Navarro 1

Izellah Navarro

Professor Catherine Payne

EN111-14

March 18, 2021

How Toxic Home Environments Harm Adolescents

There is a well-known saying, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Many people

from all around the world have, and still are facing battles that are not exactly in war fields, those

people are fighting for their lives in the depths of their own homes attempting to stay strong for

themselves and their families. “Poor Family Relationships in Adolescence and the Risk of

Premature Death: Findings from the Stockholm Birth Cohort Study” written by Susanne Alm, Sara

Brolin Låftman, and Hannes Bohman, is an article that shares the logics and statistics of

components of virulent environments within one’s home at the age of adolescences and the

outcomes that are to come out of it. Research and studies found in the article justified that it is

essential during the upcoming a child that they have somewhat of a close relationship with their

chosen guardian(s), as the authors continue to explain how “high levels of family cohesion, in

terms of strong familial bonds, warmth, and connectedness, are associated with higher well-being

and fewer mental health problems among adolescents [3,4,5]. Conversely, low levels of family

cohesion are likely to be stressful and may accordingly have negative consequences for

health” (Alm, Laftman, Bohman). This article was very informative as it was clear and thorough

with the authors’ explanation of their evidence in regard to supporting their claim of toxic home

environments and their effects on adolescents.

After reading this article, it can be found that the authors’ main goals for their research were

to illustrate the impact of unhealthy relationships inside a home environment in relation to their
 Navarro 2
newfound information from previous studies that worked on gathering and analyzing all the data of

the functions of poor family relationships and the risks that are given towards premature death as

well as to a child’s mental and physical health. As the article frequently focused on the

psychological area of the study, the authors learned that from a deprived strong parent-child

relationship it was very often “associated with an increased risk of reporting both internalizing

symptoms and functional somatic symptoms up until the age of 42... later health outcomes have

followed the offspring as long as to retirement age, and relatedly, knowledge about the effects of

poor family relationships on premature death is scarce” (Landstedt et al.). For this article, the

authors chose to use quantitative data to represent their research of all the evidence of the variety of

studies used. Their article obtained statistics, reviews, and interviews of the project from different

groups of studies like the Metropolitan Study database and Stockholm Birth Cohort.

I would say the article is most likely accurate due to the fact of how the data they chose to

use as evidence showed multiple experiments the researchers went through and the number of

individuals they had to examine and interview in order to get a result that thoroughly displayed the

extent of the issue. However, I would take note of how some of the data made up many of the older

generations rather than millennials despite the topic being still very relevant in today’s society.

From my observations, this article had been through many reviews and careful construction. I have

yet to come upon any errors, whether it be through their choice of gathered information or

grammatical mistakes.

From my recent studies over this article, I stand with the claim of the authors that an

adolescent can experience true trauma from toxic home environments. The research shown proves

what can cause and affect a variety of psychological disorders in people’s lives due to a tragic

childhood. As someone who has grown up with many ups and downs within my family, I

understand the importance and necessity of having a close bond with my parents and the trauma it
 Navarro 3
can cause from the absence of it. I found this article extremely insightful for someone who has

experienced many struggles at such a young age. With this new information and understandings, I

would recommend the use of this article to students majoring in psychology or maybe even nursing.

I believe that the research could possibly be very helpful to anyone that is studying the topics of

family relationships, the mental health of minors, effects of a lack of bond, and etc.

In conclusion, with all things considered, Alm’s, Låftman’s, and Bohman’s findings on poor

family relationships in adolescence truly allowed readers to indulge and explore the range of data

that came from such cruel pasts of individuals and the effects that were brought upon them. The

authors shone a light on research from the Stockholm Birth Cohort Study as explained in detail

what specifically caused such effect on children and how most would react. They described the

illnesses that many individuals found themselves coming upon and how they brought them up in the

future. This article is a perfect example of showing people who don’t realize that one of the main

essentials needed in a child’s life is care and affection from the ones around them. The need for a

loving home is so undervalued, and most often take that for granted. With this reading, it can be

learned that simple acts can lead to such harmful consequences. People never truly realize the

impact they have on one another so it is important to realize what strength there is to just a few

words and actions.

 Navarro 4
Work Cited

Alm, S., Brolin Låftman, S., & Bohman, H. (2019, May 14). Poor family relationships in

adolescence and the risk of PREMATURE Death: Findings from the Stockholm birth cohort

study. Retrieved March 15, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/

PMC6571769/