State of American Children

[Name of Student]

[Name of Institute]

Family Structure

Introduction

According to a psychologist named Albert Bandura, the development of a child heavily depends upon its upbringing. Parents play the most vital role in this. In addition to this, the children tend to observe and adopt things quickly, depending on the nature of the relationship. They are quick learners and thus they need to be provided with special care so that they are aware of the rules and regulations of the modern world. To support this argument, another psychologist named Lev Vygotsky highlighted in his socio cultural theory that the early development of a child aids it throughout its life. It not only keeps in mind the early development context but also tends to shape the higher order of functions (Baldwin, 1966).

Discussion

It is considered that the children who live with both the parents are less involved in criminal activities. They tend to be better trained about the rules and regulations to be followed and they are more mature and less aggressive in their approaches. It has been observed that within the United States, most of the children born to African American mothers or Indian American mothers are born without a father. The support of a father is one of the most crucial things in the development and upbringing of a child. The father is also responsible to provide the children with their financial needs that they tend to have. This greatly influences the behavior and approaches of the living towards the process of their development. It is a common phenomenon that the father teaches the child about rules and regulations as well as the difference between good and bad (Baldwin, 1966).

The fathers are considered to be strict, whereas the mothers are considered to be lenient. This balances the criterion and substantially helps the children while they are growing up. However, if the children lack either parent, it affects their development process. According to the statistics of 2009, it was observed that there were 69.8 percent children who lived with both the parents and on the other hand, there were 22.8 percent children who lived with just their mothers. Out of this, the highest percentage was noted to be amongst African Americans. This is one of the primary reasons of their aggressive approaches and their increased rate in criminal activities. Apart from that, the African American children had the highest percentage of living with neither of their parents. It is a commonly agreed phenomenon that the children need to be handled using two opposite approaches. The first approach is that of strictness, so that they may know what is right and what is wrong as well as the consequences (Piaget, 1969).

This is role given to the father. To balance this, the second approach is provided. This is the leniency shown by the mother. Both the approaches help development the mental abilities of a child. When children do not have either of the parents, their development process is highly affected. But ...