What does it mean to be a single parent? Many have his or her own opinion about what it means to be a single parent, but being a single parent means that it is now the job of one parent to be both mother and father to their children. Many debate on how children in single parent homes are affected. Some believe that children in single parent households are more at risk than children in a two parent households, but that outcome may vary depending on many different situations.
For the past twenty years single-parent families have become more common than the nuclear family that normally consist of a mother, father, and children. Now there are households headed by a single mother or a single father or sometimes other relatives. One leading cause of single parent households are unintended pregnancies. Unintended pregnancies make up almost thirty-seven percent of births in the United States.
Doctors say whether a baby is planned or not has important consequences for the health of the mother and the child. Mothers who have unplanned pregnancies are more likely to get little to no prenatal care, smoke cigarettes during their pregnancy and to decline to breastfeed, a practice known to have health benefits for mother and baby. Unintended babies also tend to have lower birth weight.
These unintended pregnancies especially in teens can lead to the father leaving and deciding not to be a part of the child’s life.
The popularity of marriage has fallen as the proportion of single women aged eighteen to forty-nine who have never married has doubled. The proportion of women of the same age who live with a partner, but are not married, has tripled from just 11 per cent to 34 per cent.
The U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, ...
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...nt situations and may not all share the qualities pointed out by the research.
Works Cited
https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/single-parent.aspx http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/382706/Rise-of-the-single-parent-family http://thefatherlessgeneration.wordpress.com/statistics/ http://www.all4women.co.za/lifestyle/parenting/the-pros-and-cons-of-single-parenting http://thegoodnewsplus.com/content/pros-and-cons-being-single-parent http://www.supernanny.co.uk/Advice/-/Parenting-Skills/-/Discipline-and-Reward/How-to-cope-as-a-single-parent-~-tips-to-help-you-along-the-way.aspx http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/01/children-of-divorce_n_3529920.html http://abcnews.go.com/Health/cdc-40-percent-us-births-unintended/story?id=16840288 http://abcnews.go.com/Health/cdc-40-percent-us-births-unintended/story?id=16840288&page=2
http://www.chums.uk.com/how-loss-can-affect-children/
Being a parent is very demanding and can be hard. The difficulties that come with an unplanned pregnancy in teens can have a profound effect on their life. Their physical, social, mental, and emotional health will all be affected by a sudden change in the course of their life. Teens impacted with an unplanned pregnancy will have to give up many things in order to be a parent. In addition, they will have to take on many more responsibilities that accompany pregnancy and parenthood. All in all, having an unplanned pregnancy and becoming a parent introduce many new responsibilities and difficulties.
Bumpass LL, Sweet JA, Cherlin A. 1991. The role of cohabitation in declining rates of marriage. Demography 53:913 27
After a teen gets pregnant they start thinking of a way to hide it from their parents,The big problems start then. Many reasons teens think of are suicide, abortion and many other reasons. Abortions are becoming more frequent due to the ignorance and intolerance of certain societies around the world. This leads to the death of many teenage mothers as well as their children. There a lot of things that can cause an unplanned teen pregnancy, such as teens experimenting with sexual encounters at a young age. Another reason is the lack of guidance due to parents that do not take care of their children. For some, these pregnancies are planned but 85% of these teens pregnancy is unplanned (Website Title: Teen Ink,Article Title: Teenage Pregnancy,Date Accessed: April 03, 2014).
Unintentional pregnancies statistically bring a host of economic, emotional, and physical ills to mother and baby. About half of the unintended pregnancies in Washington State are aborted, according to the state Department of Health. That rate is consistent with the rest of the US. Even though there is a demand for abortion providers, man...
