Single Parent Families In The United States

As defined in the article “Single-Parent Families” on the International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family website, “Single-parent families are families where a parent lives with dependent children, either alone or in a larger household, without a spouse or partner” (Single Parent). Ever since the latter half of the twentieth century, there has been a rapid and drastic increase in the number of single-parent families both nationally and globally. It is shown in Mary Plunkett’s article “World’s 10 Most Divorced Nations” posted on the TheRichest website, that America is ranked 10th on the list of world’s most divorced nations with a 53% divorce rate (Plunket). Although other nations have higher divorce rates than the United States does, it is

In a report by two Ivy League professors, it was found that from 1979 to 2012, the median family income rose by .4 percent, but the income among specifically married families rose at triple this rate (Lerman, Wilcox 11). In addition to their research into income growth the pair researched the difference in marriage premiums. Marriage premiums are the income difference between a married person and their single equivalent. According to the study, married men, compared to single men, made an average of $15,900 per year more, and more astonishingly, married couples who were both raised in traditional families made an average of $42,000 more than those who were unmarried and raised in non-traditional families (Lerman, Wilcox 3). This difference in income was also linked to the opportunities of higher education. In the same study, it was found that children raised in a nuclear family are more likely to receive higher education (Lerman, Wilcox 3). Children who are raised by a mother and a father living together are given more opportunities than children with single

As John Kelly stated in his article “Does Single Parenting Affect Children?” posted of the Lifestyle website, “One major study in Sweden, which is in line with other research on the subject, looked at the health records of nearly a million young people and found that children from single-parent families had twice the incidence of psychiatric illness, suicide attempts and alcohol abuse problems compared with those from two-parent homes. Other studies have shown that kids living with single parents have lower self-esteem”. Clearly, single-parent homes have a dramatic effect on the mental health of the child in the home. P.L. Adams also illustrated in his article “Fatherless Children” on the Facts for Fatherless Kids website, that “boys who grow up in father-absent homes are more likely than those in father-present homes to have trouble establishing appropriate sex roles and gender identity”. This is a serious issue because gender identity has become more and more common in the world today. If the child doesn’t feel like they can identify with a specific gender or sexual orientation and if the child has little support because of only having one parent, if can most defiantly lead to great mental