Essay Example on Personality: The Role of Family in Shaping Identity

In most cases, a person's identity is considered as a trait that one is born with such as physical traits like eye color or face shape that one gets upon birth. A family where one is born influences the personal identity of the individual either directly or indirectly. Parents directly teach their children values such as what is right and wrong, religious education, rules, and expectations, how to interact with people among others (Weigert & Hastings, 1977). Indirectly, parents teach and socialize as an example of how their children should and through watching children know how they should interact with the rest of the community, make choices and determine what is wrong or right for themselves. By doing this, children's moral development is influenced greatly. This paper looks at how the identity of a family within which an individual is born affects their personal identity as they grow.

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Family interactions play a great role in building or breaking down a person's self-confidence Soliz, Thorson, & Rittenour, 2009). For instance, a more interactive family is likely to sire children that have high self-confidence and esteem as compared to those raised in less interactive families. Additionally, children that are allowed and encouraged to pursue and make their own choices are more likely to have a greater sense of individuality and confidence as compared to their counterparts that have not grown making their own choices. Besides other family activities such as community service, charity work and camping can help instill skills that would be instrumental in shaping the self-confidence of children while other families that emphasize on child's performance are more likely to raise children with low self-confidence.

Moreover, a family can shape the political identity of their children in the future as it has been seen of children raised in political families gaining interests in politics during their adulthood. This is because family discussions of politics in most cases influence children to be more politically engaged and thus attempt to seek more news sources. Furthermore, the more a family holds political discussions in politics can help children grow to be deep and critical thinkers about the existing world issues. Thus, children that engage in family political discussions end up assuming their parent's political ideologies in the future that indicating that the identity of a family plays a role in shaping the personal identity of their children.

On the other hand, family identity can shape the personal identity of their children as most parents pass their values and beliefs onto their kids and thus most of them grow to have similar beliefs as those of their parents (Mohammadi, 2013). For instance, if a person's parent happens to be too religious, there is a higher possibility of such families raising religious children or if such parents believed in the value of education, the children will automatically adopt the same values and uphold the importance of education throughout their lives. However, if the parents happen to do the contrary, like children raised in alcoholic families, there is a higher likelihood of raising alcoholic children as they believe that alcoholism is a way of life since they have been exposed to it throughout their lives.

The same influence of children's personal identity goes with parent's opinions and judgments. For instance, families that are highly racist or believe in biased views end up with children with the same judgments and views since if one grew thinking in a certain way, it is less likely for one to change their thinking in future (Mohammadi, 2013). On the other hand, family identity influences the personal identity of their children even in their occupational life. For instance, children raised in families that believe in handwork end up setting standards for their children and thus encourage handwork thus raising more motivated and ambitious children unlike in hostile family environments that may end up raising less motivated children that may lack the required skills to succeed in their various career paths.

Another way that a family may impact the identity of their children is in their marriage life. For instance, children that have been raised in stable families free of violence end up raising happier and more stable families in the future. This is because the marital harmony of their parents happen to follow the example of their parents as they are made to believe in the need to raise happier families and respect for their partners (Leak, 2009). Besides, children whose parents receive marital counseling happen to be less aggressive and with better behaviors and thus happen to have children that are less aggressive as they are not affected by their parent's marital problems that could raise aggression and anger issues among them.

Family history also plays an important role in shaping the personal identity of children. This is because the family environment plays a significant role in shaping the identity of children as they grow through adolescence and even in their old age (Elmer, 2003). The way family members relate with each other and relate with each other can be instrumental in shaping their children's socialization, self-esteem, and cultural identity. For example, children raised in abusive families end up being abusive in the future as they assume such abusive acts as a way of life as compared to those raised in religious families. In addition, the sexual orientation of a family can also play a role in changing the sexual orientation of children and thus alter their personal identity. For example, children raised in families with gay or lesbian members have a higher probability of turning gay or lesbian as compared to those raised in families without such individuals.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is evident that familial identity affects an individual's personal identity in many ways. Starting from how one interacts, political identity, career orientation, sex orientation, opinions, and judgments as well as how they perceive marriage life. This has been evidenced by the facts that children that are raised in religious families turn out to be religious in the future while those raised in less religious families being less religious. From this example and others in the paper, the emphasis is put on the value of inculcating the best values in the family to raise morally upright individuals that have the best personal identities to steer them through life. Therefore, parents need to create a good family environment for their children to offer them a platform that they can learn life values and also practice good morals as their children rely on copying their behaviors as a means of learning what is good or bad. By doing so, then it will be easier for families to raise children with desirable personal identities that will guide them through their careers, interactions with people, marriage life and overall be successful.

References

Elmer, L. (2003). Relationship Among Family Environment, Identity Development, and Autonomy. PsycEXTRA Dataset. DOI:10.1037/e341302004-001

Leak, G. K. (2009). An Assessment of the Relationship Between Identity Development, Faith Development, and Religious Commitment. Identity, 9(3), 201-218. DOI:10.1080/15283480903344521

Mohammadi, A. Z. (2013). Relationship between Family Environment and Parenting Styles with Identity Status. PsycEXTRA Dataset. DOI:10.1037/e635102013-119

Soliz, J., Thorson, A. R., & Rittenour, C. E. (2009). Communicative Correlates of Satisfaction, Family Identity, and Group Salience in Multiracial/Ethnic Families. Journal of Marriage and Family, 71(4), 819-832. DOI:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2009.00637.x

Weigert, A. J., & Hastings, R. (1977). Identity Loss, Family, and Social Change. American Journal of Sociology, 82(6), 1171-1185. DOI:10.1086/226462