Parents also may expose children directly to the harmful effects of other substances, such as exposure to second hand cigarette smoke, which is consistently associated with increased rates of childhood respiratory illnesses, otitis media, and sudden infant death syndrome. Despite these effects, only a few parents restrict smoking in their homes. There are many other ways in which parents may not physically protect their children. Failing to immunize children, to childproof the home adequately, and to provide adequate supervision are other examples.
Parents’ attempts to provide too much protection for their child also can cause problems. One example of this is the vulnerable child syndrome in which a child who is ill early in life continues to be viewed as vulnerable by the parents despite that the child has fully recovered. Behavioral difficulties may result if parents are overindulgent and fail to set limits. Parental reluctance to leave the child may contribute to the child having separation anxiety. Parents may be particularly attentive to minor variations in bodily functions, leading them to seek excess medical care. If the physician does not recognize this situation, the child may be exposed to unnecessary medical procedures.
Emotional Support, Education, and Socialization
Failure to meet a child’s emotional or educational needs can have a severe and enduring negative impact on child development and behavior. Infants need a consistent adult who learns to understand their signals and meets the infant’s needs for attention as well as food. As the adult caregiver learns these signals, he or she responds more rapidly and appropriately to the infant’s attempts at communication. Through this process, often referred to as attachment, the special relationship between parent and child develops. When affectionate and responsive adults are not consistently available, infants often are less willing to explore the environment and may become unusually clingy, angry, or difficult to comfort.
Appropriate stimulation also is vital for a child’s cognitive development. Children whose parents do not read to them and do not play developmentally appropriate games with them have lower scores on intelligence tests and more school problems. In these situations, early intervention has been shown to be particularly effective in improving skill development and subsequent school performance. At the other extreme, there are increasing concerns that some parents may provide too much stimulation and scheduling of the child’s day. There may be such emphasis on achievement that children come to feel that parental love is contingent on achievement. There are concerns that this narrow definition of success may contribute to problems with anxiety and self-esteem for some children.
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pattern of purposeful coercive behaviors aimed at establishing control of one partner over the other that may include inflicted physical injury, psychological abuse, sexual assault, progressive social isolation, stalking, deprivation, intimidation, and threats. Such violence between adults affects the lives of millions of children each year. Children experience IPV by seeing or hearing the violence and its aftermath. Children who live in households with IPV often develop psychological and behavioral problems that interfere with their ability to function normally in school, at home, and with peers. They may be injured during violent outbursts, sometimes while attempting to intervene on behalf of a parent. Many children are victims of abuse themselves. It is estimated that there is at least a 50% concurrence rate between IPV and child abuse. Children who grow up in violent households learn that violence is appropriate in intimate relationships. A history of having witnessed IPV as a child is a strong predictor for becoming a batterer in adulthood. In addition to sporadic outbursts of violence, children who live in households with IPV experience disruptive events that can overtly or subtly affect the child’s development. Although partner violence often occurs between male perpetrators and female victims, it may also occur bi-directionally and may be better conceptualized as family or interpersonal-violence. Violence may escalate during the peri-natal period.