ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on child cognitive health as an outcome of family process. The chapter considers how the family context affects the child's preparedness to learn as well as more standard assessments of school performance. The family context is not a simple one and demands a multidimensional approach in understanding family effects on child development. It shows how the practices and representations of family subsystems add to the puzzle of family effects on child cognitive development and academic performance. The contribution of family practices and representations to children's cognitive development and academic performance are reviewed. It appears that family practices affect cognitive health through preparing the child to adapt to environments that foster intellectual growth. The chapter argues that families are composed of different relationships that operate as subsystems of an organized group. Furthermore, family relationships are created and maintained through observable interactions and detectable beliefs that directly and indirectly influence child development.
