Family has an important role in forming the mental health of children. Director of Center for Public Mental Health (CPMH), Faculty of Psychology of Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Dr. Diana Setiyawati M.HSc., Psy., said communication and interaction patterns in a family have influential role to children’s mental health development. Parent’s patterns in dealing with and resolving problems are inherited to their children through modelling.
“The ways families express and communicate something may form the health or instead disease in their children,” said she on Wednesday (5/10) at Faculty of Psychology UGM.
Diana said that family can be the protector of child health or triggering the health disorders in the children. For instance, in disabled children, broken home, and loss of father figure.
“Family can be the protective factor, but also the trigger for the emergence of mental disorders,” she said.
Balanced Child Rearing
Diana explained in the family, father and mother have important roles to raise the children. Both will produce same effects on the child behaviours. “It’s necessary that father and mother work together to raise the child as both have the same role in child rearing,” she added.
Children have to be educated in balance. From the father, chidlren learn strength and experience, from mother they learn tenderness and details.
“The presence of father and mother is important for mental health development in the child. Besides, it can balance the dominance in child rearing,” she explained.
Further on healthy interaction and communication patterns will be discussed in a talkshow titled When Home is No Longer Home on Saturday (8/10) at Faculty of Psychology UGM. It will present Prof. Noor. R. Hadjam, positive parenting expert, Prof Subandi, clinical psychology expert, and Prof Sofia Retnowati, mental health expert, also Agus Sugianto, activist in mental health.