INFLUENCE OF SINGLE PARENTHOOD ON THE STUDENTS ACADEMIC STANDING

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

1. What are the reasons that pushed the to be separated with their partners?
2. How do they manage to work and take care of their children at the same time?
3. How did they handle their rebelling children?
4. Are women better than men when it comes to single parenting?
5. What are the reasons for single parenthood?
6. What are the pressures and demands on single parentis?

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY:

In this study, we examine the impact of single-mother families and nonresident father's involvement in
single-mother families on delinquency, heavy drinking, and illicit drug use in Black and White
adolescents by gender. The study is based on a representative household sample of over 600
adolescents and their parents. Using adolescent reports of support as an indicator of nonresident father
involvement, we find that for White adolescent males, nonresident father involvement buffers the
negative effects of single-mother families on delinquency, heavy drinking, and illicit drug use. Indeed,
the highest rates of problem behavior are found among White male adolescents in single-mother
families without the support of a nonresident father. However, for Black male adolescents, we find
fewer problem behaviors when nonresident fathers are not involved in single-mother families.

-Journal of Marriage and Family © 1996 National Council on Family Relations

Cohabitation is a family form that increasingly includes children. We use the National Longitudinal Study
of Adolescent Health to assess the well‐being of adolescents in cohabiting parent stepfamilies (N=
13,231). Teens living with cohabiting stepparents often fare worse than teens living with two biological
married parents. Adolescents living in cohabiting stepfamilies experience greater disadvantage than
teens living in married stepfamilies. Most of these differences, however, are explained by
socioeconomic circumstances. Teenagers living with single unmarried mothers are similar to teens living
with cohabiting stepparents; exceptions include greater delinquency and lower grade point averages
experienced by teens living with cohabiting stepparents. Yet mother's marital history explains these
differences. Our results contribute to our understanding of cohabitation and debates about the
importance of marriage for children.

- Wendy D. Manning, Kathleen A. Lamb

It is hypothesized that child influence in the decision making process increases in an inverse relation to
the mother's age, and in direct relation to the mother's education and income (Taylor, Glynn, and Taylor
1985; Taylor, Glynn, and Marlow 1984).
According to Buss and Schaninger (1984), a woman's sex role orientation affects her household task
allocation behavior, finance handling, and influence in the family decision making process. Green and
Cunningham (1975) found that, in married families, a wife's sex role orientation affects the family's
decision making process and purchasing behavior. It is hypothesized that the more liberal a single
mother's sex role orientation, the more influence the children will have in family decision making.
Colletta (1983) found divorced mothers working full time lack the option of leaving their children home,
and often take them along on shopping trips. These mothers reported shopping took more time, caused
more tension, and often involved buying the children things the mother felt she could not afford. It is
hypothesized that children will have more influence in single parent families in which the mother is
employed compared to the households in which the mother does not work.
In single parent families formed by divorce, the mothers often lose power. Taylor, Glynn, and Taylor
(1984) point out that the influence of children expands with the passage of time in the single parent
family. Therefore, it is hypothesized that the greater the number of years since the mother's separation,
divorce, or widowhood, the greater the children's influence.
It is hypothesized that older children in the mother-only household will have more influence in family
decision making than younger children (Burden 1986; Devall, Stoneman, and Brody 1986; Dornbusch et
al. 1985; Taylor, Glynn, and Marlow 1984; Weiss 1979).
Peters (1985) found that differences existed in the way single mothers assign household tasks to their
male and female children. She reported that single mothers tend to overwork their daughters and
underwork their sons. Devall, Stoneman, and Brody (1986) also found gender effects regarding
household task allocation in mother-only households. Therefore, it is hypothesized that girls will have
more influence than boys.
While measures for the number of children in the household have largely been ignored in marketing
studies, there is support in the sociology literature that the number of children affects the process and
outcomes of a family's division of labor decisions regarding household chores (Brody 1986; Gonga 1982;
McLanahan 1983; Weiss 1979). It is hypothesized that the larger the household size the greater the
influence of the children.

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Disruption creates obvious problems in reaching conclusions about how marital instability affects the
development of children. Moreover, most demographic data provide information only on the date of
divorce, unless the individual is currently separated, rather than on the more pertinent date of
separation; temporary separations are virtually ignored. Furthermore few studies have gathered data on
the nature and levels of marital conflict which precede marital disruption, or the extent to which conflict
declines following separation or divorce or on the degree of the child's expo- sure to the conflict. The
lack makes it difficult to separate the effects of disruption from those associated with prolonged
conflict. Finally, divorce is rarely treated as a transitional event-a temporary interlude between
marriages. Consequently, analyses of the effects of divorce on children typically measure the impact as a
dichotomous state (continuous marriage vs. divorce) rather than as a complex and fluid process, an
oversight which may contribute to the general state of confusion in the research literature.