In the trajectory of humanity, single parenting has become a concept internationally accepted by most modern cultures. What exactly causes single parenthood? Well there are many factors in which could result in a single parent household. Death of a partner, divorce, and unintended pregnancy are just some of the causes of single parenthood. Based on this worldwide acknowledgement and understanding, single parenthood is usually aided by monetary help from the government or unions. Although financial help is available, the psychological effects a child goes through could never be fixed by any type of cash value. These psychological traumas and mental changes could affect the parent raising the child as well. Even with some financial help, single parents sometimes struggle to make ends meet. A study featured in Time magazine informed Americans that middle to lower class single parents will work 40+ hour weeks at minimum wage to provide for their child. If the parent is so busy at work, who's watching the child? Sometimes, the single parent might still have connection with their own families. Grandma and grandpa have to raise the child since the parent is hard at labor to provide for their offspring. Occasionally, some of our elderly folk do not have the competence to watch over a child. It might even be that the child is too energetic and could wear out the seniors. The child will then resort to the television, street, friends, etc to learn and grow. These influences might be negative for the child especially if they're not coming from the mother or father. An investigation of single parenting leads to the affirmation that raising a child by yourself is very difficult and must be approached very leniently and effectively.
What is a single parent? Is it one who destroys their child’s life? Is it one who ultimately cannot raise a minor on their own? Or is it one who dedicates their lives to the well being of their kid? Imagine a parent, and for whatever reason they were left alone to raise a child. That parent you imagined has to work long hours just to put a meal on the table. That parent has to play the role of the mother and father. That parent has no financial support. Unfortunately, in our society, this image of a single parent is looked down upon. There are people that don’t realize how much a single parent goes through to give their child a better life.
In America, one million teenagers get pregnant every year (National Abortion Federation, 2003). Of these pregnancies, 78% are unplanned because these teenagers start having sex at a very young age and are unaware of ways to prevent pregnancies. Thirty-five percent of the pregnant teenagers chose to abort, as they fear that the consequences of the pregnancy might have significant effects on their lives. The problems that come with teenage pregnancies include dropping out of school, receiving inadequate prenatal care, developing health problems, relying on public assistance to raise a child, and probably divorcing their partners. In most states, the law allows pregnant teenagers to take their babies for adoption without consulting their parents.
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.
Teenage pregnancy develops physical anomalies, an abnormal social life for a teen, a decrease in education, and can cause an unstable life financially. Lack of parental care can cause physical problems for both the child and the mother. The mothers social life can also be affected by making them leave their friends behind as she cares for her newborn. Teen mothers are also more likely to drop out of high school due to complications in caring for their child. Stable jobs are typically harder to find with a lack of higher education and cause financial instability for the mother. From its peak in 1990, teen pregnancy rates have declined by 42% by 2008 (Healthyteennetwork.org) yet this is still higher than any first world country. Teen pregnancy is an ongoing battle and should be considered won when it is eradicated.
Single parent households are becoming so common that is is expected. The amount of children living with their father has gone up but it is still pretty low compared to children living with their mothers. Which parent you are raised by is important. Each parent can only teach you what they learned. You mother can only teach you how to be a mother and your father can only teach you how to be ...
One major effect of teen pregnancy is that the child may be raised by a single parent. While most girls are looking for love and acceptance in sex, many guys are looking for the mere pleasure and are not planning on becoming a teen father. The pressures of high school and hanging out with friends may be overwhelming for some teens, so they just leave. Raising a child as teen is difficult, but raising a child alone would be almost impossible.
One of the hardest issues to survive in, as a single parent, is an overwhelming emotion that you should complete the role of both mother and father. This feeling evolves and will be more intense if the other single parent is not portraying a role that is active with the children.
The debate on whether to get married or stay single has been raging for a long while, with both sides of the coin having their own pros and cons regarding the matter. Many proponents of either marriage or single life have strong individual convictions, and it is difficult to reach a definitive objective conclusion. Is the married individual happier than his/her single counterpart, or is getting married just a comfort seeking ritual that people believe they have to fulfill at some point in their lives? It is necessary to dissect this issue in the light of four factors: health and other medical factors, the economic and finance front, mental and emotional wellbeing and lastly, the social factor.
In this day and time it is common for children to be raised in a single parent households
...due to increasing uncertainty about the future. Fears of having the baby are prevalent as the teen becomes confused on the impact of the baby towards her own life and future dreams. In their lifespan development, delaying their education is necessary as they cannot hold on to both the education and the pregnancy. The depression developed is due to lack of effective handling of the emotions created by the pregnancy (Carlson, 2009).