Santos, April

Ignacio, Christine

Galang, Mizzy

(BSED-3)

Subject: Family

Topic: Effects of having a dysfunctional family on teenagers

Audience: Teenagers with family problems

Purpose: Giving voice to the voiceless.

Ohana means family and family is where life begins and love never ends. Now, our
main purpose is to give voice to the voiceless and to encourage teenagers to reach out
when one experiences this kind of violence in their homes. Our purpose also lies
within our knowledge that not all people has this so called, “perfect family bond”.
Now, what do we mean by this? This means that there is a almost perfect relationship
among the members of a family such as the mother, a father, and a child who lives
under the same roof. We’re not limiting the real definition of a family because a
family can also consist of only having a single parent, a single child or no child at all,
it can also be your friends, classmates, and loved ones whom you have a romantic
relationship with. But for now, we are going to focus mainly on how having a
dysfunctional family affects teenagers and how we can help to encourage them to
voice out what they truly feel. Children from violent families have a higher risk of
juvenile delinquency and can be involved in a lot of vices due to lack of parental
guidance from their parents. Children who comes from a dysfunctional family often
refuses to share to their peers or friends as to what truly goes around their homes
because in this stage of their life, the approval of their peers is so much more
important than being criticized by others. We feel as though that this kind of mindset
is very sad since as a teenager, no one deserves to feel this way. According to McNeal
and Amato from 1998, teenagers who witnessed parents’ marital violence blame
themselves for violence resulting them in the conclusion that if they were to run away
from home or from that situation, they feel as though that they are removing the cause
of abuse. Teens who have a dysfunctional family may have a harder time regulating
their own emotions and may be unable to trust others because of how tragic their
experiences were at home. It was also presented in some studies that, children and
teens who witnessed domestic violence may also feel powerless which results to
others of having disorders such as eating disorder because this helps them think that
they somewhat gain power back in their lives. In addition, when teens or children
blames themselves for having this kind of family, they could miss out on a lot of
childhood experiences which could greatly lead to anxiety, depression, or even taking
their own lives. What we aspire for you to get from our speech today is that, there will
always someone who could lend a helping hand whenever such violence exists in
your homes. Legal actions could also be taken into consideration when talking about
this issue, but proper counseling could also help prevent things from happening as
long as the family members are willing to change for the betterment of their
relationship.

According to research conducted in University of East Anglia, exposure to typical

family difficulties throughout childhood and early adolescence has an impact on brain
development, which may lead to mental health problems later in life. Teenagers aged
17 to 19 were scanned using brain imaging technologies. The cerebellum, a part of the
brain related with skill learning, stress management, and sensory-motor control, was
shown to be smaller in individuals who suffered mild to moderate family troubles
between birth and 11 years of age. The researchers also speculate that a smaller
cerebellum, which is consistently observed to be smaller in practically all mental
diseases, might be a risk indication of psychiatric disease later in life.

Dr. Nicholas Walsh, a specialist in developmental psychology at the University of

East Anglia (UEA), conducted the study, which scanned youngsters aged 17 to 19. It
was shown that children who had mild to severe family problems between the ages of
birth and 11 had a smaller cerebellum, a part of the brain related with skill learning,
stress regulation, and sensory-motor control. The researchers also indicate that a
smaller cerebellum, which is consistently observed to be smaller in practically all
mental diseases, might be a risk indication of psychiatric disease later in life.

The study, which was conducted with the University of Cambridge and the Medical
Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, is published in the
journal NeuroImage: Clinical.
The 58 teenagers who took part in the brain scanning were drawn from a larger study
of 1200 young people, whose parents were asked to recall any negative life events
their children had experienced between birth and 11 years of age. The interviews took
place when the children were aged 14 and of the 58, 27 were classified as having been
exposed to childhood adversities. At ages 14 and 17 the teenagers themselves also
reported any negative events and difficulties they, their family or closest friends had
experienced during the previous 12 months.
A "significant and unexpected" finding was that the participants who reported
stressful experiences when aged 14 were subsequently found to have increased
volume in more regions of the brain when they were scanned aged 17-19. Dr Walsh
said this could mean that mild stress occurring later in development may 'inoculate'
teenagers, enabling them to cope better with exposure to difficulties in later life, and
that it is the severity and timing of the experiences that may be important.
"This study helps us understand the mechanisms in the brain by which exposure to
problems in early-life leads to later psychiatric issues," said Dr Walsh. "It not only
advances our understanding of how the general psychosocial environment affects
brain development, but also suggests links between specific regions of the brain and
individual psychosocial factors. We know that psychiatric risk factors do not occur in
isolation but rather cluster together, and using a new technique we show how the
general clustering of adversities affects brain development."
The researchers also found at that those who had experienced family problems were
more likely to have had a diagnosed psychiatric illness, have a parent with a mental
health disorder and have negative perceptions of their how their family functioned.

Nobody had a perfect childhood, not even the kid you thought who seemed to have it
all. We all grew up with some dysfunction, we are all experiencing it. Broken does
not determine our fate, we can always have a fresh start. We have to learn and heal
from a terrible youth and take destiny into our own hands. Building and having a
healthy relationship may start with you. We cannot choose the family we are given
but you can change and create a family far from the one you have experienced. The
best thing about growing up is that you learn, your mindset changes, and gain insight
on how well you cope with those traumas. The moment you go well on being an adult,
desire to settle and when you have your own family. You do not want your child to
experience what you have been through in having a dysfunctional family. You have
the choice to build or rebuild what is broken that may also heal you. There are a lot of
opportunities on how you will make it, provide your child with a loving and safe
environment to grow up in. Establish stronger love, support, trust, honesty, take full
responsibility for your actions, and be ready to face uncertainty. Learn always to
forgive because it is also a part of your healing. It is normal to feel upset, guilty,
confused, and sad about having the decision to choose whether it is for your good, but
it is a must to prioritize your well-being. You always have the right to set boundaries
to protect your inner peace. Exerts a lot of effort on how to overcome and became a
good role model in your home. There are things that we cannot change and a youth
that may haunt us forever. But our victory is something that we are responsible for,
and our ultimate goal in this life is to heal, live, and be successful.