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Single parent

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A single parent is a parent with one or more children, who is not living with the child[ren]'s other parent. The legal definition of single parenthood may vary according to local laws of nations or provinces. The issue of single motherhood had been a moral controversy in the late 20th century.

Single parenthood may occur as a result of loss (death, separation, divorce, abandonment by one parent), or by choice (single parent adoption, donor insemination, egg donor/surrogate motherhood, choosing to carry to term an unexpected pregnancy and raise the child on one's own).

More than 25% of children in the U.S. live with only one parent (U.S. Bureau of Census, 1997). Research about the welfare of children in single parent families varies. Many factors influence the outcome of how children fare: parent's age, education level, and occupation, family income (socioeconomics), family's support network from friends and extended family members (including the absent parent if available).

Further as some studies discover and pointed out, outcomes in families where single-parenthood is chosen is frequently better, as the single parent is typically older, has established employment and social supports, and has considered the pros and cons of raising a child alone. [citation needed]

There had been some famous women who were single mothers (by divorce, from an extramarital relationship, and by choice) as entertainers (actors by medium and vocalists) and politicians (US congress and presidents) are examples of their ability to juggle with children and goals in their lives.

One famous fictional character Murphy Brown, a career woman working in a TV news firm, became pregnant and had a baby in the comedy series' fourth season (1991-1992). The character's decision became a hot political issue when she was referenced by several US "family values" politicians and the American public became aware of the issues most single parents faced.


Contents

[edit] Single parent demographics

[edit] Australia

In 2003, 14% of all Australian households were single parent families. Since 2001, 31% of babies born in Australia were born to unmarried mothers.<ref name=PB>"Single Parents" PoBronson.com (accessed October 9, 2006)</ref>

[edit] United Kingdom

The following information comes from One Parent Families, a British charity for lone parents. For more information see [1].

  • There are 1.9 million one-parent families in Britain in 2006, caring for nearly 3 million children. Lone parents now make up just under one-quarter of all families with dependant children.
  • Lone parenthood is now often a stage in the life-cycle, lasting on average for around five years. It is estimated that between one third and one half of the next generation of children will spend some of their childhood in a lone-parent family.
  • Around ninety-two percent lone parents are women; eight percent are lone fathers.
  • Around three in five lone parents are ex-married and only one in seven have never lived with the father of their child.
  • The median age for a lone parent is 35, and at any one time only 3 per cent of lone parents are teenagers.
  • Lone parents from black or minority ethnic communities make up 12 per cent of all lone parents.
  • Children living with lone parents are more likely to be young children, with one-third of lone mothers having a child under five.
  • Lone parents have a higher incidence of poor health than other family types and 26 per cent have a sick or disabled child.

[edit] United States

Today in the United States, being raised by a single parent is not uncommon. About three in ten children live in a single parent home. The most common type of single parent home is one with only a mother. However, single father homes are the fastest growing type of family situation. The number of single fathers has grown by 60% in the last ten years alone. This commonly relates to the court's increasing consideration of the stability and permanence of the father's situation.

Loss of a partner may cause the single parent to be financially burdened due to the fact that one of the breadwinners is gone. If the single parent is the breadwinner, he or she has less opportunity to work than before. Thus, initially in all divorce situations, the costs of maintaining a household increases and the pool of skills needed to maintain a household is halved. The commensurate reduction in parental supervision and training for the children may be evident in a variety of increases in social indicators, such as increased juvenile delinquency and increased unmarried teen births.

[edit] Single-parent characteristics

  • Single parenthood can be very challenging.<ref name=CYH>(2005). "Single parenting" CYH.com (accessed October 9, 2006)</ref>
  • Single parents are very likely to include their children in the day-to-day running of the family. The children may have to share more responsibility of doing chores and looking after themselves than other children.<ref name=CYH/>
  • Single parents often discuss things with their children that parents in two parent families often discuss with each other (e.g. the shopping list, what to do over school holidays).<ref name=CYH/>
  • Many parents and children have to adjust to children moving between the household of both parents.<ref name=CYH/>
  • The supervision and instruction of adolescent children is often dramatically reduced in homes with only one adult. The adolescent may experience many adult responsibilities far earlier. There are many examples of how this often results in a much higher rates of motor vehicle accidents, drug and alcohol experimentation, and teen pregnancy.
  • Often single parent families have less income than two parent homes.<ref name=CYH/>
  • Parenting a baby alone can be very stressful for any single parent. Babies need 24 hour care, and parents need rest, time off, help, support, and someone to talk to.<ref name=CYH/>

[edit] Media depictions/characteristics

Image:Circle-question-red.svg The factual accuracy of this article or section is disputed.
Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page.

The mass media in America tends to portray the majority of single mothers are impoverished, from urban "ghettos" or rural areas, from racial minority groups; promiscuous or "loose" and even militant feminists who thrown out or abandoned their abusive husbands (who might be "deadbeat dads"); unable to help pay the bills or refused child-rearing responsbilities. But, the media and social myths of single parents are not entirely true and may contain elements of prejudice that do more harm to the status of single parent households.

