environment and Health Outcomes

Health behaviors and outcomes are directly related among the adults since undesirable demeanors result in adverse health conditions. Behaviors such as exercising and eating sensibly automatically lead to positive health outcomes such as lower risks of complications such as heart diseases and diabetes. On the contrary, according to Thomson (2015), the undesirable behavior such as smoking and excessive drinking naturally leads to detrimental health outcomes whereby the individual is susceptible to conditions such as high blood pressure, lung cancer, and liver disease. Moreover, according to Anderson (2014), the health behaviors and outcomes rarely develop when an individual is an adult but, instead, he or she are influenced by conditions that the person may have experienced during the development. This essay discusses how the family environment and psychological stress in development process may alter the health behaviors and outcomes of an individual in adulthood.

To begin with, the family is the basic social unit from which a child learns the art of social interaction ranging from the parent-child attachment to the communication with other siblings and peers (Olusegun, 2014). Furthermore, the parent-child interaction is very critical as it contributes significantly to the behaviors accepted by the child, which in the future may positively or negatively influence health status in the adulthood. Besides, the parenting styles adopted by the parents are different: some have positive impacts while others contribute negatively to molding the health behaviors of children. Further, the parenting styles range from authoritative, authoritarian, permissive to disengaged with each style having varying degrees of warmth, conflict and control strategies, which in turn have diverse outcomes on individual’s health behaviors and outcomes.

Concerning the authoritative style of parenting, interactions characterized by high warmth and positive control are experienced in comparison to the authoritarian style where communication is characterized by low warmth, high conflict, and unjustified punitive control attempts. Further, according to Anderson (2014), the permissive style exhibits high warmth with minimal control with the disengaged style being characterized with low warmth and minimal supervision of the child’s behaviors.

Besides, the authoritative style is the best, and children raised by authoritative parents become academically and socially competent, which in turn influences their behaviors. It is rare to find such children engaging in antisocial behaviors since they have learned the art of meaningful associations, hence they can alienate themselves from negative peer influences that may be involved in activities such as drug use, irresponsible sex behaviors, and crime among others. As a result, such children experience favorable health outcomes in the adulthood since chances of them developing life-threatening illnesses such as HIV/AIDs are minimized. Moreover, they are likely to be more informed in their childhood on the healthy eating habits such as reduced cholesterol. Therefore, they could also be less affected by conditions such as blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity to mention a few.

On the contrary, authoritarian, permissive and disengaged styles of raising children are characterized by elevated rates of conflict, low warmth and low control, which in turn result in high levels of delinquent and antisocial behaviors among the children. Furthermore, the more extreme the family environment is, the worse the adults’ health behavior and outcomes appear. In relation to that, children from hostile environments are more prone to health issues such as depression, anxiety and social withdrawal in their adulthood.

Further, the economic status of the family also influences the health behaviors and outcomes of the children in their adulthood. According to Blaze et.al (2015), children from socio-economically disadvantaged families begin their early childhood from a poorer health platform in comparison to their counterparts from the financially stable families. As a result, they are more susceptible to certain illnesses such as asthma in their adulthood while those from stable families are in a position to access immunization, hence the last are less prone to adverse health outcomes.

To present controversy, Olusegun (2014) states that the health behaviors and outcomes are majorly influenced by the genetic inheritance in the family line whereby some people are more inclined to some diseases and unhealthy demeanors such as smoking. The author further claims that adverse influences of the family environment are easily corrected as an individual matures by use of health promotions. Thus, such an impact is not attributable to the adulthood health behaviors and outcomes.

In opposition, Anderson(2014) states that majority of the health behaviors and outcomes are influenced by external factors such as the quality of air, water, and housing condition. The author notes that the continued use of low-quality resources makes the body adapting to the poor conditions in the process of development, which is a factor that influences the health outcomes in the adulthood. For example, such individuals are more prone to diseases such as asthma and pneumonia.

Further, psychological stress during development also alters the health behaviors and outcomes of individuals in adulthood. This is because stressors have significant influences on the moods and the sense of well-being of an individual hence controlling the actions of a person.

Moreover, the nature and the persistence of the stressors whether in childhood or adulthood are likely to  affect the health of the person negatively, namely causing chronic diseases.

