Impact of Family on Children’s Wellbeing

Abstract

The family is the basic social institution in the society. It functions as the basic unit which produces future generations and provides love and affection to the children while facilitating the socialisation process. Children's wellbeing is largely a part of family's responsibility in the society. However, the traditional role played by the family in the society has changed drastically during recent past due to number of interrelated factors. Hence, this study has been conducted to find out impact of family on the children's wellbeing in the contemporary society while understanding the factors associated in affecting negatively the social and psychological conditions of children. The study was conducted using qualitative research methods. The secondary data has been used in the subjects of sociological analysis on the role of family and its associated roles, children's psycho-social issues and contemporary changes in the social structure. Primary data were collected through an empirical study from a sample of children, parents and school teachers in Hambantota, Batticaloa and Vavuniya districts in Sri Lanka. The study found that there were a large number of interrelated causes that negatively effects on children's wellbeing. These reasons included the family disharmony, lack of love, care and affection to the children, children exposure to the family violence, family income and discrimination of families due to socio-cultural reasons.