SINGLE-PARENTING AND CHILDREN

Single Parent Homes and the Effects on Children

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Single Parent Homes and the Effects on Children

Introduction

Single-parent families are not considered as nontraditional families in United States any longer. Single-parent families can now be seen in the society like normal families. In accordance with the report by U.S. Census Bureau approximately 30 per cent of the families living in United States fall under the category of single or one parent. In the year of 2000, the single-parent household number was recorded more than 12 million. On the American landscape, the numbers of single-parents are increasing, which has attracted number of researchers and scholars to study the impact of single parenting on the well being of children. This paper in this relation is going to analyze single parent homes and the effects on children. The paper will also critically analyze the impact of such household on children. Moreover, the paper will also attempt to focus on different between single-father and single-mother household in order to broaden the understanding regarding the subject and its impact on children. Finally, the paper will compile some recommendations for single-families, in order to protect their children from adverse effect of their lifestyle (Huffman, Kanikireddy & Patel, 2010). Number of researches has proved that single-parents have adverse impact on child development, behavior and attitude, thus a critical examination will help in broaden the understanding regarding the issue.

Facts about the Single-Parent Household

Earlier mentioned, that families with single parents have become common in American society and all over the world. The term single-parent refers to an individual who is living with one or more child but has no partner or spouse. The number of children having mother and father is declining rapidly among all ethnic and racial groups. This single-parent family phenomenon is growing, and in United States along more than 22 million children are living with one parent, and 83 per cent of single-parent are comprises of women. Single-mother homes are more common and evident in the society than single father, however, statistics show that single-father homes have also demonstrate growth to 60 per cent in the last decade, indicating towards an alarming situation. As much as 85 per cent of the mothers are custodial parent of the children, while 15 per cent father manage and will to retain the custody of their children after their family breakup. Moreover, in accordance with the study by (Cummings, Schermerhorn, Merrilees Goeke-Morey, Shirlow & Cairns, 2010), most of the children are not visited by their parents two years after their family breakup. Among children living with single-parent, approximately 38 per cent are living with divorced parent, 35 per cent are living with unmarried mother or father, while 19 per cent are living with separated parents (Raschke & Raschke, 1979; Amato & Keith, 1991). Furthermore, 4 per cent are living with widower and parents who are separated due to business and other reasons respectively. Studies (see Golombok, Tasker & Murray, 1997; Golombok & Badger, 2010; Schmeer, 2011) have ...