3) How does social pressures affect the family?
There are many social pressures that affect today’s family, not only in the Bahamas, but also all over the world. Some of these pressures are: unemployment, lack of finance, and alcoholism just to name a few. Social pressures such as domestic violence and substance abuse have resulted in an increased crime rate in the Bahamas.
According to my research, money has been a primary source of survival for the family for a very long time. It is a fact that while there are some families that rake in a large amount of income there are those that have very little money. The most efficient way to obtain money is to get a job. However there are some people who want to work but can’t find a job, thus resulting in the problem of unemployment. As you can imagine life is very difficult for the unemployed, especially if they have a family to take care of. Being an unemployed parent is even more difficult than being an unemployed person without a family. The parent is faced with the task of feeding, clothing, and sheltering his/her family. This can only be achieved by having money. They receive bills that they know they can’t pay so they just let them pile up all the time promising to pay them. Finally it becomes so bad that the bank seizes everything that wasn’t paid for out of pocket. That includes the house, furniture and car or cars. Thus the family is now on the streets with no means of transportation or income. In the case where both parents are working and one loses their job the working spouse is left with the responsibility of taking care of the family. What used to be handled by both finance wise is now only handled by one. Here again we see the problem of paying the bills.
