Abstract
Family is the microcosm of culture, and child mental health needs to be contextualized within the framework of the family and the culture, for overall comprehension and care. Family can have an etiological or a causative role, perpetuating or a maintenance role, and a therapeutic or an ameliorative role, in children’s mental disorders. Our environment and sociocultural canvas are changing rapidly and so are the experiences, causing strain and dysregulation of various neurobiological systems, with potential for psychological malfunctioning. The brain and nervous system constantly adapt and change according to the environment wherein the newer systems and mechanisms develop and others are replaced or modified, in favor of survival. A series of adaptations bring about the evolutionary change in the structure and functions of the brain. Most psychopathologies in children and adolescents develop in the backdrop of family and the sociocultural system, necessitating need for advancing cross-cultural research with a specific focus on family issues. Findings from the western studies from the high-income countries may not be directly applicable in the Indian context or for that matter in the other low- and middle-income countries. The onus is on the experts, to be aware and also sensitive to both the family issues as well as the cross-cultural perspectives in the child and adolescent mental health care. Many countries are multicultural, and cultures by itself are dynamic and constantly evolving. The following text is a prelude to this sensitization. The discussion attempts to focus more on the low- and middle-income countries (LAMIC) alongside research from the Western world.
References
Ainsworth MDS, Blehar MC, Waters E, Wall S (1978) Patterns of attachment: a psychological study of the strange situation. Erlbaum, Hillsdale
Atilola O (2015) Cross- cultural child and adolescent psychiatry research in developing countries. Glob Ment Health (Camb). Published online 2015 May 19; 2:e5. https://doi.org/10.1017/gmh.2015.8
Banaag CG (2016) Street children: stories of adversity and resilience. In: Malhotra S, Santosh PJ (eds) Child and adolescent psychiatry: Asian perspectives. Springer India, New Dehli, pp 141–159
Barling J, Mac Ewen KE, Nolte ML (1993) Homemaker role experiences affect toddler behaviours via maternal well-being and parenting behaviour. J Abnorm Child Psychol 21:213–229
Bifulco AT, Brown GW, Harris TO (1987) Childhood loss of parent, lack of adequate parental care and adult depression: a replication. J Affect Disord 12:115–128
Bird HR, Canino G (1982) The Puerto Rican family: cultural factors and family intervention strategies. J Am Acad Psychoanal 10:257–268
Bornstein MH, Lansford JE (2010) Parenting. In: Bornstein MH (ed) The handbook of cross-cultural developmental science. Taylor & Francis, New York, pp 259–277
Bowlby J (1969) Attachment and loss, vol 1: attachment. Basic Books, New York
Brunelli SA, Wasserman GA, Rauh VA, Alvarado LE, Caraballo LR (1995) Mothers’ reports of paternal support: associations with maternal child-rearing attitudes. Merrill-Palmer Q 41:152–171
Burgess EW (1926) The family as a unity of interacting personalities. Family 7:3–9
Canino G, Alegria M (2008) Psychiatric diagnosis – is it universal or relative to culture? J Child Psychol Psychiatry 49:237–250
Chang L, Morrissey RF, Koplewicz HS (1995) Prevalence of psychiatric symptoms and their relation to adjustment among Chinese- American youth. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 34(1):91–99
Cohn DA, Cowan PA, Cowan CP, Pearson J (1992) Mothers’ and fathers’ working models of childhood attachment relationships, parenting styles, and child behaviour. Dev Psychopathol 4:417–431
Cuellar I, Arnold B, Gonzalez G (1995) Cognitive referents of acculturation: assessment of cultural constructs in Mexican Americans. J Community Psychol 23:339–355
Cummings EM (1994) Marital conflict and children’s functioning. Soc Dev 3:16–36
D’Antonio IJ, Darwish AM, McLean M (1993) Child maltreatment: international perspectives. Matern Child Nurs J 21:39–52
Deyoung Y, Zigler EF (1994) Machismo in two cultures: relation to punitive child-rearing practices. Am J Orthop 64:386–395
Draguns JG, Tanaka- Matsumi J. (2003) Assessment of psychopathology across and within cultures: issues and findings. Behav Res Ther 41(7):755–776
Eastburg M, Johnson WB (1990) Shyness and perceptions of parental behaviour. Psychol Rep 66:915–921
Egeland B, Stroufe LA (1981) Attachment and early maltreatment. Child Dev 52:44–52
Ellison CG (1990) Family ties, friendships and subjective well-being among Black Americans. J Marriage Fam 52:298–310
Emery RE (1982) Interparental conflict and the children of discord and divorce. Psychol Bull 92:310–330
Furstenberg FF, Brooks-Gunn J, Morgan SP (1987) Adolescent mothers in later life. Cambridge University Press, New York
Garcia Coll CT (1990) Developmental outcome of minority infants: a process-oriented look into our beginnings. Child Dev 61:270–289
Gaszner P, Perris C, Eisemann M, Perris H (1988) The early family situation of Hungarian depressed patients. Acta Psychiatr Scand 78(Suppl):111–l14
Heine SJ (2008) Cultural psychology. Norton, New York
