There are environmental factors which could affect the development of the child. One of these factors is the quality of life in the neighborhood. It could affect the function of the parents and could influence the children’s development. It could be considered as an environmental stressor. Studies revealed that social support could improve parenting styles. These social supports could come from the community especially from the neighborhood. However, social support and parenting in the impoverished neighborhood are less likely to improve parenting styles and child development.
As an environmental stressor, lifestyle of neighborhood affects social support and parenting strategy. In most cases, parents are having a hard time raising their children on impoverished neighborhood due to several environmental factors. Impoverished neighborhoods are characterized by families living in poverty, higher crimes and poor education and health care services. It could affect parenting strategy and in most cases, these parents rely on strict and violent measures to raise their child in order to avoid other people from influencing their children (Ceballo & McLoyd, 2002).
There are several social processes which could greatly affect parenting functioning as well as the child development. Some of these processes include collective socialization, competition of resources among families and peer influence. In most cases, having more affluent neighbors could have a positive effect on the child development due to the social support for the parents. Environmental factors could greatly influence parent functioning and child development. In general, exposure to violence and peer influences could affect how parents handle their children.
In addition, families living in neighborhoods with few resources are less likely to be influenced by social support than families living with community resources. The major reason for this is the competition for resources among families. The competition of resources is one of the social processes within neighborhood. These families are more likely to see their neighbors as competitors rather than friends due the competition of limited resources. In this case, social support is less likely to affect their family functioning as well as the child development.
Reference
Ceballo, R., & McLoyd, C. (2002). Social support and parenting in poor, dangerous neighborhoods. Child Development, 73, 1310–1321.
