Family Influences on Child and Adolescent Health

A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032). This special issue belongs to the section "Family Medicine".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 29 November 2024 | Viewed by 1267

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Interests: adolescent health and development; family and children; religion and health
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Sociology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
Interests: family and child welfare; family therapy; child development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The family is the most important socialization institution for child and adolescent health. The methods of parenting, parent–child interactions and communications, and the environments that a family provides in terms of simulations, resources and financial supports are all profoundly influential on the health development of children and adolescents. In addition, a family may interact with other proximal systems, such as school, peer network, community, etc., which collectively constitute a complex relationship with child and adolescent health. In this Special Issue, child and adolescent health is broadly referred to as the cognitive, mental, educational, behavioral and physical aspects of child and adolescent development that bear positive implications for their well-being. It is theoretically and empirically pivotal to scrutinize the ways in which families and specific processes and interactions with other social systems affect the health development of children and adolescents, which is in fact related to the rudimental foundation for the continuity of mankind. This Special Issue welcomes high-quality contributions addressing the health issues of children and adolescents related to the family and their social systems, and potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Family, children and adolescents;
  • Family socialization;
  • Family and related social systems;
  • Childhood and adolescence;
  • Cognitive and mental issues;
  • Educational and behavioral development;
  • Emotional and physical health;
  • Parent–child relationships;
  • Child and adolescent development;
  • Social participation and support;
  • Wellbeing.

Dr. Jerf W.K. Yeung
Dr. Lili Xia
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • family, children and adolescents
  • family socialization
  • family and related social systems
  • childhood and adolescence
  • cognitive and mental issues
  • educational and behavioral development
  • emotional and physical health
  • parent–child relationships
  • child and adolescent development
  • social participation and support
  • wellbeing

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 1102 KiB  
Article
Family Club Denmark: A Quasi-Randomized Study of a Volunteer-Based Intervention to Support Vulnerable Families
by Maiken Pontoppidan, Mette Thorsager, Arendse T. Larsen and Mette Friis-Hansen
Healthcare 2024, 12(11), 1115; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12111115 - 29 May 2024
Viewed by 686
Abstract
Volunteer interventions play a vital role in supporting families by offering accessible and community-based resources outside the formal professional sector. This study examines the impact of the volunteer intervention known as Family Club Denmark (FCD) on the well-being of parents and children. FCD [...] Read more.
Volunteer interventions play a vital role in supporting families by offering accessible and community-based resources outside the formal professional sector. This study examines the impact of the volunteer intervention known as Family Club Denmark (FCD) on the well-being of parents and children. FCD aims to provide families with positive experiences and support relationship building. The intervention, open to families from diverse social backgrounds, comprises volunteer-led family clubs where parents and children aged 2–12 years engage in activities and meals. We allocated 510 families (363 vulnerable families) to FCD or placed them on a waiting list based on a first-come, first-served principle. We conducted baseline, post-intervention, and follow-up assessments through questionnaires, observations, and interviews. On average, families participated in 5.8 sessions, with both families and volunteers reporting high satisfaction. When compared to control families, we find that vulnerable FCD parents feel more confident playing with their children (p = 0.04, [0.01; 0.40], d = 0.25), require less assistance in playing with their children (p = 0.01, [−0.34; −0.05], d = 0.33), and report that their children have a more challenging time forming friendships (p = 0.01, [−0.51; −0.09], d = 0.29). However, we did not find significant effects on mental health, parenting stress, self-efficacy, self-worth, family routines, or child well-being. We observed similar results for the full sample. The discovery that parents feel more confident playing with their children after participating in FCD highlights the vital role of volunteer-based interventions in enhancing parental engagement and fostering positive parent–child interactions. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03657888 (registered 29 August 2018). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Family Influences on Child and Adolescent Health)
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