The Effect of Single Parent Families to Children
CHAPTER 1
THE PROBLEM
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY A family is often pictured by many with two parents. But for some their family composes of only one. Doug Hewitt (2010), an eHow Contributor said that Single-parents families are defined as households in which there is at least one child under the age of 18 and there is only one parent in the household because of divorce, death or because the parent never married. Moreover, Cox (1984) emphasized that the largest percentage of single-parent families result from divorce followed by death of a parent. According to Medina (2005) there are different types of a single-parent family. First is the widow or widower and children which is caused by a death of spouse where the surviving spouse did not remarry. Another is the Single man/woman and adopted children. Third in the list is the separated parent and his/her children. This is caused due to various reasons like divorce, separation or annulment of marriage. Next is when a married man has a second family. This is called the mistress and her children by a married man family.
Over the past 20 years single-parent families have become even more common than the so-called "nuclear family" consisting of a mother, father and children. Today we see all sorts of single parent families: headed by mothers, headed by fathers, headed by a grandparent raising their grandchildren (American Psychological Association, 2012). According to Calhoun (1994) there are more single mothers that single fathers. Almost 1 in 2 single mother families is below the poverty line, compared with 1 in 10 two parent families. This is because women earn less than men on average. In an article made by Ketteringham (2007), a Yahoo contributor, the percentage of children who live with two parents has been declining among all racial and ethnic groups throughout the years. There are many statistics out there regarding this fast growing family phenomenon. In the United States, 22 million children go home to one
THE PROBLEM
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY A family is often pictured by many with two parents. But for some their family composes of only one. Doug Hewitt (2010), an eHow Contributor said that Single-parents families are defined as households in which there is at least one child under the age of 18 and there is only one parent in the household because of divorce, death or because the parent never married. Moreover, Cox (1984) emphasized that the largest percentage of single-parent families result from divorce followed by death of a parent. According to Medina (2005) there are different types of a single-parent family. First is the widow or widower and children which is caused by a death of spouse where the surviving spouse did not remarry. Another is the Single man/woman and adopted children. Third in the list is the separated parent and his/her children. This is caused due to various reasons like divorce, separation or annulment of marriage. Next is when a married man has a second family. This is called the mistress and her children by a married man family.
Over the past 20 years single-parent families have become even more common than the so-called "nuclear family" consisting of a mother, father and children. Today we see all sorts of single parent families: headed by mothers, headed by fathers, headed by a grandparent raising their grandchildren (American Psychological Association, 2012). According to Calhoun (1994) there are more single mothers that single fathers. Almost 1 in 2 single mother families is below the poverty line, compared with 1 in 10 two parent families. This is because women earn less than men on average. In an article made by Ketteringham (2007), a Yahoo contributor, the percentage of children who live with two parents has been declining among all racial and ethnic groups throughout the years. There are many statistics out there regarding this fast growing family phenomenon. In the United States, 22 million children go home to one