Hong K-EM (2016) Rapid socio-cultural change, child rearing crisis, and children’s mental health. In: Malhotra S, Santosh PJ (eds) Child and adolescent psychiatry Asian perspectives. Springer India, New Delhi, pp 117–139
Hopkins B, Westra T (1989) Maternal expectations of their infants’ development: some cultural differences. Dev Med Child Neurol 31:384–390
Inglehart R, Welzel C (2011) The WVS cultural map of the world. http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/wvs/articles/folder_published/article_base_54
Jekielek S (1998) Parental conflict, marital disruption and children’s emotional well-being. Soc Forces 76:905–936
Kaslow NJ, Rehm LP, Siegel AW (1984) Social- cognitive and cognitive correlates of depression in children. J Abnorm Child Psychol 12:605–620
Keren M, Tyano S (2003) Socio- cultural processes in Isreali society: their impact on child and adolescent psychopathology. In: Young JG, Ferrari P, Malhotra S, Tyano S, Caffo E (eds) Brain, culture and development: tradition and innovation in child and adolescent mental health. MacMillan India, New Delhi, pp 105–110
Kleinman A (1995) Do psychiatric disorders differ in different cultures? The methodological questions. In: Goldberger NR, Veroff JB (eds) The culture and psychology reader. New York University Press, New York, pp 631–651
Krohne HW, Hock M (1991) Relationships between restrictive mother child interactions and anxiety of the child. Anxiety Res 4(2):109–124
Lamb ME (1980) The father’s role in the facilitation of infant mental health. Infant Ment Health J 1(3):140–149
Lansford JE, Chang L, Dodge KA et al (2005) Physical discipline and children’s adjustment: cultural normativeness as a moderator. Child Dev 76(6):1234–1246
Larsson B, Frisk M (1999) Social competence and emotional/behaviour problems in 6–16 year-old Swedish school children. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 8:24–33
Malhotra S (1998) Challenges in providing mental health services for children and adolescents in India. In: Young JG, Ferrari P (eds) Designing mental health services and systems for children and adolescents: a Shrewd investment. Brunner/Mazel, Philadelphia, pp 321–334
Malhotra S, Patra BN (2014) Prevalence of child and adolescent psychiatric disorders in India: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health 8:22
Malhotra S, Kohli A, Arun P (2002) Prevalence of psychiatric disorders in school children in Chandigarh, India. Indian J Med Res 116:21–28
Malhotra S, Kohli A, Kapoor M, Pradhan B (2009) Incidence of childhood psychiatric disorders in India. Indian J Psychiatry 51:101–107
McAdoo HP (1978) Factors related to stability in upwardly mobile black families. J Marriage Fam 40:761–776
Mechanic D, Hansell S (1989) Divorce, family conflict, and adolescents’ well-being. J Health Soc Behav 30(1):105–116
Peleg-Popko O (2002) Children’s test anxiety and family interaction patterns. J Anxiety Stress Coping 15:45–59
Pinker S (2003) The blank slate: the modern denial of human nature. Penguin Press Science, London
Roland A (1982) Toward a psychoanalytical psychology of heirarchial relationships in Hindu India. Ethos 10:232–253
Rutter M (1997) Clinical implications of attachment concepts; retrospect and prospect. In: Atkinson L, Zucker KJ (eds) Attachment and psychopathology. Guilford Press, New York, pp 17–46
Sadock BJ, Sadock VA (2007) Kaplan and Sadock’s Synopsis of Psychiatry: behavioural sciences/clinical psychiatry, 10th edn. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Publishers, Baltimore
Stern G, Cottrell D, Holmes J (1990) Patterns of attendance of child psychiatry outpatients with special reference to Asian families. Special Issue: Cross-cultural psychiatry. Br J Psychiatry 156:384–387
Sue S, McKinney H (1975) Asian-Americans in the community mental health care system. Am J Orthopsychiatry 45:111–118
Summerfield D (2008) How scientifically valid is the knowledge base of global mental health? BMJ 336(7651):992–994
Wadsworth ME, Achenbach TM (2005) Explaining the link between low socioeconomic status and psychopathology: testing two mechanisms of the social causation hypothesis. J Consult Clin Psychol 73:1146–1153
Weisz JR, McCarty CA, Eastman KL, Chaiyasit W, Suwanlert S (1997) Developmental psychopathology and culture: ten lessons from Thailand. In: Luthar SS, Burack JA, Cicchetti D, Weisz JR (eds) Developmental psychopathology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp 568–592
Weisz JR, McCarty CA, Valeri SM (2006) Effects of psychotherapy for depression in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis. Psychol Bull 132(1):132–149
Zayas L (1992) Childrearing, social stress, and child abuse: clinical considerations with Hispanic families. J Soc Distress Homeless 1:291–309
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Malhotra, S., Kumar, D. (2020). Family Issues in Child Mental Health. In: Taylor, E., Verhulst, F., Wong, J., Yoshida, K., Nikapota, A. (eds) Mental Health and Illness of Children and Adolescents. Mental Health and Illness Worldwide. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0753-8_20-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0753-8_20-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-0753-8
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-0753-8
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences