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Depressed children can be like depressed parents, expressing sadness, anger,shame, and self-directed hostility (Brown & Siegel, 1988). Just like adults,depressed children tend to blame themselves for bad events and accredit theenvironment for good events--they do not give themselves credit when due (

. Depressed children reported significantly higher level of hopelessness, lowergeneral self-esteem, and lower coping skills than non-depressed children. Theirability to be unable to cope with stress can lead to fewer and less adaptivecoping techniques (Asarnow, Carlson, & Guthrie, 1987).

It takes a village to raise a child"

This is a famous quote, though I'm not sure where it came from. I believe we all should think of each other more as family rather than being so selfish and only thinking "me, me, me". I think thesolutions to many of these problems lie in a good education and a good upbringing. I have seenparents barely raise their kids, thinking it's the school's job to teach them everything they need to

know about life. Meanwhile, many teachers are overworked, and have to deal with so manydifferent kids (or they're simply not good teachers) and so how can they be responsible for raising20 kids each day? The teachers sometimes try to enlist the parents' help, but the parents aresometimes too busy, or afraid to admit their child has a problem. Or the parents try to get theschool to cooperate in helping their child, but the school is too busy or they deny there is aproblem.

Here are some things I just thought of now that are important to teach children:

- to think independently, to solve problems on their own, not depend too much on others- to think critically, not just accept what is in front of them, but to investigate and learn the truthfor themselves- to have high morals, to not tolerate other's bad behavior around them, to stick up for others, andhelp others in need- to learn basic things for "survival" in their part of the world. This may mean growing their ownfood, or it could mean knowing how to take a public bus to the food store, It could include healthyfood choices, and being able to do things like wash their clothes, do minor repairs on their house orcar or bicycle, etc.

Sometimes when my son gets a bit too dependent on me, and asks me to do too many things, Iremind him:"My job as your parent is not to do everything for you, it's to teach you how to do it foryourself"

About tolerating others, I have told him many times:

"There are 6 billion people in this world, and NO TWO are alike. No one will be exactlylike you, so you have to learn how to deal with all kinds of people." This when they'llbecome more controlling and pay more attention to your life. Mainly cause yourolder and they trust you more & and your supposed too be more mature (Pfft,teens mature?)

When your older you have more responsibilities. This is the time where youexperiment, finding who you are. Of course, parents intervene into your life alotand say no too nearly anything, cause teens to rebel.. Strains the relationship.Depression, angst, hormones just makes things even better...

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Children who use violence usually come from conflictive families; as has beenshown by a number of research studies. The psychologist, Arantzazu Bellido, hasreaffirmed this phenomenon for the Autonomous Community of the BasqueCountry (CAV-EAE). She undertook surveys with a number of families in theBasque province of Bizkaia, adapting previously used questionnaires to this endand creating new ones specifically designed for this study. Ms Bellidodemonstrated that, effectively, there is a direct relationship between a child'sbehaviour and their family environment. She has written her results andconclusions for her PhD thesis, presented at the University of the Basque Country(UPV/EHU).

The PhD thesis was entitled Family context and aggressive behaviour in 8-year-old children. For her research Ms Bellido visited a number of schools in theBasque province of Bizkaia, undertaking questionnaires in 251 families withchildren of eight years of age. The researcher based her methodology on the

ecological model; i.e. apart from the child, she took factors into account thathave effect on the context in which he or she develops. Thus, the children, aswell as their family members, friends and school mates, took part in the survey.

The questionnaires used in the research had been adapted to the case of theCAV-EAE; the task of adaptation was, in fact, one of contributions of Ms Bellido'sthesis. On the one hand, she used a number of questionnaires previously usedand validated in Spain and adapted them to the CAV-EAE. Ms Bellido also creatednew questionnaires. For example, she drew up a questionnaire analysing theviews of parents regarding the process of children growing up and other ones

which gathered demographic and socio-economic data.

