PR Papers: Brady, Sommers, & DePaulo - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... Repairs and maintenance works, difficult household chores, tasks that require using physical strength, protection and ensuring the safety of the family are obligations expected from husbands. “Men – It’s in Their Nature” by Christina Hoff Sommers One definitely agrees to Sommers’ assertion that gender differences are ‘hardwired’ from birth and that boys and girls are inherently different. From biological diversities, through differences in the way boys and girls think, feel and react, the disparities are innate and product of genetic structure. Likewise, the way that the family nurtures and provides holistic support contributes to the manner by which values and beliefs are honed according to gender expectations. Finally, environmental factors and social norms have already dictated a set of expected behavior according to gender that persists to be manifested universally. “The Myth of Doomed Kids” by Bella DePaulo In one’s personal experience, I was fortunate to grow up in a family with a father, mother and in the presence of other relatives, particularly grandparents, aunts and uncles. So, one could say that I was accorded holistic care and support from extended family members. The reason why my parents decided to live together with my maternal grandparents was because of economic factors. My maternal grandparents had a large family and recognized the need to seek alternative sources of income to support the children’s needs. In this regard, both my parents were working from 8:00 in the morning until 5:00 in the afternoon; and thereby, recognized the crucial importance of work. I and my siblings were therefore endorsed to the loving care and protection of my grandmother, who took care of our meals, seeing that we get to have productive play activities and intermittently guided by our grandfather, who provided discipline and good counsel. Using DePaulo’s characterization of the family structure, our family therefore manifests the ideal structure where substance abuse problems were least eminent. True to her words and observations, this kind of family structure is most conducive to the promotion of a health family environment through the holistic support provided by relatives who live together with the nuclear family. In so doing, in the absence of both mother and father, who attend to work, the grandparents and relatives’ presence provide the needed physical, emotional, mental and even spiritual support for growing children in the early stages of development. However, one strongly believes that an adolescent’s preponderance and tendencies to try and be hooked to drugs also depend on other external factors. In one’s personal experience, the support and guidance provided by family members were augmented by appropriate educational support from schools (from the primary level until secondary levels). Further, one was fortunate that peers and other acquaintances were never introduced to illegal drugs and substance abuse. In so far as there were still 3.4% of those who participated in the study, or around 748 adolescents between 12 to 17 years of age who were revealed to have been inflicted with substance abuse, despite being part of the ideal family structure, indicates that other external factors outside family support that cause the dilemma. Based on my ...Download file to see next pagesRead More