Effect of Socio-economic restraints on Family Size and on Every Individual Child
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Effect of Socio-economic restraints on
Family Size and on Every Individual Child
Introduction
Socio-economic restraints are those factors that limit a person’s capability and in that case changing his living standards and lifestyles. The Socio-economic status of a given person in a family will justify the family’s position in that given society. Some of the criteria used to come to such a conclusion are the general income of the individual or family, the occupation, and even the property owned (Henry 2001). It would be necessary to carry out a study to investigate how some of these Socio-economic factors have been affecting the size of modern families and individual children in a given family. The present Socio-economic factors have played a very big role in changing demographic behaviors all over the world (Markson 2003). For instance, most of the European nations have experienced an advanced point in the demographic reshaping and development, and such re-shaping has been felt in the mortality rates and change in human-reproductive behaviors.
Past researches have also pointed out that there are still some traditional models in the development of cohabitation families whereby the family growth is almost zero with no extra children being born (Markson 2003). In that case, it has been agued that, economic imbalances and human social-behavioral changes have been playing a key role in the transformation of the traditional family size. Also, the economic impacts and changes in lifestyles have led to great changes in interests with many women settling down as single parents (Henry, 2001). It has also been indicated that women have mostly been exposed to marital disruptions and risks, and hence they have been receding farther and farther from the marriage structure. In that case, this study would be necessary so that it can lead us to a better understanding of all these factors on how they have influenced the size of families in different societies.
Literature Review: Effects of Socio-economic factors on the family size
Previous studies have indicated that the size of the family in any given society or community is entirely dependent on the Socio-economic factors in play within that given society. This means that such factors have a big role in determining the nature and quality of life the people in that community have been subjected to (Henry 2001). Independently, both economic and social factors will have great impacts on the family size and on every individual child in a family, but both combined will have the greater impacts on the family size and on individual children in that given family.
Looking at it keenly, Socio-economic status has been among the widely studied disciplines as part of social science (Markson 2003). It has been noted that such impacts tend to have a number of determinants on the nature and the size of the family income, the educational background in the education, and even social-cultural status itself. It has been also noted that such factors have big impact on health issues, cognitive aspects and even the Socio-emotional impacts on individual children (Henry 2001). This has been so because such influences start being faced by every individual child in the family from the day of birth to his adulthood, unless there are some forms of interventions later in life.
Over the years, there have been some various mechanisms that have been put in place in monitoring the well-being of different children with different Socio-economic capabilities, and relating the same with the major differences that must have occurred in material-access as well as social resources. There have also been different growth patterns on children from different economic backgrounds (Henry 2001). Previous studies have also shown that Socio-economic restraints will have big impacts on the well-being of a given family and the entire society, hence dictating the family size as well as the child’s attitude and orientation towards life. Such restraints also have been known to affect even those children who have been moderated by own inborn-characteristics, and even the family characteristics (Kessel 2008).
Over the past years, it has been observed that the general family size has been on the decline, and the only possible thing behind this is the changes in Socio-economic factors. There have been different equilibriums whereby different economies have been experiencing different Socio-economic impacts. There have been a number of relationships between the Socio-economic restraints and the family size across the globe. Some of the main Socio-economic factors include religious backgrounds, education and occupational aspects. Some of these factors in the modern society have been significant in trimming the family size day by day, and in that case many couples are willing to have the least number of children as possible. This has been so in almost all the western countries and some few developing countries. This is so because the living standards have changed as well as the living conditions (Kessel 2008). Many economic experts have been agitating for smaller family sizes if the best of services and needs were to be provided to every member of that family. Experts have also argued that a smaller family would result in better provision of Socio-economic values such as in religious services, education and so on (Kessel 2008).
There have been reversed roles in modern world as women continue to assume key offices in today’s society hence disorientating the traditional family structure. This has come as the world continues to experience changes in Socio-cultural practices, and in that case putting the family size lower and lower. It would hence be necessary to note that the family size is something very vital not only for the country, but to the wellbeing of the family itself. In that case, once some restraints occur in any given economy, it is very true that the family structure will have to be disoriented. For instance, we have over the years been seeing people moving from their families in search for jobs elsewhere around the world. This means that the family size will continue to become smaller and smaller (Markson 2003).
It will be worth to note that, large families had been experienced during the urbanization and industrialization period. This was so due to increased as well as better health facilities and general care. From that period, more countries continued to prosper economy-wise, death and birth rates continued to go down and by so doing leading to a lower global population growth. It is only very recently that it was noted that the developing countries showed higher birth rates as compared to the developed countries. Although there is a decrease in birth rates in the third world countries, we can still see the growth rate to be a little bit high. This will be attributed to lack of family planning knowledge and education, child-investment whereby an old parent feels that he can only invest in a son and not a daughter, and to source cheap labor for agriculture from the children. This has hence led to larger populations and bigger family sizes (Kessel 2008).
It would hence be worth to note that the Socio-economic factors in any given society will play a big role in determining the size of the family in such a community. Large-sized families will result from lack of necessary education and even due to poverty. Most African countries have associated larger families with poverty (David 2000). Also, it would be necessary to understand that the Socio-economic factors in a given household would influence even the individual children in a given household. Different children will adapt differently in such society, meaning that their developmental capabilities and characters will be affected differently. More often than not, children from extremely restrained economic conditions take their own courses of life and end up having different future lives (David 2000).
