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Single-parent families

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Definition

Single-parent families are families with children nether age 18 headed by a parent who is widowed or divorced and not remarried, or by a parent who has never married.

Clarification

One out of every ii children in the United States will live in a single-parent family unit at some time before they reach historic period 18. According the United States Census Bureau, in 2002 well-nigh 20 1000000 children lived in a household with only their female parent or their father. This is more than 1-fourth of all children in the United States.

Since 1950, the number of one-parent families has increased substantially. In 1970, about xi percent of children lived in single-parent families. During the 1970s, divorce became much more common, and the number of families headed past one parent increased apace. The number peaked in the 1980s and and so declined slightly in the 1990s. By 1996, 31 percent of children lived in single-parent families. In 2002, the number was 28 percentage. Many other children accept 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 ane pace parent.

The reasons for single-parent families take besides changed. In the mid-twentieth century, nearly single-parent families came about because of the decease of a spouse. In the 1970s and 1980s, about single-parent families were the result of divorce. In the early 2000s, more and more single parents have never married. Many of these unmarried parents live with an adult partner, sometimes even the unmarried father of their child. These families are counted by the Census Bureau as single-parent families, although two adults are present. Nevertheless other families are counted as single-parent families if the parents are married, but i is abroad for an extended flow, for example, on armed forces deployment.

The most common type of single-parent family is one that consists of a mother and her biological children. In 2002, sixteen.five million or 23 percent of all children were living with their single mother. This grouping included 48 percent of all African-American children, xvi percent of all non-Hispanic white children, 13 percent of Asian/Pacific Islander children, and 25 percentage of children of Hispanic origin. However, these numbers do not give a true film of household organization, considering 11 pct of all children were really living in homes where their mother was sharing a home with an adult to whom she was not married. This group includes 14 percent of white children, 6 percent of African-American children, 11 percentage of Asian/Pacific Islander, and 12 percent of Hispanic children.

Households headed past a single father increased substantially after the early 1980s, reflecting gild's changing attitudes about the role of fathers in child rearing. In 1970, merely ane pct of children lived with a single father. In 2002, near 5 percent of children under age 18 lived with their single fathers. Single fathers, however, are much more likely to be divorced than never married and much more likely than single mothers to be sharing a domicile with an adult to whom they are non 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 percent for Asian/Pacific Islanders, and 46 percentage for children of Hispanic origin. Information technology is clear that non all single-parent families are the same and that within dissimilar ethnic and racial groups, the number and type of single-parent families varies considerably.

Adoption by single individuals has also soared. In 1970 only 0.5 to 4 percent of adoptive parents were single. In the 1980s this charge per unit increased from viii to 34 percent. According the United states of america Section of Health and

Single parent and her children spending time together.

(© Rick Gomez/Corbis.)

Human Services, 33 percentage of children adopted from foster care are adopted by single parents.

Mutual issues

Unmarried-parent families face special challenges. One of these is economic. In 2002, twice as many single-parent families earned less than $xxx,000 per year compared to families with two parents present. At the opposite end of the spectrum, 39 percent of ii-parent families earned more than $75,000 compared to vi percent of single-mother families and xi percent of single-begetter families. Unmarried-parent families are challenged in other ways. Children living with unmarried fathers were the least likely of all children to have health insurance coverage.

Social scientists accept found that children growing up in single-parent families are disadvantaged in other means when compared to a two-biological-parent families. Many of these issues are directly related to the poor economic condition of single-parent families, not just to parenting style. These children are at adventure for the post-obit:

• lower levels of educational achievement
• twice every bit likely to drop out of school
• more likely to become teen parents
• more conflict with their parent(s)
• less supervised by adults
• more likely to go truants
• more frequently corruption drugs and booze
• more high-adventure sexual behavior
• more likely to bring together a gang
• twice as likely to go to jail
• four times every bit probable to demand aid for emotional and behavioral problems
• more probable to participate in tearing crime
• more probable to commit suicide
• twice as probable to go divorced in adulthood

Studies accept likewise found that children who live in a ii-parent family where one parent is calumniating or has a high level of antisocial beliefs do not do as well every bit children whose parents divorce if the child then lives in a single-parent family with the nonabusive parent.

It is of import to remember that every single-parent family is different. Children who are living with a widowed mother will take a home life that is unlike from children with divorced parents or those whose parents were never married. Children of divorced parents volition have a wide range of relationships with their parents and parents' partners depending on custody arrangements and the commitment of the non-custodial parent to maintaining a relationship with the kid. Despite the fact that children from single-parent families often face a tougher time economically and emotionally than children from two-biological-parent families, children from single-parent families can grow up doing well in schoolhouse and maintaining salubrious behaviors and relationships.

Parental concerns

Being a unmarried parent can be hard and lonely. At that place is often no other developed with whom to share decision-making, bailiwick , and financial responsibilities. The full burden of finding responsible childcare, earning a living, and parenting falls on one individual. Nevertheless, the lack of a second parent often has a less negative bear upon on children than family instability, lack of construction, and inconsistent enforcement of parental standards. Unmarried parents may want to follow these steps in order to create positive experiences for their children:

• Detect stable, safe child care.
• Found a habitation 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.
• Get to know the important people (teachers, coaches, friends) in the kid's life.
• Reply questions about the other parent calmly and honestly.
• Avoid behavior that causes the child to experience pressed to cull between divorced parents.
• Explain fiscal limitations honestly.

When to get help

If parents feel their child is out of control and is not responding to their parenting, they need to get assist from the child's school, social service agencies, and mental wellness professionals. If they feel their own life is spiraling downward and falling autonomously, they can seek assistance from many organizations that provide social, emotional, financial, and legal back up for single-parent families.

Resource

BOOKS

Karst, Patricia. The Unmarried Mother's Survival Guide. Freedom, CA: Crossing Press, 2000.

PERIODICALS

Fields, Jason. "Children's Living Arrangements and Characteristics: March 2002." Electric current Population Reports. United States Department of Commerce Economics 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'due south Antisocial Behavior." Child Evolution 74 (January-Feb 2003): 109–27.

ORGANIZATIONS

Parents without Partners. 1650 South Dixie Highway, Suite 510, Boca Raton, Florida 33431 Web site: http://www.parentswithoutpartners.org.

Single and Custodial Fathers Network Inc. Spider web site: http://scfn.org .

WEB SITES

Single Parent Primal. Available online at http://www.singleparentcentral.com (accessed November 14, 2004.).

Tish Davidson, A.1000.

jacobswhought.blogspot.com

Source: http://www.healthofchildren.com/S/Single-Parent-Families.html

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