Research emphasizes that family stability and close and supportive relationships provide the most important protection for children against poor developmental outcomes. As the child's primary social network, parents and other family members play a crucial role in teaching them how to develop and use effective coping strategies. The following characteristics of families illustrate that, as incomes increase, environmental risks to children decrease. We also consider the correlation between income and other family-related factors such as how frequently the family moves and thus causes the child to change schools, the state of the family's housing, and the availability of computers in the home. Research has shown that families that score well on such family functioning tests are most likely to nurture children who are able to get along well with others and succeed in school, and such families are least likely to produce children with mental health disorders and aggressive, anti-social behaviours.
Parental depression Living with a parent who is depressed is extremely difficult.
Research has shown that children whose parents are depressed are more likely to have problems relating to others, to have emotional and conduct disorders, and to have problems with substance abuse than children whose parents are not depressed. Parents who experienced trauma during their childhood A parent's ability to nurture their children and to earn a good living is affected by the type of childhood they themselves experienced. It is known, for example, that abusive parents were often victims of abuse during their own early years. Research has also shown that parents who were raised in families with multiple problems frequently have difficulty managing stress once they have their own children. Chart 3 shows that low-income parents are twice as likely as those with high incomes to have experienced childhood traumas such as their parents' divorce, alcohol or drug abuse, physical abuse, or expulsion from the home for misbehaviour.