Parenting Style: Impact on Human Behavior in Adulthood - Essay Sample

Introduction

There are various environmental factors that affect human behavior. One of the leading environmental influences of human behavior is social support during childhood. Social support is can be given by either parents or caregivers. Because childhood is a crucial period of brain development, the social interactions between parents/caregivers and infants have a long-term impact on development and behavior. Specifically, parenting style can either promote good behavior in adulthood or pose a threat to the affected individual as manifested through behavioral disorders such as schizophrenia, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression.

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Environmental Factors

The influence of environmental factors on human behavior is seen through the impact of parenting styles on young adults’ dietary behavior (Tofteland, 2018). Among the various parenting styles, authoritative parenting style has been found to predict healthy dietary behavior among young adults. This is because authoritative parents adhere to their rules but also manifest an excellent understanding of how to communicate their expectations with their children. Specifically, such parents do not display any form of latitude regarding their feeding style but stick to healthy feeding rules without crossing over. Conversely, authoritarian, and neglectful parenting approaches have been found to predict unhealthy dietary behaviors in young adults. Poor eating behavior in young adults raised by neglectful parents is attributed to their parents’ unstructured feeding style with their children. This is manifested through inconsistency in mealtimes.

Another environmental influence of adult behavior is childhood social support and family resiliency. Specifically, Adegoke et al. (2018) reported that childhood social support is significantly linked to poor mental health-related quality of life. Specifically, strong childhood social support has been found to lead to a decreased likelihood of poor mental health-related quality of life in adulthood. This is because social support helps reduce stress thus promoting good mental health while family resilience is crucial in weathering and recovering from disruptive stressful life challenges. The social support a person gets from the family helps in promoting psychological wellbeing amongst family members in response to life stressors.

Another environmental factor that has been recently found to have an impact on people’s behavior is air pollution. There are various behavioral and psychological effects of air pollution. For instance, a study conducted by Rajper et al. (2018) revealed that 44.1% of the participants reported higher aggression levels in times of high air pollution. Additionally, 63.9% of the respondents reported being more aggressive during warmer days compared to colder days (27.6%). Air pollution has also been found to lead to depression (Rajper et al., 2018). Specifically, exposure to particulate matter beyond the recommended limits leads to increased levels of cytokines in the brain. Cytokines are cell-signaling molecules involved in the regulation of the body's inflammatory response. Pollution-related depression is attributed to increased levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines.

Air Pollutants

Air pollutants have also been found to lead to increased anxiety levels (Schor, 2015). Specifically, it has been established that high exposure to particulate matter of fewer than 2.5 μm in diameter is positively linked to increased anxiety symptoms. For example, a 10 µg/m3 increase in particulate matter over a one-month period leads to a 12% increased odds of high-level anxiety (Schor, 2015). On the other hand, a 10 µg/m3 increase in particulate matter over a one-year period leads to a 15% increase in high-level anxiety (Schor, 2015). Research conducted to investigate the mechanisms underlying the negative impacts of air pollution on human behavior has revealed that particulate matter is translocated to the central nervous system via nasal epithelial and alveolar-capillary dysfunction resulting in neuroinflammation and autoimmune responses.

Moreover, nature experience, especially the availability of green space has been found to be a crucial environmental factor affecting behavior. One of the obvious differences between the city and the rural areas is the amount of available green space. The presence of abundant green spaces in the countryside offers relaxation and regeneration necessary for optimal psychological wellbeing. It has also been established that encounter with nature aids in alleviating psychological fatigue through relaxation and restoration of the mind (the University Of Washington, College of the Environment, 2018).

Within built environments, green spaces allow for social interaction and relieve stress because they are calming. Because of their ability to provide space for social interaction, green spaces alleviate maladaptive behaviors such as depression. This is attributed to the fact that when people socially connect, there is a decrease in the feeling of isolation. Other negative behaviors that can be reversed through exposure to green spaces is agitation and aggression (the University of Washington, College of The Environment, 2018).

Lastly, the environment can either encourage or discourage interactions among individuals and ensuing social support (Kreitzer, 2016). For example, a space characterized by comfort and privacy motivates family members to interact with each other. Conversely, a dirty environment characterized by littering encourages people to adopt the same behavior of leaving unused items. The environment can also affect people’s moods. For instance, an environment characterized by bright is negatively associated with agitation and depressive symptoms (Kreitzer, 2016).

References

Adegoke, K., Ufondu, C., Agili, D. A., Berry, E. L. B., & Salihu, H. (2018). The effects of childhood social support and family resiliency on mental health in adulthood. Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice, 10(4). https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/jhdrp/vol10/iss4/12

Kreitzer, J. M. (2016). What impact does the environment have on us? Taking Charge of Your Health & Wellbeing. https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/explore-healing-practices/healing-environment/what-impact-does-environment-have-us

Preuß, M., Nieuwenhuijsen, M., Marquez, S., Cirach, M., Dadvand, P., Triguero-Mas, M., Gidlow, C., Grazuleviciene, R., Kruize, H., & Zijlema, W. (2019). Low childhood nature exposure is associated with worse mental health in adulthood. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(10), 1809. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16101809

Rajper, S. A., Ullah, S., & Li, Z. (2018). Exposure to air pollution and self-reported effects on Chinese students: A case study of 13 megacities. PLOS ONE, 13(3), e0194364. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0194364

Schor, J. (2015). Does air pollution cause anxiety? Natural Medicine Journal. https://www.naturalmedicinejournal.com/journal/2015-09/does-air-pollution-cause-anxiety

Tofteland, B. (2018). Assessing the Relationship Between Parenting Styles and Dietary Behaviors Among Young Adults. https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/etds/770/

University of Washington, College of The Environment. (2018). Mental health: Green cities: Good health. https://depts.washington.edu/hhwb/Thm_Mental.html