What Are The Effects On Children Of Single Parents?

Although numbers are rapidly increasing, the children of single parents still have a questionable role in society. Convention still rules as schools, religious establishments, the media and most government entities continue to define the ideal family as comprised of two happily married, heterosexual biological parents living with their children. Such conservative ideas can run afoul of many families living in the United States that don’t conform to the formula. The reality is that single-parent families constitute a large portion of our population. Whether or when society decides to reevaluate their definition of family is unclear. The more pressing issue at hand is whether or not there are negative effects on the children of single-parent families.

Getting Concrete Answers
According to the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics Forum (childstats.gov), nearly 30 percent of children were part of a single-parent family in 2006. In the bulk of those single-parent families, primary caregivers were mothers.

Currently, there is a very limited amount of information readily available on the effects single-parent family situations have on children. The scant resources available on the subject are neither concrete nor conclusive, which can frustrate single parents who might want to inform themselves.

Divorce increased in the 1960s and 1970s, prompting a study on how divorce impacted children that were forced into single-parent households. The study on the effects of divorce on children was conducted by Paul R. Amato, a professor of Sociology at Pennsylvania State University. This study became the basis for sociologists that later began to study other types of single-parent families, such as children born to unwed mothers or children who lost one parent to death. However, the plight of these children has still not received the same amount of attention as that of the children of divorced parents.Differentiating between the different groups is important because family dynamics vary depending on how children arrived at their circumstances. For example, in his article published in The Future of Children, Amato writes that children of divorced parents that were not aware of their parents’ marital difficulties suffer greater adverse effects than those who have been exposed to the ongoing deterioration of their parents’ relationship.

Certain studies show that black children do not seem to suffer as greatly from the effects of single-parent families than white children do. This result could be due to a higher percentage of children born to single black women than to single white women. Therefore, most of the black children surveyed were born into single-parent families while most white children entered the lifestyle due to a traumatic loss (such as divorce).

Sociologists undoubtedly do their best to consider all possible variables before providing answers to complicated questions. Sometimes various stages of research yield similar results that researchers accept as evidence. At other times, one study contradicts the findings of another.

Arlene Skolnick (a research psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley) and Stacey Rosencranz (a graduate student at Stanford University) worked together on a study monitoring the effects of divorce on children. The project results revealed that, though the single-parent lifestyle is associated with many problems facing children, the causes to the problems themselves lie elsewhere.Common Findings
The forum on childstats.gov declares that children born to a single mother are at greater risk for adverse consequences than those born to a two-parent household.

The forum concludes that the consequences are a result of more limited social, emotional and financial resources. These findings are reinforced in Growing Up with a Single Parent: What Hurts, What Helps, a book written by Sara McLanahan and Gary Sandefur. According to McLanahan and Sandefur, children of single-parent households are at increased risk of dropping out of high school. In the book’s findings, boys tended to be idle and teenage girls had a greater risk of pregnancy. Overall, the chances of these children going to college were greatly diminished.

According to Amato’s research, sociologists warn that many children of single parents are born into undesirable circumstances.  These children have a higher likelihood of being poor, committing crimes or using drugs. Many sociologists agree that childhood’s adverse effects outlive youth.

Amato has also found that children of single-parent families, whose current lifestyles are due to parental death, have been found to fare slightly better than children from other groups.

Does Money Matter?
Most studies agree that children from single-parent families are more likely to grow up in financially challenged circumstances. As adults, these same children are also likely to have lower incomes than people who grew up in more affluent two-parent homes.

According to Robert E. Rector, Senior Research Fellow of the Heritage Foundation, approximately three-quarters of welfare spending is distributed to single parents and other broken families. There is also evidence to suggest that other problems stem from economic hardship. As Skolnick and Rosencranz point out, children of single-parent families are concentrated in inner cities, where there is often a shortage of quality educational opportunities.Single-parent families usually have less disposable income for additional educational assistance such as tutoring, buying computers or reference materials for the home. Because of the limited funds, children from these households are also less likely to be involved in extra-curricular activities, which can hinder their chances of getting a scholarship.

A lack of disposable income also means that children suffer material disadvantages, often suffering from scorn or mockery by financially stable peers that instills a negative outlook of themselves and their lifestyle.

Sociologists imply that children of single parents oftentimes receive less effective parenting and discipline. Parents Without Partners states that the number of single parents working full-time has increased. Some single mothers even work two jobs. When one individual is working and balancing the requirements of overseeing the household, it seems reasonable that she will have less time and energy to monitor her children and act as a disciplinarian. However, if she were not working so hard, she would have more time and energy.

While no one is going to state that it is best for children to live in single-parent families, it appears clear that most adverse effects stem, not from the absence of a particular parent, but from financial strain.

Not All Negative
“Researchers can never be sure, beyond all doubt, that x causes y. But most of the evidence suggests that single parenthood reduces children’s economic prospects and that marriage improves them,” says Senior Fellow Isabel Sawhill and PhD candidate Adam Thomas.However, single-parent homes now report higher incomes than they did in the past.

Henry Ricciuti of Cornell University concludes that being a single parent does not have a negative effect on behavior or educational performance. What matters most is the mother’s education and ability level, family income and the quality of the home environment.

Because children have only one parent does not mean that they are doomed or that their lives will be riddled with problems and they will have poor, miserable adulthoods. Certified parent coach Jennifer Wolf notes that the situation can help children develop positive life skills.

“Spending quality one-on-one time with your kids allows you to develop a unique bond that may actually be stronger than it would have been if you were not a single parent,” she says.

As we move further into the new millennium, traditional ideas of family and values will be questioned. More modern incarnations and definitions of family will come into being, and some family structures will raise more questions and stir debate among opposing sides. Right now, the only concrete evidence that children of single parents suffer significantly more disadvantages than children from two-parent households is a matter of finance. Society will continue to be less than ideal, and there will always be children who live in single parent homes. Perhaps answers to these children’s needs will not be found by focusing on how negatively their family situation affects them, but rather on how they can better their situation in life.