Influence of the Home and Family Environment on Childhood Dysfunction

Abstract

Most clinical as well as developmental psychologists believe that, regardless of genetic, biological, or constitutional factors that may be involved, home and family social-environmental conditions have a significant causal influence on the appearance and maintenance of children's dysfunctional behavior. Some of the cultural, theoretical, and empirical bases for this environmentalist assumption have been reviewed by Lomax (1985), who noted that, despite some occasional waxing and waning and some significant holdouts, the general commitment to this view has progressively increased and become widespread during the past century. Although Bell's (1968, 1971) comments were intended to emphasize the importance of considering the effect of children on their caregivers, he also touched on several aspects of the American social and political framework that support this pervasive environmentalism.