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Growing up with only one parent
Impact of single parenting on children essay
The impact of single parenting and its effect on children
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According to the Custodial Mothers and Fathers and Their Child Support, a report released by U.S. Census Bureau, claimed that out of 12.2 million single parent families in 2012, more than 80% were single mother parents. For a long time, there are many children that have grown up in a single-parent home. Kids who are raised by one parent seems almost impossible to them but have become more common in today’s society. Regardless of the situation, children who grow up in a household with one biological parent instead of two biological parents are often more susceptible to risks that can be harmful and hard on the child when having to acknowledge them. Single parents are detrimental to a child’s life, because they are at a higher risks of experiencing mental, emotional, and social problems.
Single parent families put many mental effects on children that most often tend to be negative ones. Children that are raised in single-parent families are generally worse off than those children that are living in a home with two parents. The structure of a family contributes to measures of a child’s well-being. The number of children between the ages of 15-17 that are in good health is decreasing, while the number of kids from this age group that are getting pregnant is increasing. It is very common for children living in single parent houses to suffer problems of depression, emotional stress, as well as difficulties in school. These difficulties in schools can lead to students dropping out before they even graduate. Children may face these problems because of them having to quickly adjust from living in a family with two parents to modify in a short time to living in a family with one which might be very challenging for them to become accustom...
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...e problems have a negative effects on them not only in the family but have negative effects on their well-being. Whether a child lives with a mother or father, or if they live with both parents they all need moral guidance. These children will become a making of what they are taught when they are young by the parents. The way a parent treats his or her child is very significant, because they are tremendously affected by the amount of affection and support that is given to them by the parent when they are being raised. If a child is raised by two parents, he or she will be better off because they will be getting support from both parents. When a child has support from his mom and dad in the same households it makes them stronger as a person because if those who don’t get support from both parents have to go through a lot of pain and agony everyday of their lives.
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 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
Families are becoming more diverse and they come in all shapes and sizes. Some people consider families to be strictly biological, while others consider people they love to be their family. Although two-parent families are the majority, one-parent families are becoming more common in today’s society. A sole-parent is considered to be a parent without a partner or spouse who is the primary care giver of one or more children in a household (Ministry of Social Development, 2010). From the age of 14 onward I was raised by my father. I witnessed firsthand th...
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
In today’s society, the amounts of single-parent households are increasing and this is another reason for the existence of childhood poverty. Statistics show that children living in single-parent homes are five times more likely to be poor. More people are getting divorced and are also having children outside of wedlock. It has also been said that women rather than men head about 90% of single-parent families. One of the
The slightest dysfunction in a family structure can be detrimental to a child’s development. Children often act out and take part in delinquent activities. In order to increase a child’s chance to succeed in life, they must be raised in a stable environment involving two parents. This helps them to feel included in the family and will help build their confidence and independence later in life.
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.
Single parenthood culture seems appealing to many married people. However, married individuals are forced to battle with elements like faithfulness and life-long commitment to one individual, which may be boring in some cases. However, single parents, especially single mothers encounter serious challenges related to parenting. Single parenting is a succession of constant mental torture because of ineptness, self-scrutiny, and remorse. At some point, single parents will often encounter serious psychological problems some graduating to stress and eventual depression. Again, there are far-reaching problems that force single mothers to a set of economic or social hardships. Social hardships are evident as address in this research.
The Effects on Children Raised In Dysfunctional Households Family dysfunction is a condition that interferes with, and inhibits, a healthy family functioning. Throughout their time living amongst each other, most families will have some periods in which their functioning may be impaired. Healthy families usually return to normal functioning after a crisis such as a death in the family, or a parent’s illness. There is always a substantial impact on the lives of children being raised in dysfunctional families, who later grow up with negative effects, such as their developing their own irrational behaviors (Hunt Web). Some common types of dysfunctional families may include substance abuse, emotional and mental problems, child neglect, gambling addictions, religious fundamentalist families, alcoholism, child abuse, or extreme parental rigidity.
A single parent household is a house with only one parent and one or multiple children. Single parent households are becoming very common in all racial and ethnic groups because it is no longer required for people to be married before they have children. Most households only have one parent because of divorce, never being married, separated, widowed, or because of business. The most common are, separation, divorce and just simply never being married. In these cases it is usually the mother who is the single parent. It is not too often that you see a father taking care of their child by themselves. This is usually because they do not know how, or they simply do not want to take care of their child. Statistics show that family structure has a big impact on certain characteristics of a child such as their attitude and level of respect. Children tend to be less respectful to people because they do not respect the parent who is not around. In many cases a child may become depressed living with only one parent causing them to get out of control and do things that they shouldn’t. Sometimes the child may feel like they are incomplete leaving them to do crazy things to find what they feel like they are missing. often times the child feels that they are the reason their parents are not together.
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.
Children living in these homes with only one parent to love, support and give them guidance. This is heartbreaking for the parent themselves as well as the children not getting the affection that they need. According to, (Amato, R. Paul (2005) page 82), many Investigators have numerous concepts to explain why children growing up with lone-parents have an elevated risk of experiencing cognitive, social, and emotional problems. Most refer either to the financial and parent resources available to children or to the worrying events and circumstances to which these children’s necessity is to adapt”.
Single-parent families have been increasing since the 1970s and as you can guess, growing up in a single-parent family can be difficult and stressful for a child. Kathryn M. Feltey states, "The U.S. divorce rate steadily and dramatically increased in the thirty-year period 1965 to 1995. In 1965 the divorce rate was 2.5 per 1,000 people, increasing to an all-time high of 5.0 in 1985 and declining to 4.4 in 1995." (Feltey). Growing up as a child living without a father/mother figure can be challenging for a child.
Single Parent Struggle 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.