Marriage and family - Research Paper Example

The institution of marriage is breaking up as more and more children are born out of wedlock. America specifically is witnessing a rise in teenage pregnancies and divorces, and the sole responsibility of rearing the children is lying on the shoulders of the mothers. Role of American Government In a so called effort to control these unwanted teenage pregnancies, the politicians are shying off to offer or sponsor any forms of support to these families. However, the latest statistical figure shows an increase in teenage pregnancy rate and every third child is supposedly born out of the wedlock.

The question arises should the government start up welfare programs and other movements to support the single parent families or should it continue to adopt the policy of non-involvement and ignorance towards them. The Research To look more thoroughly into the matter, the sociologists, Pong, Dronkers and Hampden-Thompson noted down the educational development of students, specifically in the fields of Science and English, among the children of single parent household and double parent household.

The research encompassed the students of 10 other countries to see how the government aided welfare programs affected children of single parent household in other countries. . The countries that had higher single parent ratios showed a higher level of educational gap, whereas the countries that had more family oriented laws showed lower level of gap and the education progress of children from single parent families were equal or almost equal to the educational progress of children from double parent families.

The Primary Causes for the Gap a. Lesser Time to Spare for Children: Single Parents are usually stressed for time. Single parents mostly comprises of working moms who have to shoulder a lot of responsibilities of home and office. Unlike the homes of double parent families, where both the parents shoulder responsibilities, here everything falls on just one person. As a result the parent is not able to spare much time on her child’s education. Thus, the children of single families fare poorly in Math and Sciences as compared to other children. b. Lower Household Income: Single parent homes usually depend on the income of single parent which are usually mothers who have not even completed their high school education.

As a result these parents earn in the lower income group and they are therefore, not able to spend extra on their children’s education. The kids of these households depend mostly on school supplied education, thus, there are unable to gather that extra edge. Reason for the Lower Educational Gap in Other Countries Most of the other countries offer a liberal attitude towards single parent households and render much government aided support. These countries are strong family oriented where the kids are nurtured.

Most of the times when there are single mothers, they are at a more