Research and Sources
Information on what dysfunctional families are and how they affect children, as well as some sources to connect you to more information
Information
What is a dysfunctional family? A dysfunctional family could be a million different things, but to me (before conducting my research), I would have defined a dysfunctional family as a family that has a lack of communication that results in constant conflicts which often results in emotional/physical trauma.
After looking more into the subject, I’ve found that dysfunctional families could be defined in several different ways. An article posted in the Journal of Family Medicine and Disease Prevention breaks down dysfunctional families into five main categories. These categories are broken down into:
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Chronic Conflict Family: A family in which there is constant arguing and fighting resulting in harm (mental or physical)
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Pathological Household: A family where severe psychological disorders and/or impaired parents from substance abuse are present (in both or a single parent). This environment usually causes the children to take up the parenting role.
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Chaotic Household: A household where the children are neglected due to busy non-present parents or parent inadequacy. This environment also causes children to take the role as the parent.
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The Dominant-Submissive Household: A household that is ruled by one parent who has no concern for the feelings of the other family members.
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Emotionally Distance Families: Families (usually from a social/cultural background) who don’t know how to show love and affection. Children who grow up in this environment are taught to repress feelings.
I also did some research regarding the effects growing up in these environments have on children. I found a research paper that broke down how growing up with a dysfunctional family can affect children. The five main effects are:
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Repressed emotion/unable to communicate emotions
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Anxiety
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Depression
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Mistrust
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Anger Issues
Links and Sources
Below are some links to the sources I discussed above, as well as some extra resources to connect you to more information regarding this topic.