Children in single parent homes live very complicated lifestyles and will often grow up with many hardships. Single parent homes are becoming normal in today’s society and are beginning to outnumber nuclear two parent families. Being a single parent is hard when it comes to balancing a job, money, a place to live and on top of that raising a child. The struggles of the parent takes an enormous toll on the child with lifelong effects. As a child, living with a single parent can take a toll on academics and behavior. According to McLanahan and Sandefur, “The high school dropout rate of children of divorced parents is roughly two times higher than that of children of which the parents did not divorce” (“Children Divorce Statistics”). This statistic shows that living with a single parent can have a serious effect on a student's life and they are twice as …show more content…
Teens affected by lone parenting can turn to crime or drugs and alcohol abuse to fill the void and take their minds off of problems at home (“The Psychological Effects of Living with a Single Parent”). These alternate ways of dealing with the problems teens may be having at home with their single parents can become addictions or habits that can be apart of their lives forever. Horn and Bush share that, “Seventy percent of long-term prison inmates grew up in broken homes” (“Children Divorce Statistics”). This statistic supports the claim that alternate ways of coping can lead to serious consequences. A child may find themselves blaming oneself for living with a single parent or blame a parent. They might also begin to have resentment towards others who may have a more complete home life (Roland). Resentment and blame can turn into more serious problems like depression. Crime, alcohol and drug abuse, depression, resentment and blame are all direct effects of living in a single parent
Archives are filled with articles focused on the outcomes of children raised in single parent homes versus children raised in the nuclear family setting. The subject is highlighted in mass volumes throughout various internet blog forums, newspaper articles, and popular magazines detailing the statistical data and reputed points of view on the outcomes of the subject. Countless bloggers provide substantial personal testimonies highlighting both ends in the debate, while giving readers an inside-look at this situation from all different walks of life. Developing this issue into a broader context, we as the readers have to consider the magnitude of the issue and ask ourselves, “In concern with the betterment of my family, which lifestyle could I possibly adopt to ensure that my children are adequately socialized and prepped for life outside the parental structure?” However, this is not a question that requires a prognosis from a prominent sociologist; in fact, children raised in single parent families are just as capable at success as children raised in the traditional family setting.
Single parent homes provide clear communication between the parent and the child. Communication is something that has to be developed between one person to the other person. It really helps, because it gets children use to being told no. Also it gets children to think of other ways to compromise using their mouths instead of resulting to violence. It allows for a clear understanding between two people. In Publisher Carl E. Pickhardt, PhD’s article “Why Single Parents Can Parent Adolescents Well” he writes, “With much t talk about and less time to talk, busyness causes single parents to speak directly and to the point, not hesitating to speak up when difficult issues need to be addressed, and treating conflict not as a challenge to their authority, but as a talking point.” (Pickhardt 6).
“Children of divorce are more than twice as likely to have serious social, emotional, or psychological problems as children of intact families…” (Parke, Mary, “Are Married Parents Really Better for Children?” p. 4). Not receiving the support and nurturing that is needed from both parents during adolescents can affect the future decisions made by children at a later stage in their lives. The guidance that is needed for children to make their life long decisions such as continuing education, certain situation thinking processes and decisions. Divorced parents will face loss of income compared to a two parent income, depression, and self-acceptance. Separating mothers and fathers in a childbearing family will lead the mother or father to having to split the roles or replace the role of the other parent in the household while the child might only be allowed to live with one parent for a certain amount of time. Single parent childbearing families face dependency among government support programs while the single parent may or may not be receiving child support that alone is not enough to remove the financial burden that single parents incur. Children often find this difficult having to move back and forth from two homes rather than having one home. Single parents who may later decide to marry often times face large scale problems as a result of becoming blended. This includes methods of parenting
“It is also estimated that between 40 percent and 50 percent of children born in the 1980s will experience the divorce of their parents before reaching age 18 (The influence of divorce on children).” These children of divorce have to go through the financial struggles of living pay check to pay check and live through this stress. All this stress leads to less focus on school and they begin to see lower academic achievement. This transition also effects them emotional and can even stick with them the rest of their life, ultimately impacting their own marriage in the future. With little attention left for them they turn to other activities for attention, including drugs and alcohol. Although some children come out of divorce a stronger individual, some go down the wrong path and see the negative side effects of
Many studies have found that students from single parent homes have on average, a low overall educational performance in many areas. Surveys showed that students from single parent fa...
Additionally, “The Effects of a Single Parent Home on a Child’s Behavior” by Marnie Kunz, “For every $100 of child support mothers receive, their children’s standardized test scores increase by ⅛ to 7/10 of a point” (Kunz, 1). “Living in poverty is stressful and can have many emotional effects on children, including low self-esteem, increased anger and frustration and an increased risk for violent behavior” (Kunz, 1). Welfare and child support has given single parents the ability to spare their children of their financial and relationship issues therefore, children are able to focus on their schoolwork on their personal lives without stress and interference. Also, several scholarships are available for all members of a single parent household. “Fortunately, there are a number of scholarships available to help children of single-parent homes attend college” (Kunz, 2). Poverty by Single Parent Houses no longer prevents children from entering college. Tragedies unfortunately, tend to repeat themselves. In the article titled “U.S. Single Parent Households”, it is said that “70% of gang members, high school dropouts, teen suicides, teen pregnancies and teen substance abusers come from single mother homes” (Ahlberg, 1). Teen pregnancies have been proven to be the root cause of the majority of children being born into
Research indicates that one-parent families report for about 25 percent of the families in the United States with children under the age of 18. As indicated by researchers “A study of nearly 6,000 children found that youth from single-parent homes have more physical and mental health problems than children living with married parent, and another study confirms single-parent children are 2-3 times as likely to develop emotional and behavioral problems” Clinton, Hart, & Ohlschlager, (2005). The impact of divorce has a high diverse impact on the entire family and continues to create an impact on how children are able to deal and cope with the negative implications of an unhappy couple. A broken family’s children can often feel as though they are causing the problem and seek to either become complaisant to the problem or as they get older seek other forms of feeling loved and happy, which may lead to teenage pregnancy or s...
