Many different factors affect the way that young people think and behave. These can be split into two categories: genetic factors and environmental factors. Genetic factors partly shape a young person’s personality traits, such as impulsivity, rigidity of thinking, and analytic skills. Environmental factors also shape these traits while causing thinking and behavioural patterns to change and develop.
A young person’s family environment is one of the most important environmental factors that shape a young person’s psychological well-being. Especially when a child is young, most of their emotional and social learning happens through their relationships with – and observations of – family members. These experiences affect their emotional and social development, impacting the way they think and act both at the time and in the future. They also affect the way their brains develop.
Family systems have the potential to provide psychological support, reinforce positive behaviours, and create the space for young people to explore, learn, and grow. But when families develop harmful dynamics, children may be deeply affected. These patterns of behaviour can impact young people’s mental health for years and decades.
Unresolved Trauma in the Family as a Risk Factor for Mental Health Conditions
When families experience trauma, it changes the way family members relate to one another and affects the family system as a whole. Sometimes, families are able to resolve their trauma, especially if they already have a strong and supportive family system. In other cases, unresolved trauma causes long-term harm to relationships and interactions between family members. This disrupts young people’s emotional and social learning and can cause them to develop unhelpful or harmful thought patterns and behaviours as they attempt to cope with what they experience and observe.
Childhood trauma and early life adversity are associated with a range of mental health conditions, including depression, PTSD, personality disorders, anxiety, and eating disorders. Childhood trauma can be a result of abuse or deliberate neglect, but also when parents are otherwise unable to meet their physical and emotional needs. This can happen because of stressful events or financial circumstances, conflicts in parents’ relationships that leave them emotionally unavailable to their children, mental illness within the family, and many other reasons.
Young people’s emotional and social development is also affected by their attachment to their parents and their observations of their parents’ interactions with one another. When family members tend to withhold or suppress emotions, children may not develop the skills to identify and manage their own feelings. When young people have insecure attachments to caregivers – often because they are not consistently able to meet their needs – they lack trusted relationships to learn and practice important social and emotional skills.
Family Environments as Risk Factors for Eating Disorders
Numerous scientific studies have linked certain patterns and events within a young person’s family to the later development of eating disorders. Along with personality traits, interpersonal relationships are thought to play a key role in the development and maintenance of eating disorders. As some of young people’s most important relationships, it’s not surprising that family environments are closely connected to disordered eating.
A 2017 study found that significant family disruption – as well as child adversity and general parent psychiatric illness – were risk factors for both bulimia nervosa and eating disorders not otherwise specified.
Researchers have also explored the association between young people’s perceptions of their parents’ relationships and eating disorders. A 2011 study found that young people diagnosed with bulimia or anorexia reported a significantly lower perception of emotional connectedness before the start of their eating disorder than their siblings. Another study found that parental warmth was a risk factor for developing eating disorders among females but not among males.
In other research, anorexia has been linked to insecure attachment, preoccupation with relationships, oppressive parental relationships and childhood unhappiness.
Stressful life events, including grief and separation from family members, have also been connected to the development of eating disorders, particularly binge eating disorder and bulimia nervosa.
Experiences of childhood trauma and abuse have been consistently identified as risk factors for eating disorders.
Family Experiences and Borderline Personality Disorder
Borderline personality disorder, like all personality disorders, doesn’t suddenly begin during early adulthood or even adolescence. Instead, signs of the disorder can be seen at young ages before the onset of the disorder, especially during the teenage years.
While it’s not clear exactly what causes BPD, research suggests that it develops as a result of genetic vulnerabilities combined with environmental factors, particularly childhood trauma and adversity. Many experts characterise BPD traits as a normal response to difficult childhood experiences that become unhelpful and harmful in their everyday lives.
Consequently, aspects of the family environment are consistently identified as risk factors for borderline personality disorder. A 2019 study found that conflict with either parent was associated with BPD traits, as was a lack of parental involvement and regard.
A 2021 review explored the family-related risk factors for BPD. They identified many factors, including:
- maladaptive parenting, such as low warmth, rejection, hostility and harsh discipline, disruptions in communication, and the expression of negative emotions
- inadequate parent-child boundaries, such as inducing guilt, psychological control, and the involvement of children in parents’ conflicts
- childhood experiences of role confusion and disorientated behaviours
- psychological trauma and parental mental illness
Recovering from Family Disruption and Trauma
Harmful behaviours and dynamics within families often arise because of trauma and other disruptions to the family system. But this path is not inevitable. Families can also recover from disruption and trauma effectively and protect young people from present and future harm.
Sometimes, families may require additional support to cope with the events they experience. Various types of family therapy can help families overcome harmful patterns of behaviours that may have developed and cultivate supportive relationships with healthy boundaries.
Some types of family interventions include:
- Family systems therapy
- Parent skills training
- Cognitive behavioural therapy
- Psychoeducation
The Wave Clinic: Specialist Mental Health Support for Young People
The Wave Clinic offers specialist mental health support for children, adolescents, and young adults. Our programs combine exceptional clinical care with education and enriching experiences. We support young people to grow in self-confidence, develop life skills, and build resilience.
Our programs are family-centred and trauma-focused, emphasising the role of social structures and past experiences in shaping young people’s inner and outer worlds. We include families from the start of our treatment programs in both decision-making and treatment sessions.
If you’re interested in finding out more about our programs, get in touch today.