According to Thomson (2015), the most widely known stressors of children and adolescents include the exposure to violence, the abuse of various forms, for example, sexual, physical, or emotional, neglect, and divorce/marital conflict. Besides, in the modern world, the family unit is facing significant challenges with increased breakage of families, a factor that highly exposes the children to psychological stresses (Anderson, 2014). Children who are experiencing stress are likely to portray provocative behaviors with increased rebellion, which is the element that continues even in their adulthood. Such survivors face great difficulties in their adult life, especially in their social interactions, since majorities of them suffer from an inferiority complex, which under severe circumstances may develop into personality disorders.

In an attempt to confront the adult challenges, the individuals mostly resort to alcoholic behaviors and smoking, which eventually lead to adverse health outcomes.

According to Anderson (2014), the children from divorced families exhibit various anti-social behaviors, particularly anxiety and lack of confidence, in comparison to their peers from stable households. Further, where counseling and support are not offered, the adult offspring of divorced parents experience significant challenges such as family conflicts, which may lead to depression hence influencing the individuals’ health negatively.

In addition, according to Bennett et. al (2016), the exposure to war and terrorism-related activities during childhood leads to high psychological stress of children and adolescents. Further, the mental torture may result in the individuals adopting violent behaviors as well as developing diseases such as post-traumatic stress disorder influencing their health negatively.

On the contrary, Thomson (2012) states that psychological damage in the development process is irreparable hence having significant effects in adulthood. According to the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health (2016), with the massive innovations in technology, the affected individuals can receive pieces of training and counseling that mitigates the effects of the psychological stress on their health behaviors and outcomes in adulthood.

Family Health Assessment and Nursing Diagnosis

Family health assessment is a principal tool in comprehension of family issues for the purposes of establishing care plans with reference to their needs. Nurses play a vital role as far as health promotion is concerned (Anderson et al., 2000). Patterns of family health function as the basis of nursing diagnosis, as well as health promotion within communities in general and families in particular. Health assessment patterns constitute systematically arranged principles designed for data collection from families for interventions and diagnosis.

The family that I picked is a nuclear family composed of both parents and their children. It is a white family living in North Bay Village, in Miami-Dade County in the U.S. The father is aged forty-five, while the mother is thirty-seven. Their marriage has lasted for eighteen years. Their three children are aged seventeen, thirteen, and nine from the eldest to the youngest respectively. The last-born is a girl, while the other two are boys.

The family of five has the father as the head of the family. However, the two parents work and thus win bread for the family. Both have formal employment. Nonetheless, the father is the primary family provider. The wife does the household duties before and after work. The mother prepares the children in the morning, and then the father drives them to school. She enjoys putting her entire effort to see her family happy. The boys also assist her at some points, even though they spend most of their time at school. The daughter loves cooking and aids the mother on weekends.

The family is facing challenge since the last-born is a slow learner. The parents take this issue with much weight. At times, the father treats this case with suspicion, assuming that the child either mutated or something that medics cannot explain happened to her. The family is housed in a beautiful and expensive wooden house built for comfort and luxury. The furniture and all that is contained inside the house appeared costly. The compound, upon which the house is built, is quite large. It has a welcoming ambiance, swimming pool, playground, and an ample parking. The family head works as a bank manager, while the wife is a teacher at the elementary school within the neighborhood. The income is sufficient to provide for their children’s education and pay anything else that has to be paid. The parents have ensured that their children are well and attend school, while children have played their role through obedience, assisting with domestic chores, and attending school.

The adolescent stage of the second-born stresses him and the family at large. The inability to relate with ease to the opposite sex due to shyness has negatively impacted his learning. The issue has caused the boy stress, and, as a result, the parents get worried as well. The slow learning problem of the last-born has exert much stress on the parents as well, especially on the father.

The family is now at a developing stage (Yen, McDonald, Hirschland, & Edington, 2003). The children are now being schooled, and they need much care and responsibilities. There are many activities away from home that include working and schooling for children. The previous stages have seen proper handling since the family has been able to successfully get to these stages. For instance, during the early stages of being a couple and in the course of the parental years, the spouses have operated well, and thus were able to introduce new family members later. The family history indicates zero genetic predispositions towards diseases. The response to this issue was that the family grandparents had no diseases that could genetically be transferred to the subsequent generations.

The family concern for health forced them to ascertain that every possible action is applied to lower sickness chances. The children got immunized as required in childhood, and the family presented the records as the evidence of immunization. The family is currently immunized against tetanus and all other diseases that require immunization.

The second-born son responded that he felt inadequately when it came to relating to others at school. Talking to girls posed him a challenge, and he got stressed up regarding the situation. However, the opposite sex had no problems with him. It was he who felt shy and lost words every time he faced a girl. This issue made him drop a little in class, although it was not very alarming. Based on hospital admission questionnaire, the family responded that they have healthy eating habits, which were inspired by their comprehension of the importance of a healthy lifestyle. They purchase foods that provide balanced meals. Consequently, sickness is rarely mentioned, and if it happens, it is never serious.