In 1990, seventy-one percent of sixty-four million American children lived in a two parent household. Fifty-eight percent lived with their biological parents. Since the 1970s, there has been a huge increase in the amount of children living with single or divorced mothers. This only is right considering the increase in single women having children, although not all of those women don’t have a significant other. Currently 7.3 percent of children live with an unmarried parent, 9.1 percent live with a divorced parent and 7.4 percent live with a separated or widowed parent. Every year since the 1970s, over one million children have been affected by divorce (Shino and Quinn). Nowadays every where you look, someone has divorced parents. It could be your own parents, your best friend’s parents, your classmate’s parents or even your teacher. In 1988, fifteen percent of children lived with a separated or divorced parent, while 7.3 million more children lived with a stepparent. It is estimated that almost half of the babies born today will spend a portion of their life living in a one-parent family (Shino and
Single parenting numbers increase each year. In America there is almost fourteen million single parents raising about thirty-two million children, twenty six percent are under twenty one years of age. Eighty-two percent of single parents are mothers and about eighteen percent are fathers (“Single Parent Statistics-Average Single Parent Statistics”).There are a lot of stereo types about single parents, most of which are untrue, but some can be true also. Single parenting is becoming more common in this generation, and it’s not just because of one reason. There are many reasons these days that there are single parents.
The students who do not have the parent support and role models as young children are less likely to succeed in life. Children from single parent homes are more likely to use and abuse drugs (Hoffmann “The Community Context of Family Structure and Adolescent Drug Use”) as well as twice as likely to commit suicide and/or have a psychiatric disease (www.webmd.com). One of the ways that teachers can reach and influence these students is through afterschool programs. 57% of students from single parent homes are enrolled in some form of after school program from grades 1 through 5 (Working Families and Afterschool A Special Report from America After 3 PM: A Household Survey on Afterschool in America 2). Children often learn their social skills from watching their parents interact with others. Later in life, these may influence the jobs that they are offered and received as their potential employer evaluates how they communicate in an interview or in their interactions with others. Raymond
Single parent homes are becoming more common as time goes on. With this growing number, the traditional nuclear family seems to be less relevant. Welna reports that “[t]he portion of children living with a single parent has jumped over a generation from 1 out of 20 to about 1 out of 5 children” (1999, p. xii). Within a few decades, single parenting became very common among the modern society. This is a large shift and changes civilization. However, this difference it isn’t expressed very much. Television doesn’t show a lot of representation for
Throughout history a one-parent household has been deemed as a nontraditional family, but in today’s society it seems more and more common with every day. Although the reason and causes vary, each year the number of children raised by a single parent increases. Most people don’t seem to realize how much this can change a child’s future. The impact of childhood experiences simply set the disposition of adulthood and the rest of their lives. There is not one sole factor that affects child development, but one very important one is the role and relationship created with one’s parents. How a child is parented and raised leaves a lasting impression on them, commonly for a lifetime. You can see how this might alter a child, being that one parent is missing. Child development based off of living in a one-parent household is very circumstantial because each child and each parent are different individuals. But one thing is for sure; all areas of child development can be affected due to a missing parent, including social, cognitive emotional, and physical areas. I sat down with Dr. Carlos Antoline, a children’s school psychologist to see what the real impact of growing up in a one-parent household has on child development.
The Family structure has changed significantly in the last fifty years. With higher percentages of marriage ending in divorce, and higher rates of childbearing out of wedlock, single parent families are increasing rapidly. “Seventy percent of all the children will spend all or part of their lives in a single-parent household.” (Dowd) Studies have shown that the children of these families are affected dramatically, both negatively and positively. Women head the majority of single- parent families and as a result, children experience many social problems from growing up without a father. Some of these problems include lack of financial support, and various emotional problems by not having a father around, which may contribute to problems later in life. At the same time, children of single-parent homes become more independent because they learn to take care of themselves, and rely on others to do things for them.
It has been said, children from two-parent families are better off. The setting is also a factor to take into consideration. The increase in single- parent homes has had an extensive and negative effect on children’s development. 50% of marriages end in divorce. We have young people with young minds having children, they can hardly take care of themselves at the age of 21, yet they have decided to bring four children into this world to be raised by one parent. In some communities, majority of the children are being raised by a single parent. Statistics have shown that children raised in a healthy single parent home have more problems emotionally, psychologically, in school, and with the law than those raised in healthy two-parent homes. No matter how good a single parent is, that a single parent can NEVER do for the child how two present, committed, parent partners share and work together; communicate together and solve problems together as equals.
For many years, children growing up in a single parent family have been viewed as different. Being raised by only one parent seems impossible to many yet over the decades it has become more prevalent. In today’s society many children have grown up to become emotionally stable and successful whether they had one or two parents to show them the rocky path that life bestows upon all human beings. The problem lies in the difference of children raised by single parents versus children raised by both a mother and a father. Does a child need both parents? Does a young boy need a father figure around? Does the government provide help for single parents? What role do step-parents and step-siblings play? With much speculation, this topic has become a very intriguing argument. What people must understand is that properly raising a child does not rely on the structure of a family but should be more focused on the process