Can Single-Parent Households Influence Adolescents To Become Abusers?

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Single-parent households can influence adolescents to become abusers of their spouses, children and themselves and are expected to experience domestic violence in their lives. Rather than having the balance of a two-parent home, single-parented adolescents are constantly exposed to stressors and ultimately become abusers themselves. This leads to a vicious and continuous cycle that could lead to the destruction of generations thereafter.
The trend of single-parent households are drastically increasing every year. The United States Census Bureau reported in 2013 that about 27.8 percent of children lived in a household with only a mother or only a father. In 2013, 23.7 percent of all children were living with their single mother and is the most common type of single-parent household (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2013). Common belief would lead people to believe that most children live with one parent as a result of divorce, but generally single parents were most likely never married at all due to the consequence of accidental, unplanned and teenage pregnancies, as well as adult women who put off marriage to get ahead in their career and education (Dornbusch et. Al., 1985).
One basic cause of single-parent households are divorce. Divorce can be caused by many factors, including adultery/infidelity, midlife crisis, addictions, work holism and the stresses associated with the spouse’s career, strains on the relationship and also abuse (Amato & Previti, 2003). Abuse is defined as harmful or injurious treatment of another human being (Fundukian & Wilson, 2008). The types of abuse are physical, sexual, psychological/emotional, intellectual, or spiritual maltreatment. Physical abuse is abuse intended to cause bodily harm or other phy...

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