[edit] Single motherhood

Single motherhood is by far the most common instance of single parenting. In the U.S. single mothers outnumber single fathers four to one. Single mothers sometimes have a hard time providing for their families. Sometimes, they had given more responsibility of caregiving to their parents or other relatives.

Even they encounter less open criticism from society than other decades, single mothers are more likely shunned for her choice to raise a family alone or perceived by sexist statements as "knocked-up" (the majority became mothers by accident, others might from a romantic affair) or "radical feminists" (the majority of divorced and single mothers don't prefer [re]marriage).

Some studies conclude that women generally have lower paying jobs. In the US, a large percentage of single mothers have children at a younger age than most married mothers. Though other studies have found that the wage gap, or Income disparity, is largely due to choice, not discrimination. [citation needed]

More single mothers failed to graduate from high school and are unable to obtain a college education. Thus, they aren't able to have an average wage or income--a difficult situation unless there are welfare and health care programs available to support her and child.

Thus, single mothers must contend with both financial and child rearing burdens. If a parent makes less money, and thus has to work longer hours, she has less time for her child. In the US, an estimated 40 percent of unmarried mothers receive state/federal welfare and social monetary support, but the majority of all single mothers have obtained any form of employment.

In the US and western countries, painful social stigmas related to single motherhood has disappeared in the 1990s by ongoing cultural changes to accept single motherhood as a lifestyle choice, despite conservatives' objection to it as "knee-jerk" liberalism or over moral and religious objections.

In several studies in Europe and North America, children of single mothers are (not in whole) psychologically unaffected by their circumstances than once thought, and they dealt with theories on the outcome of male children who grew up with only a female parent, some are totally inaccurate. [citation needed]

Society in many ways continues to stereotype boys/men of single mothers as "weak" or "gentle", and even the debunked theories of proneness of sons of single mothers to: criminality, depression, mental illness, paraphilia, suicide, poverty, substance abuse, unemployment, and failure to maintain a sexual/romantic relationship, than compared to sons from two parent households. [citation needed]

[edit] Single fatherhood

In the U.S., fathers make up about 20% of single parents. The role of fathers, married or single, has been changing. Today, fathers are more likely to help children in a classroom setting and do household chores than in the past.

Historically, fathers were not socialized to be primary caregivers, although many men did raise children on their own due to high rates of maternal death. The majority of single fathers will remarry later and the children deal with a "stepmother" figure whom came later in their lives. [citation needed]

The financial and lifestyle hardships of single fathers is similar to those of single mothers, but income disparity is less hard on men raising any children alone and many single fathers find their family offer support and babysitting responsibilities as the majority of them have work. [citation needed]

But even in today's gender-neutral society, most seem to favor women (single mothers) as the ideal nurturers or caregivers than single fathers, a problem that many men faced by societal pressure. Single fathers often deal with this double standard in child custody disputes in family courts.[citation needed]

Female children living in a single father home are less likely to reach menarche at an earlier age than those living in two parent homes. [2] While it's not entirely known what causes early puberty phenomena, connections can be made to the McClintock effect (when women living together have their menstrual period around the same time), in which pheromones are believed to have an influence. [3]

Some media-portrayed stereotypes of girls from single parent households are equally exaggerated, like they carry more traits of bullying, promiscuity, anorexia, drug abuse, and studies shown teen girls from one parent homes are more likely to become single parents themselves in their teens.

North American studies in the field on research on girls from single parent househoulds disapproved most of these myths, especially in the case of growing up with single mothers and/or in households entirely made of women (like care-giver grandmothers, baby-sitter aunts, etc).[citation needed]

[edit] Notes

<references/>

[edit] References

  • Bankston, Carl L. and Caldas, Stephen J., Family Structure, Schoolmates, and Racial Inequalities in School Achievement, Journal of Marriage and the Family 60:3 (1998), 715-723.
  • Hilton, J., Desrochers, S.,Devall, E. Comparison of Role Demands, Relationships, and Child Functioning is Single-Mother, Single-Father, and Intact Families. Journal of Divorce and Remarriage ,35(?) 29-56.
  • Mulkey, L.; Crain, R; Harrington, A.M. One-Parent Households and Achievement: Economic and Behavioral Explanations of a Small Effect. Sociology of Education, 1992, 65, 1, Jan, 48-65
  • Pong, Suet-ling The School Compositional Effect of Single Parenthood on 10th Grade Achievement, Sociology of Education 71:1 (1998), 23-42.
  • Quinlan, Robert J. Father absence, parental care, and female reproductive development. Evolution and Human Behavior, Volume 24, Issue 6, November 2003, Pages 376-390
  • Richards, Leslie N.; Schmiege, Cynthia J. Family Relations, Vol. 42, No. 3, Family Diversity. (Jul., 1993), pp. 277-285.
  • Risman, Barbara J., and Park, Kyung. (1988). Just The Two of Us: Parent-Child Relationships in Single-Parent Homes. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 1988, 50, 4, Nov, 1049.
  • Sacks, G. (September 4, 2005) “Boys without fathers is not a logical new idea.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock, Arkansas)
  • States News Service. (2005 July 20). “America’s Children: Family Structure and Children’s Well-Being

[edit] External links

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