Submitted by: Submitted by easy
Views: 413
Words: 2646
Pages: 11
Category: Societal Issues
Date Submitted: 07/07/2011 08:25 AM
Why Single Parenthood Affects Children
hen greater risks are found, we are beginning to develop a better understanding
of those factors that differentiate the children in single parent
families who develop disturbances from those who do not. Understanding
why family instability places some children at greater risk is essential in
planning programs and policies to promote healthy children and families. In this
section, we briefly summarize five perspectives on the possible pathways
through which these effects are transmitted: economic hardship, loss of parental
support and supervision, lack of community resources, parental conflict, and life
stress and instability.
Economic Hardship
Poverty is the most profound and pervasive factor underlying developmental
problems of the young. Roughly, one of two families headed by a single mother
is living in poverty compared with one of ten married couples with children
(McLanahan & Booth, 1989). Not surprisingly, single parents are twice as likely
to report that they worry “all or most of the time” that their total income is not
enough to meet family expenses. On average, poor children in mother-headed
families are poor for seven years, more than a third of their childhood (Garfinkel
& McLanahan, 1986).
The economic differences result, not only from lower income preceding divorce,
but also from the decline in income that accompanies divorce (McLanahan &
Sandefur, in press); the effect may differ somewhat for families who start out
poor or become poor. Nevertheless, the income of single mothers and their children
after divorce is only 67 percent of their income before divorce, while the income
of divorced men is 90 percent of the pre-divorce income (McLanahan &
Booth, 1989).
In one study using four nationally representative data bases, lack of income
emerged as the single most important factor in accounting for the differences in
children from single parent and intact families; differences in income...