The role of family factors in the development of emotional disorders in childhood

Abstract

This article examines the influence of family factors on the development of a child’s personality, taking age and gender into account. It highlights key aspects of family interaction, including parenting styles, the emotional climate, conflicts, and dysfunctional behavior patterns. Special attention is given to the etymology of the concept of emotional disorder and to the influence of such disorders on a child’s development. The methods employed in the study included the Observation method by J. Švancara, the House–Tree–Person Test by J. Buck, the Family Drawing projective test, and the Test-Questionnaire of Parental Attitudes by A. Ya. Varga and V. V. Stolin.

The study found that the severity of emotional disorders in 5–6-year-old children was influenced by both gender and family factors. In favorable family environments, there were identified children with no emotional disorders, while in unfavorable environments, especially among girls, emotional disorders of moderate severity were more common, though without reliable differences. At the age of five, boys demonstrated significantly more pronounced negative emotional feelings than girls. Among six-year- old boys and girls, negative feelings more often appeared at an average level of severity.

The study also identified correlations between parent–child interaction and manifestations of emotional disorders in groups of children with moderate and severe emotional disorders. Statistically significant relationships were found between directive maternal attitudes (exactingness, strictness, control) and negative emotional development (anxiety, fears and negativity in the child) in five- and six-year-old chil- dren. A positive correlation was found between parental factors —indicators of mothers’ conditional acceptance of the child and authoritarian and infantile parenting styles — and child outcomes, including the development of fears, anxiety, aggression, excessive touchiness, and negativity in children, particularly among five-year-olds and more frequently among girls.