Family Chaos

Disorder and instability in the family system are typically manifested in high levels of noise, [Page 839]crowding, busy traffic patterns, clutter, lack of routine, and confusion within the home—a state of chaos. Growing evidence suggests that these environmental influences are negatively related to a host of developmental outcomes across the life span, particularly during childhood. For example, family chaos has been associated with delayed cognitive developments, inefficient self-regulatory abilities, poor social skills, and impaired physical health (e.g., high blood pressure). As such, consideration of family chaos is a critical avenue of developmental research for understanding environmental factors contributing to poor mental and physical health in childhood and adolescence, which have cascading consequences across the rest of development. This entry focuses on family chaos from the ...