Lakewood, Wa Division of Children and Family Services
Single-parent families
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Definition
Unmarried-parent families are families with children nether age xviii headed by a parent who is widowed or divorced and not remarried, or past a parent who has never married.
Description
One out of every two children in the U.s.a. will live in a unmarried-parent family at some time before they reach historic period 18. According the U.s.a. Census Bureau, in 2002 virtually 20 million children lived in a household with only their mother or their male parent. This is more than one-quaternary of all children in the United States.
Since 1950, the number of one-parent families has increased substantially. In 1970, about 11 percent of children lived in single-parent families. During the 1970s, divorce became much more than common, and the number of families headed by ane parent increased rapidly. The number peaked in the 1980s and then declined slightly in the 1990s. Past 1996, 31 percentage of children lived in unmarried-parent families. In 2002, the number was 28 percent. Many other children have lived in single-parent families for a time before their biological parent remarried, when they moved into a two-parent family with one biological parent and one step parent.
The reasons for single-parent families have too changed. In the mid-twentieth century, almost single-parent families came well-nigh considering of the decease of a spouse. In the 1970s and 1980s, almost single-parent families were the result of divorce. In the early 2000s, more and more single parents have never married. Many of these single parents alive with an adult partner, sometimes even the unmarried begetter of their child. These families are counted by the Census Bureau as unmarried-parent families, although two adults are present. Still other families are counted as single-parent families if the parents are married, only ane is away for an extended period, for instance, on military machine deployment.
The most common blazon of single-parent family is ane that consists of a female parent and her biological children. In 2002, xvi.5 1000000 or 23 percent of all children were living with their single mother. This group included 48 percent of all African-American children, xvi percent of all non-Hispanic white children, thirteen percent of Asian/Pacific Islander children, and 25 percent of children of Hispanic origin. However, these numbers do not give a true motion picture of household organisation, because eleven percentage of all children were really living in homes where their female parent was sharing a domicile with an adult to whom she was not married. This group includes 14 percentage of white children, half-dozen percent of African-American children, 11 percent of Asian/Pacific Islander, and 12 per centum of Hispanic children.
Households headed by a single male parent increased substantially subsequently the early on 1980s, reflecting lodge'southward changing attitudes about the role of fathers in child rearing. In 1970, merely 1 percent of children lived with a single father. In 2002, nearly v percent of children under age 18 lived with their single fathers. Unmarried fathers, however, are much more likely to exist divorced than never married and much more probable than single mothers to be sharing a dwelling with an developed to whom they are not married. For example, 33 percent of Caucasian children lived with fathers who were unmarried but cohabiting with another adult. The charge per unit was 29 percent for African-American children, 30 pct for Asian/Pacific Islanders, and 46 percent for children of Hispanic origin. Information technology is clear that not all single-parent families are the same and that within different ethnic and racial groups, the number and type of single-parent families varies considerably.
Adoption by single individuals has also soared. In 1970 but 0.5 to four percent of adoptive parents were single. In the 1980s this rate increased from 8 to 34 percent. According the U.s. Department of Wellness and
Single parent and her children spending time together.
(© Rick Gomez/Corbis.)
Human Services, 33 percent of children adopted from foster intendance are adopted by unmarried parents.
Mutual problems
Single-parent families face up special challenges. One of these is economic. In 2002, twice every bit many unmarried-parent families earned less than $thirty,000 per year compared to families with 2 parents present. At the opposite end of the spectrum, 39 per centum of 2-parent families earned more than than $75,000 compared to six percent of unmarried-mother families and eleven pct of single-father families. Single-parent families are challenged in other ways. Children living with single fathers were the least likely of all children to accept health insurance coverage.
Social scientists accept found that children growing upwards in unmarried-parent families are disadvantaged in other ways when compared to a two-biological-parent families. Many of these problems are directly related to the poor economic status of single-parent families, not only to parenting manner. These children are at chance for the following:
- lower levels of educational achievement
- twice as likely to drop out of school
- more likely to become teen parents
- more than conflict with their parent(s)
- less supervised by adults
- more than probable to become truants
- more frequently abuse drugs and alcohol
- more than loftier-run a risk sexual beliefs
- more probable to join a gang
- twice as likely to go to jail
- 4 times equally likely to need help for emotional and behavioral problems
- more probable to participate in violent crime
- more than likely to commit suicide
- twice every bit likely to get divorced in adulthood
Studies have also found that children who live in a two-parent family where one parent is abusive or has a loftier level of antisocial behavior exercise not do as well equally children whose parents divorce if the child so lives in a single-parent family with the nonabusive parent.
It is of import to recall that every single-parent family unit is different. Children who are living with a widowed female parent will have a home life that is different from children with divorced parents or those whose parents were never married. Children of divorced parents volition take a wide range of relationships with their parents and parents' partners depending on custody arrangements and the delivery of the not-custodial parent to maintaining a relationship with the child. Despite the fact that children from single-parent families often face a tougher fourth dimension economically and emotionally than children from two-biological-parent families, children from single-parent families tin can grow upwardly doing well in school and maintaining good for you behaviors and relationships.
Parental concerns
Being a single parent can be hard and alone. There is often no other adult with whom to share decision-making, discipline , and financial responsibilities. The full burden of finding responsible childcare, earning a living, and parenting falls on 1 individual. However, the lack of a second parent frequently has a less negative touch on children than family instability, lack of structure, and inconsistent enforcement of parental standards. Single parents may want to follow these steps in order to create positive experiences for their children:
- Find stable, rubber child care.
- Institute a home routine and stick to it.
- Apply rules and discipline clearly and consistently.
- Allow the child to be a child and not ask him or her to solve adult problems.
- Go to know the important people (teachers, coaches, friends) in the child's life.
- Answer questions about the other parent calmly and honestly.
- Avoid beliefs that causes the child to feel pressed to cull between divorced parents.
- Explicate financial limitations honestly.
When to get assistance
If parents feel their child is out of control and is not responding to their parenting, they need to get assistance from the child'southward school, social service agencies, and mental wellness professionals. If they feel their ain life is spiraling downward and falling apart, they tin seek help from many organizations that provide social, emotional, financial, and legal support for single-parent families.
Resources
BOOKS
Karst, Patricia. The Single Mother'southward Survival Guide. Freedom, CA: Crossing Press, 2000.
PERIODICALS
Fields, Jason. "Children'southward Living Arrangements and Characteristics: March 2002." Current Population Reports. Usa Department of Commerce Economic science and Statistics Administration, June, 2003.
Jaffee, Sara R., et al. "Life with (or without) Father: The Benefits of Living with Two Biological Parents Depend on the Father's Hating Behavior." Kid Development 74 (Jan-February 2003): 109–27.
ORGANIZATIONS
Parents without Partners. 1650 South Dixie Highway, Suite 510, Boca Raton, Florida 33431 Spider web site: http://www.parentswithoutpartners.org.
Single and Custodial Fathers Network Inc. Spider web site: http://scfn.org .
WEB SITES
Unmarried Parent Central. Available online at http://www.singleparentcentral.com (accessed November fourteen, 2004.).
Tish Davidson, A.Thousand.
Source: http://www.healthofchildren.com/S/Single-Parent-Families.html
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