Sociology: Essentials Of Sociology

In the chapter, Essentials of Sociology: A Down to Earth Approach very briefly speaks about one-parent families, or as they are more commonly known, single parent families. The chapter also covers some important topics and considerations such as economic differences depending on the gender of the parent and poverty level within the home. It mentions a bit about the effects on children brought up under these conditions but does not go into detail. Other factors under consideration will be the different ways in which one-parent families differ; the economic issues affecting one-parent homes, and the issues which children may experience both as children and later on in life. Although the journal chosen is comparative and examines single-mother

It was found that boys were more likely to live in single-father homes than they are to live with their mother. It was also found that among children ages 15 to 17, there were twice as many boys living in single father homes when compared to girls living in single-father homes. The reason may be boys are more difficult to raise and require a male figure which they can better relate to in their adolescent years. In terms of mother-child families, the possibility exists that they may be exposed to a lower income household due to the already present disparity in salary between men and women. There have been examples exposed where men were found to earn twice as much than twice as much as their female counterparts. This difference allows for men to establish a more economically stable household. In, the chapter, the book mentions the fact that the majority of one-parent family homes are usually headed by single mothers. They also mention that this is the reason why these families tend to be poor. Both the chapter and the journal are considering the wage gap between men and women and how this affects one-parent families in terms of financial stability within the household.

In terms of race, it was found that a higher percentage of single mothers are black when compared to white. During 1984, the year in which the study was conducted, one-third of all mother-child families were maintained by a black woman although only one eight of families with children under 18 were black. White single family homes were less likely to be headed by a single mother than in black