The family is an extremely important environmental influence on personality development.Specifically, theorists have focused on the influence of parents on the personalitycharacteristics of children. Relationships between child behavior and child-rearing practices,as well as parental attitudes, have been examined (Sears et al., 1957; Peterson et al., 1959).The important role of family functioning in regard to child abuse and child deviancy has also

been investigated (Bryant & Wells, 1973; Anjel & Erkman, 1993).

In the family social system, each family member influences, and is influenced by, the other members (Monane, 1967), producing a family environment, or climate (Moos, 1975). Familyclimate is determined by the interpersonal relationships among family members, the emphasison personal growth, and system maintenance--the organizational basis of the family (Moos,1974, 1984). Two important dimensions of the family environment are cohesion and control(Moos, 1974; Fowler, 1980).

Healthy families are characterized by optimal cohesion; that is, family members displaywarm affective ties (Olson et al., 1979). Control is the dominant feature of an unhealthy or negative family environment (Moos, 1974). The system is rigid--there is resistance to change(Minuchin, 1974).

As a form of social support, the family is an important resource in coping with stress.Individuals who remain relatively healthy under stressful situations have been found to

perceive high family cohesion (Hollahan & Moos, 1982). Individuals who perceive less

family support have been found to experience more depression and work-related stress(Mitchell et al., 1983).

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Family environment is considered a major factor in adolescents' psychological adjustment(Moos, 1984; Lofgrem & Lapsen, 1992). A supportive, cohesive family environment fosters

psychological well-being. Children experiencing high control but low cohesion have beenfound to be more introverted and depressed (Billings & Moos, 1984).

Lack of both affection and emotional support, high control, and a strong push for achievement by parents during childhood are related to depression (Santrock, 1990).Acquisition of self-devaluated schema during the early years may also lead to a lack of confidence in future endeavors (Beck, 1973; Clark & Beck, 1989). Further, habitual negativethoughts are problematic for the depressive adolescent.

Thus, family climate and relationship styles play a role in adolescents' self-evaluations and psychological health. The aim of the present study was to clarify the relationship betweenadolescents' negative thoughts, depressive mood, and family environment.

Financial effects on families. Substance abuse by family members can have a substantialnegative effect on the financial viability of caregivers. Substance-abusing caregivers mayspend money allocated for food or clothing for children. Substance abusers may divert money

from rent or mortgages to buy substances. Noncustodial parents who abuse alcohol are lesslikely to provide financial support for their children (Dion et al. 1997). In Yemen andSomalia, users may spend as much on khat (a type of stimulant) as they spend on food (AbdulGhani et al. 1987). Additionally, families are often unwitting accomplices to their relative'ssubstance abuse as the substance use is often financed by immediate family members(Gearon et al. 2001).

Fetal exposure to alcohol and other drugs. There is considerable evidence for the effects of maternal substance use on the development of the fetus. Specifically, childhooddevelopmental problems have been associated with maternal substance use. For example,

prenatal alcohol exposure can lead to mental retardation, behavioral and neurological problems that may lead to poor academic performance, and legal and employment problems

in youth and adulthood (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism 2000).However, researchers do not know how much alcohol produces adverse fetal consequences.Thus, experts recommend that pregnant women should not consume alcohol (NationalInstitute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism 2000).

Early family environment. In addition to the direct effects of substances on the unborn child,the early social environment of children with substance-abusing parents adds potential risks.A high percentage of children in contact with the child welfare system have substance-abusing parents ( Jones-Harden 1998). Reviews have consistently documented the association

between parental substance abuse and poor parenting skills ( Jones-Harden 1998). The typeof child maltreatment often associated with these cases includes physical, medical, andemotional neglect (Hawley et al. 1995; Jones-Harden 1998). Research in Israel documentedthe ill effects of severe environmental deprivation when both parents are heroin-addicted andnoted that the early home environment has a greater influence than in-utero exposure ondevelopmental outcomes, as long as there is no significant neurological damage (Ornoy et al.1996). Other research has found that a positive postnatal caregiving environment canattenuate some of the negative effects of prenatal exposure to substances ( Jones-Harden1998; McNichol and Tash 2001).