Can Your Child Cope?
Single parent families are at a higher risk of poverty than couple families and, on the average, single mothers have poorer health than couple mothers.
Single parenting is strongly associated with a n increased risk of a number of negative social, behavioral and emotional outcomes for children. However while the association is strong, on balance the effect size and the actual numbers affected are modest. Most children from single parent families: the parent’s age, education level, and occupation; the family’s income, and the family’s support network of friends and extended family members (including the non-resident parent, if available).
Disadvantages in these factors that often company single parenting appear to cause most of this association rather than single parenting itself.
Shocking headlines do get published; for example, an international study stated that those living with a single parent were about three more likely to develop suicidal attempts by the age of 26 than children living with two parents; however this only happened to 2.2 percent of boys. While such a finding is concerning, clearly the vast majority of the children of single parents do not kill themselves.
A variety of viewpoints do exist, with different readings of the research possible. An international study reports that children of single parents, after controlling other variables like family income, are more likely to have problems. There are impacts of sole parenting on children; however, the weight of the evidence does not appear to support a view that sole parents are a major cause of societal ills and are doing irreparable damage to their children.
Not enough study and research has been given to this what some people call “One of societies biggest social problems.” The effects are relative. Some children experience symptoms ranging from anxiety to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is true that many children grow up to lead productive lives- but at what cost to them in other areas in their lives? The sad truth is that abandonment or separations have a profound effect on children. There is no such thing as a good separation.