In sum, marital disruption has not been considered from a life-course perspective. A life- course
framework calls our attention to the intersection of the unfolding conjugal career of the parents with
the changing developmental situation of the child. At the same time, this perspective recognizes that
the meaning of disruption may be changing for children as historical shifts take place in both the
incidence of and social attitudes toward divorce and remarriage. A more dynamic treatment of the
process of marital disruption and a greater sensitivity to the evolving historical context may help to
clarify the complicated effect of family disruption on the socialization of children. We are not alone in
recognizing the deficiencies of previous investigations of marital disruption. Several years ago, Bumpass
and Rindfuss (1979) provided a similar critique of the existing literature and demonstrated a more
dynamic approach to measuring disruption in childhood.

Using the 1973 Family Growth Sur- vey (FGS), Bumpass and Rindfuss derived information on the
children's experience from the reports of their mothers and computed the likelihood that children of
different ages would experience marital disruption, as well as the probability that they would return to a
two parent family via remarriage before they reached 18. Bumpass and Rindfuss estimated that a third
of white children and nearly three-fifths of black children would experience marital disruption by age 16,
if the rates prevailing in 1970-1973 continued to hold throughout their childhood. Their figures closely
approximate the previous calculations by Bane (1976) and the more recent prediction by Glick (1979)
using less-refined techniques of analysis. Bumpass and Rindfuss also showed that most of the white
children were likely to reenter a two parent family within five years of the disruption.

Black children, by contrast, were far less likely to experience family reconstitution and had a much
greater chance of spending a large portion of their childhood with only one parent in the home.
Bumpass and Rindfuss (1979:64) concluded by saying: "The time has come for sociologists to examine
fully the con- sequences for children of the new realities of family life." Our task in this paper is to pick
up where Bumpass and Rindfuss left off. Using data from a recently completed national survey of
children, we shall first present data on the occurrence of marital disruption, comparing figures from our
survey to the levels estimated by Bumpass and Rindfuss. Once we establish the incidence of marital
dissolution, we shall ex- amine in more detail than was possible in the Bumpass and Rindfuss study the
transitions that children experience following marital disruption. This will lead us to a discussion of the
patterns of contact that children have with the parent living outside the home and a preliminary
exploration of some of the determinants of the extent of that contact.

- American Sociological Review 1983, Vol. 48 (October:656-668)

Females from divorced compared to non–divorced families reported more psychological problems
(higher scores in the Beck Depression Inventory, General Health Questionnaire and Psychosomatic
Symptoms Score) and more problems in their interpersonal relationships. These differences were not
found among males. Shorter education,unemployment, divorce, negative life events and more risky
health behaviour were more common among subjects of both genders with a background of parental
divorce.

The study revealed that parental divorce is an indicator of sufficient stress in childhood for its influences
to persist well into adulthood, possibly with wider scope among females. It is important to recognise
specific needs of children in the divorce process in order to prevent or minimize negative consequences
and chain reactions during their subsequent life.

-T. HUURRE, H. JUNKKARI, H. ARO

The proportion of children living in single-parent families has increased markedly around the world since
1960, and this increase has been especially significant in the United States (Burns, 1992; Hobbs and
Lippman, 1990). The United States has a higher proportion of single-parent households than that of any
other developed country. The proportion of children in the United States living with only one parent
increased from 9.1% in 1960 to 28% in 1997 (US. Bureau of the Census, 1998). Although there are
differences in the prevalence of single-parent families across ethnic groups, with nearly 47% of African
American children living in single-parent families, this increase has affected all groups of Americans (US.
Bureau of the Census, 2000). Given current divorce and remarriage trends, demo graphers predict that
more than half of all America’s children will spend some part of their formative years in a single-parent
family (Ahlburg and DeVita, 1992; Bianchi, 1995).

For observers on the national scene in the early 19905, this changing family pattern was viewed as
particularly alarming. Considered a prime symptom of the erosion of American culture, single-parent
families were reputed by many to be responsible for society’s declining values and the breakdown of the
social fabric. In an Atlantic magazine article entitled “Dan Quayle was right,” Whitehead (1993, p. 77)
characterized the family disruption associated with the rise in single-parent families as “a central cause
of many of our most vexing social problems.” Indeed, the term single-parent family became almost a
euphemism for family breakdown, a kind of social pathology, and a major contributor to all that is wrong
with our society (Kamerman and Kahn, 1988). To some extent, this alarmist view of the early 19905
contains a grain of truth. A wide range of research from sociologists and psychologists has shown that
children of single-parent families are more likely to have difficulties with emotional and psychological
adjustment and with school performance and educational attainment, and they are also more likely to
have behavioral adjustment problems, later marriage, and earlier childbearing compared with children
of two-parent families.

- Danielle L Horvath Handbook of Parenting: Being and becoming a parent 3, 109, 2002

Weinraub and Wolf investigated maternal and preschool child functioning in households headed by solo
mothers. Solo mothers—nonadolescent women raising children from birth without a male partner—
differed from demographically matched, married counterparts with regard to stress and social supports,
yet no differences in child outcomes were observed. Twenty-eight families (70%) from that original
sample were reassessed as children entered preadolescence. Child measures included maternal and
teacher report of behavior problems, social competence, and academic performance. Maternal
measures included parenting, social supports, and stress. According to teachers, preadolescent children
of solo mothers had more behavior problems, lower social competence, and poorer school performance
than children of married mothers. Solo mothers continued to be less satisfied with emotional supports
and reported higher stress. Maternal stress moderated family status effects on child outcome.
Longitudinal analyses revealed stability over time for maternal and child variables, with greater
vulnerability for children of solo mothers.