For instance, a girl child tends to suffer the most incase of poverty in a given family or society. Such children will tend to be tricked into early marriages and by so doing channeling them to a different course of life, which may never produce a promising end. In addition, some girls end up being discriminated in some societies depending on the Socio-economic factors. Some have to undergo an ordeal in circumcision and engage in household chores, and by so doing having their future doomed. It has also been indicated that different children will respond differently when it comes to school work, aptitude, sociability and even personal characteristics depending on the Socio-economic and family factors the child grew in. in that case, different children will be influenced differently depending on the place, and the social and economic factors they were exposed to upon birth.
Objective of the Study
If this study would be conducted competently enough, it would shed some more light on a number of issues. It would help us asses the major co-relationships existing between the economic restraints and sizes families. The study would also help us in evaluating the link existing between social life of any given society and the size of its families. There will also be an analysis on some of the ways through which individual children in the family are being affected by the existing Socio-economic restraints in any given society. It would also be necessary that we can be able to evaluate some of the key factors that over the years have been influencing the nature and size of current families. Finally, it will also give us a chance of evaluating and examining the major economic implications on the family size and on the lives of specific individuals. Finally, necessary recommendations will have to be made which may be useful in the development of the economy and in the execution of future researches.
Data Collection and Technical Approach
In this study, questionnaires will be issued to different individuals so that enough information can be gathered for the final report. The questionnaires will be designed in such a way that they are non-discriminative and open-structured. The interviewees will include all the family members: the father, the mother and the children. Small children in the family, there will be a place whereby the guardian will provide information for the kids. In addition, children living with relatives, and not the parents, will also have to be indicated. Generally, the questionnaires to be used will include the following parts: personal details for the house head, occupational aspects of the family, social aspects of the family, religion, educational background, and a brief discussion of every child in that house. There will also be the need to interview those people who are professional in Socio-economic issues and give us the patterns and knowledge towards the family sizes and relationship with Socio-economic restraints. Such a study from the economic experts would also be necessary if we are to acquire quality data. After that, the necessary thing would be to ensure that all people are encouraged to give relevant information for the success of the study.
After all the necessary information has been collected, and even from the online questionnaires, the data will be analyzed and subjected to a software system to give a clear interpretation on the impacts of Socio-economic restraints towards the growth and the size of the family, and its impacts on individual children in that given family. This study would hence be necessary in making key plans, which would be put in place in addressing some of the issues in modern families and how the families can be competently maintained. Economic as well as Socio-economic experts would have their questionnaires analyzed independently so that the final information can be compared. It would also be necessary that whatever information has been obtained be connected with previous information from literature, both in books and from the internet, and see the common relationships.
Projected Challenges
There are a number of challenges that may have to be faced during the entire study period. However, the encountered problems will be fully indicated down in the final project report. The expected problems during the study will be, one, a number of respondents may not be able to give out all the needed information and may deem the study as wastage of precious time, two, some people may also feel it below their dignity to expose issues of their family. This is so because the families may be willing to give their earnings, their occupations and family social characterizations. In addition, such a research would require many funds if a large study area was to be investigated. Again, in order to get accurate data, it would mean that the questionnaires should be randomized and issued to a number of countries in different continents. This single fact justifies the financial expectation for the entire study. The other thing is that the people may not be willing to give the right information, with some lying that they have children living abroad, with their relatives, died and so on. If that happens during the entire study period, these challenges will definitely result into obtaining compromised data that may not be of great significance. In order to solve most of the above issues, the project will entail use of many as well as randomized questionnaires in the entire process. It would also be necessary to solicit more funds for the entire research, and we can have some of the questionnaires posted on the internet so that people all over the globe can be interviewed.
Conclusion
This study will therefore be necessary if all the above information were to be obtained. The obtained information would be very useful in coming up with the necessary measures and strategies which would be appropriate in addressing some of the Socio-economic restraints, and by so doing dealing with the imbalances that are occurring in the society. By so doing, it would be very possible to come up with ideas that would be used in ensuring that all family issues are addressed. The study would also give an estimate of family size and find some of the key measures to be incorporated in maintaining steady population growths. Why is this so? Looking at different continents, be it third world or developed nations, it will be observed that such nations will give varied results on the family sizes and impacts on the individual child in each family. This is so because different nations have been experiencing varied impacts in their Socio-economic factors. Some parts of the world have also experienced increased family sizes whenever there is inflation, and a good example is in the Asian continent, Latin America and African countries (Paulson 2007). On the contrary, most of the economically stable countries are having a reduction of the family size every day. This is in contrary to the economic strength of the nation and therefore it would be necessary for us to agree that, the economic situation will have a very different impact on the family size whenever compared with the Socio-economic factors. This hence is an indication that Socio-economic factors have a better-amplified impact and the reason such a study should be inevitable if we are to develop our economies.
References
David, N. (2000). Major Concepts of Socio-economics: Family Sizes: New York: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
Kessel, B. (2008). Economics on Birth Order, Family Size and Achievement: Illinois: University of Chicago Press.
Markson, J. (2003). Sociology: New York: MacMillan Publishing Company.
Paulson, L. (2007). Emerging Trends: Effects of Socio-economic aspects: Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Henry, F. (2001). Global Population and Economic Imbalances: New Jersey: Prentice Hall.