FAMILY HEALTH – A KEY FACTOR IN THE FORMATION OF CHILD HEALTH

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Family is a kind of social system, the basic cell of society and is defined as a group of people who have a biological relationship with each other or are related, live together, and have a common budget. Each family, according to its structure, members, and dominant sex, is different, but its function and purpose of existence are the same. Among family members there is moral responsibility, social and physical necessity, reproduction, and maintenance of biological continuity. Educational, business, and economic relationships are also strongly expressed. On one hand family health is influenced by various risk factors, and on the other by family members with risky behavior or personal health status. There are specialists who, during various medical or non-medical procedures, can diagnose specific health problems or deviations from health norms of behavior of a member or members of one family. It is the family physician who knows the bio-psycho-social problems and risk factors of given family and can act to prevent or treat imbalances. Impaired family health reflects directly or indirectly on the health of all family members. The negative influence is essential and could subsequently lead to deterioration or complete disintegration of family health. Family can be an etiological factor for some diseases, but it can also have a decisive role in prevention of diseases, in taking care of one’s own health, in combating chronic diseases and in early detection of others. Family and child health are closely interdependent. The family environment in which a child grows up and the parental example determine the future character of a person, and what its attitude in future professional tasks, in healthy way of life and the principles of help and mutual aid will be. That is why the role of parental example influences the formation of, even builds the image of a future own family and the role of present child in that future family. The importance of parental behavior in relation to adolescent disruptive/risk-taking behavior should not be underestimated. Particularly important is the emphasis on factors external to the family unit, such as neighborhood, school, peers, and the media. Socio-economic factors should not be neglected either, because low incomes have negative impact and most often are the cause of improper diet and unbalanced nutrition, while poor housing conditions determine either poor-formed health and hygiene habits or their total absence. Since family has a leading role in formation of adolescents, its participation in health promotion is strongly recommended. These recommendations for family-focused health promotion are based in part on findings from several lines of research, including family aggregation and studies of parental influence on health during childhood and adolescence.