- Marcy Gringlas, Marsha Weinraub Journal of Family Issues 16 (1), 29-52, 1995
Single parent families have received attention by family researchers since World War II. Much of this
research has focused on the negative effects of father- absence on male children in single mother
homes. These studies shared such common themes as tracing father-absence as a causative factor in
juvenile delinquency, inadequate sex role identification, drug abuse, lowered school achievement, poor
personal adjustments, and other forms of pathology (Bane, 1976; Biller, 1974; Brandwein, Brown & Fox,
1974; Hetherington, 1971; Kelly, 1980; Jelly & Wallerstein, 1976)

In recent years, the primarily negative approach to the study of single parent families has been
criticized for a variety of reasons. For example, researchers have traditionally obtained their samples
from clinical population and have focused on problems to the neglect of strengths which exist on single
parent families (Blechman, 1983; Herzog & Sudia, 1971; LeMasters, 1977; Ricci, 1981; Schlesinger,
1978). The present study incorporates the more recent concepts of family strengths and family wellness.
Since not all single parent households experience multiple problems, nor are all children adversely
affected by divorce. This positive framework focuses on the healthiness or strengths of the family unit
rather than highlight its dysfunctional qualities.

- Shirley M. H. Hanson

Using data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS), we found that teenagers who live in
nonmarried families are less likely to graduate from high school or to attend college, more likely to
smoke or drink, and more likely to initiate sexual activity. Not all nonmarried families are alike, however.
In particular, teenagers living with their single mothers and with at least one grandparent in
multigenerational households have developmental outcomes that are at least as good and often better
than the outcomes of teenagers in married families. These findings obtain when a wide array of
economic resources, parenting behavior, and home and school characteristics are controlled for.

Growing up with single mothers is associated with adverse developmental outcomes for children and
teenagers. Although most studies have compared children in married families (i.e., two married,
biological parents) with children in nonmarried families, many single mothers live in a diverse set of
arrangements, including coresidence with their families of origin (henceforth “multigenerational
families”). Although researchers have distinguished children living with divorced mothers from children
living with never-married mothers and those in stepfamily arrangements, little is known about the
number and characteristics of children living in multigenerational families and whether these children
exhibit different developmental outcomes relative to children in other types of nonmarried families.

We used longitudinal data on 11,213 adolescents from the National Educational Longitudinal Survey
(NELS) to investigate the developmental outcomes of adolescents living with single mothers in
multigenerational families compared with adolescents living in married families and in a disaggregated
set of other family structures. We measured family structure when the youths were in the eighth grade
and their developmental outcomes either in the senior year of high school or two years thereafter. The
outcomes we considered were youths’ self-reports of substance use and sexual debut as well as high
school graduation and college attendance. The 10 disaggregated family structures we investigated were
two types of single-mother, multigenerational households—never-married single mothers in
multigenerational households and divorced single mothers in multigenerational households—seven
other nonmarried family structures—two biological cohabiting parents, stepfamilies, never-married
single mothers, divorced single mothers, single mothers with male cohabitors, single-father families, and
grandparent-headed households with no parent present—and married-parent families.

-THOMAS DELEIRE AND ARIEL KALIL

Using information from four national surveys and a decade of research, this book demonstrates the
connection between family structure and a child's prospects for success. It shows how divorce,
particularly with often-attendant drops in income, parental involvement, and access to community
resources, diminishes children's chances for wellbeing. It is revealed that children whose parents live
apart are twice as likely to drop out of high school as those in two-parent Families, one and a half times
as likely to be idle in young adulthood, and twice as likely to become single parents themselves.
Additionally, data show that some of the advantages often associated with being white are really a
function of family structure and that some of the advantages associated with having educated parents
evaporate when those parents separate. The concluding chapter offers recommendations for rethinking
our current policies. The authors explain why it is imperative that more of the costs of raising children
be shifted from mothers to fathers and from parents to society at large, as well as why universal
assistance programs that benefit low-income two-parent families and single mothers must be
developed. Appendixes contain data and variables from the studies, bivariate probit models, and sex-
difference factors statistical tables. (GLR)

-McLanahan, Sara; Sandefur, Gary

The aim of the study was to investigate family functioning and the psychological development of
children raised in fatherless families from their first year of life. Thirty lesbian mother families and 42
families headed by a single heterosexual mother were compared with 41 two‐parent heterosexual
families using standardised interview and questionnaire measures of the quality of parenting and the
socioemotional development of the child. The results show that children raised in fatherless families
from infancy experienced greater warmth and interaction with their mother, and were more securely
attached to her, although they perceived themselves to be less cognitively and physically competent
than their peers from father‐present families. No differences were identified between families headed
by lesbian and single heterosexual mothers, except for greater mother‐child interaction in lesbian
mother families.

-Susan Golombok, Fiona Tasker, Clare Murray Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 38 (7), 783-
791, 1997