Dr. Suzanne Cleck, PsyD
Class: The Fundamentals of Drug and Alcohol Abuse
My father left my mother and I during the first year of my life. I know first hand the psychological effects of growing up in a fatherless household. I grew up with feelings of stress, generalized anxiety and a pervasive sense that there was something missing in my life, a sense of being incomplete. Even then I knew that something was awry, but was never able to articulate my feelings or needs. Statistically, children from fatherless single-parent families suffer a myriad of maladies than those children of two-parent households. As a direct result …show more content…
Children with fathers at home tend to do better in school, are less prone to depression and are more successful in relationships. Children from one-parent families achieve less and get into trouble more than children from two parent families. (4) In contrast, Children whose parents separate are significantly more likely to engage in early sexual activity, abuse drugs, and experience conduct and mood disorders. This effect is especially strong for children whose parents separated when they were five years old or younger. (5) Compared to peers living with both biological parents, sons and daughtersof divorced or separated parents exhibited significantly more conduct problems. Daughters of divorced or separated mothers evidenced significantly higher rates of unwed teen pregnancies, internalizing problems, such as anxiety or depression. (6) "The …show more content…
It is said that society’s expectations become our obligations. Label (or mislabel) a child at an early age, call him a liar, a thief, lazy, no-good, and he will fulfill your expectations of him. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy. It is only through my own personal awareness of these issues, a deep introspection, and a sincere desire and willingness to change these maladaptive thinking processes and behaviors that I will be able to break from the mold, prove wrong the expectations of society and statisticians alike, and walk my own path of