Environmental Factors of Human Growth Essay

You often hear the word environment, but do you stop to think what it really means, what it contains, and how it affects you? The actual definition of environment is the circumstances, objects, or conditions by which one is surrounded (Merriam-Webster dictionary). Your environment greatly impacts the way you are as a human being. Each and every one of your life experiences are influenced by your environment. Your environment determines if or how your potential to develop is reached. Family, friends, home, school, etc. re all components of your environment. By reading further, you will witness these factors that affect your personal growth and development being explored and discussed. FAMILY When children are very young, and spend most of their time with their parents and/or other family members family is usually the major human influence in their life. This is also true about most children when they get older and grow into adulthood. Families provide a nurturing environment in which security, protection, satisfaction, and love are given. Physical needs for food and clothing are met. In this environment family members grow to maturity. In a proper family environment a child has positive surroundings, including positive people. when a child is cared for and loved he/she gets ample nutrition, clothing, shelter, rest, interaction/attention, etc. these things help the child grow physically and mentally. the child is surrounded by positivity, therefore the chances of the child maturing into a positive individual are very high. however if a child is raised in an improper family environment, most likely, the opposite will result. e/she will be deprived of the opportunity to fully develop, and has a higher risk of harboring negativity as they age. In the early years families need to meet a baby’s physical, emotional, and social needs because they are helpless on their own. Eventually, babies discover they are independent and can do things on their own. Family members can provide an environment that promotes the growth of independence and set tasks for children to do by themselves. Families can also help children learn how to fit into their surroundings. An environment with well defined limits helps young children learn to control their own behavior. A household with reasonable rules and regulations set by parents/guardians gives children a sense of how to be well behaved. The teen years are years of self discovery for teens as they start to depend less on their families. One way your family can encourage your growth as a teen is to allow opportunities to make personal decisions. Taking more responsibilities helps you develop the capability to make your own choices. An encouraging and supportive family environment can help you develop healthy relationships with others. This is because you get knowledge about the way relationships work from your family. It is very hard to develop relationships with any other person if a strong family relationship isn’t established. Family Structure: The way a family is structured affects the way a child is raised. For example, a child may only live with one parent, a step parent, their grandparents; there are many combinations of a family structure. Changes in family structure can often affect the family’s ability to provide a stimulating environment and can either be negative or positive. There may be more or less money, time/family members to listen, share, encourage, and guide each child. Siblings: Brothers and sisters can be a source of fun, conflict, or competition. They can also learn from each other. Siblings usually continue to interact with each other into adulthood, which can be beneficial to the both of them. Siblings learn to share and cooperate when they interact which, when learned young, instills these habits so that children can share and cooperate with others throughout life. CULTURAL HERITAGE Your family’s guidelines and beliefs are part of your heritage. The holidays, food, and religion your are accustomed to are part of your culture. Families pass on their customs and traditions to their children. Your culture and heritage usually help determine many decisions you make in your future. For example, most of the friends you make and keep will probably be of the same heritage and culture you come from. The places you go, like church, celebrations, festivities, etc. are determined by your cultural background. Multicultural influences can altar your relationships with family members as well as impact your values and expectations for your future family. Odds are, if or when you have children you will transfer those same beliefs and traditions that you are used to to them. SCHOOL A quality school environment provides a setting that encourages students to learn and grow. After school activities can provide chances for students to interact with others in clubs or sports. Class curriculum offers courses that stimulate students’ intellectual growth. Teachers in a quality school environment encourage students by helping them find areas in which they succeed. Teachers also help students find areas in which they need to improve. By doing so, they help students know what decisions to make regarding how to get the most efficient education for them and how they learn best, especially when they get to college. PEERS By interacting with your peers you can make judgements about how you look because you begin to compare your appearance to theirs; how important you are because you compare how much attention they get with how much you get, and how successful you are. The friends you choose now are likely the kind of friends you will make later in life. Your peers can also influence the plans you make for your future. Good friends usually like to stick together so you’ll often make similar choices about things like school, clothing, activities, mutual friends, etc. Sometimes your peers make choices that you feel are not right for you. This gives you a sense of things you’re comfortable with and things you’re uncomfortable with. COMMUNITY There are many different types of communities. Each one has its own influence on the people that live there. The community environment is influenced by resources available. Industries or business provide job opportunities for community members. A low crime rate and pleasant surroundings make residents feel secure and protected. And shopping facilities offer convenience. Also, factors like air quality and cleanliness in general affect the health of community members. Growing up in a community with many resources tends to make a good impression on those that reside there. When that is done, people stay in that community. This prevents constant moving and drifting, so the chance to remain established and comfortable is given. TECHNOLOGY Technology is used in our lives everyday. New technologies influence the items you buy, clothes you wear, and things like that. The biggest way new technology has impacted our society is the fact that it has resulted in a higher standard of living. For example, more goods are cheaper, labor-intense jobs are less popular, and health care has improved. Technology can be a negative thing too. Dependence on technology can cause people to judge their quality of life by material things and money, which can lead to the neglect of the growth of personal relationships. Technology can also cause people to take their intelligence for granted. Technological thinking patterns can cause people to think of quick fixes to real life issues that take thorough thinking. This doesn’t usually work out well. MEDIA Television, radio, movies, videos, newspapers, magazines, etc. are sources of entertainment and information that affect peoples lives. Media can influence people’s thoughts, viewpoints and decisions without them even being completely aware of the affect it has on them. For some members of society, the people on television are models for them to imitate. They also provide an image for developing friendships and relationships. These images are often false and unrealistic, which causes people to have superficial personalities and appearances. The effects of advertising include how yous spend your money, and choices you make about the items you purchase. Ads stimulate sales and goods of services from different companies so that they can make a profit and establish a good company name. Advertisers are well aware of what appeals to certain people because they do extensive research on these things. Being aware of how advertisements influence you in your daily life can help you make wiser choices.