The answer to the question on communication modes indicated that they use face-to-face contacts as well as mobile phones. They sit and express themselves to one another whenever there is an issue. Problems are never allowed to accumulate; they are rather solved as they appear. The parents talk to their teens and aid them in coping with any life challenges. The communication is effective and efficient as it addresses all their communication wants.

Despite the man being the family head, he never makes decisions quickly and on his own. He consults his wife and, to some extent, his children. The wife also consults her husband. The decision is usually reached via family talks in order to limit the chances of disagreements. The parents never impose anything on the teens; they rather talk to them well in order to accommodate their feeling before making a decision.

The family communication system and their organized thinking allow no violence. The understanding nature, which they are endowed with, makes them operate on humility. However, this aspect does not make them spare the child to grow within the atmosphere of indiscipline. The parents apply negative reinforcement technique to make children conform to family and societal norms. For instance, whenever a son or the daughter misbehaves, the naughty one is deprived of the chance to get goodies from parents along with the other children. On the contrary, if one does well at school, he/she gets a present to encourage him/her and make the others increase their efforts in class, understating that something precious awaits them.

The family crises receive attention depending on their weight. The parents consult or handle the problem independently and inform the other later. For instance, if the teenagers disagree to the extent of one beating the other, then the parent present solves the issue without necessarily waiting for the other.

The family goes to the house of worship, the church, and prays often. The father responded to the question about religion depicting that they believe that God loves them and that He always wants them to avoid sin. It is this belief that made the man stop smoking and drinking. The parents love one another and their children in a bid to obey God. Love and prayer environment keep them healthy.

The family goals are to see that all members live satisfactorily. Their children are acquiring proper education for a better life. The parents want to live comfortably at old age while seeing their children become independent to make fortune and their own families.

The family’s internal support is the working parents. They earn to provide for all the needs and wants of each member. The parents contribute to the children’s education and miscellaneous expenses from their respective income sources. The family does not operate on any external support. It experiences neither role conflict nor role overload. The parents run the family minus the two issues. The family is aware that contingencies arise. The family has plans that can handle any form or emergency should it arise. For instance, the parents have insurance covering the lives of the spouses should anything happen. There is also a medical cover that can pay any amount of cash for a treatment that may require a lot of expenses. The family opened an account where liquid cash is saved monthly to take care of things outside the normal operations.

The nursing diagnosis determined based on this assessment is stress resulting from the development issues of two family members. The second-born is suffering stress, which is induced by his shyness. He lacks courage at his age to stand anywhere near girls. The daughter’s inability to learn fast develops worries in the parents. Stress-free families live happily. The health status remains excellent, and functioning at home and at work becomes excellent. Stress can be managed via identification of the stressors, which, in this case, are the son’s and the daughter’s problems. The parents need to understand that the boy’s problem requires counselling in order to know means and ways of overcoming shyness and that the problem is not permanent. The slow nature of learning in the girl cannot be changed, and so the solution to this is to accept that fact and encourage her always. When stressed, the parents and the boy may apply stress management methods such as gradual muscle relaxation, stress releasing breathing techniques, biofeedback, and guided imagery.

In conclusion, nursing interventions are properly planned with the aid of health assessment. The entire family requires assessment to provide care that is family-oriented rather than task-oriented. The life of individual family members has effect on the rest. Happiness reigns whenever all members’ welfare is maintained. Thus, the family is a single unit with members being its components.

In conclusion, the family environment and psychological stress during development have significant effects on the individuals’ health behaviors and outcomes. Therefore, parents and guardians should try hard to raise children in the most appropriate social surrounding. Moreover, conflicts should be reduced in the upbringing process since it results in violent and unruly behaviors, which eventually lead to unfavorable health outcomes such as depression, heart attacks, and lung cancer among other chronic diseases. On the contrary, the genetic inheritance and the exposure to adverse external factors such as poor housing conditions and low-quality air highly influence the health behaviors and outcomes. Further, psychological stress in the development process may be caused by factors such as physical and sexual abuse. Besides, the exposure to terrorism activities and poverty may lead to adverse health outcomes such as depression. However, with the development of technology where counseling is widely available, the negative behaviors exhibited in the development process such as withdrawal are easily corrected, thus having no major influences on health behaviors in adulthood.