B4–5 Social and economic factors GapFill

Social factors can impact the development of individuals – including family dysfunction, bullying and the effects of culture, religion and beliefs. 

A family is often related genetically but can also be a group of people who live together.  The function of a family is to support each other emotionally and to protect family members and provide food, shelter and   shoestransportlovemoney.  A family who cannot perform its functions is called ‘dysfunctional’.  Dysfunctional families can cause members to be stressed, feel insecure and develop health or emotional problems.  An example of when this might occur is when parents   smokemovedivorcework. This may negatively affect the child’s self-esteem and self-confidence, and could lead to depression.  A bad marital break-up has been known to cause poor behaviour, such as smoking, drinking or taking drugs in younger children.  Additionally, there are different parenting styles, which include authoritative, authoritarian and   functionalemotionalpermissivesocial. Each type of parenting can have positive or negative effects on a child. 

Bullying can also occur during someone’s lifetime.  An individual could be bullied for many reasons; for example, religion or race, or the specific group or   cultureschoolsocietygroup they belong to.  It can take place face to face or even online, such as on social media.  Bullying can have long-term negative effects on children as they may develop low self-esteem and feelings of insecurity; it could even lead to  disadvantagesself-harmpovertyunemployment. 

Religion and beliefs of service users can influence the   parentscarejobgroup provided by different health and social care services. For example, Jehovah's Witnesses may refuse a blood transfusion or other medical procedures.  Some religions have dietary restrictions such as not being able to eat some dairy or meat products.  For example, Muslims and Jews will not eat pork or consume   alcoholvegetableswaterfood.