A Study of Single Parenting - Research Paper Example

Since most single-parent households are mother-headed their income is usually below that of a man, this causes economic distress and fewer opportunities for educational and extracurricular experiences for the child. Economic constraints may limit growth-enhancing experiences. Featherstone, Cundick, & Jensen (2002) focus on different variables that may affect student academic achievement. Such factors include gender, socioeconomic status, and family type. Their research stated two different viewpoints, focusing on the impact of fathers on a household.

Not many parents ever expect to become single parents. Being a single parent can have a big effect on a person, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Regardless of which way a person changes, single-parent living is a more stressful life. Single-parents avoid the conflicts of a two-parent family. Parents have the stress of child support payments, part-time workers become full-time workers, financial demands become draining, you must become a good listener, a budgeter of both time and money, and learning the importance of the child's emotional upbringing.

Marks (2006) developed a cross-cultural study where he found that socioeconomic backgrounds are another issue that affects the academic achievement of children. In a single parent family, only one income is being gathered. This limits families with the resources and support that children need at home and in school. Shim, Felner, & Shim (2000) focus on how family structure affects achievement. The main part of their research is that parental expectations of their children were the predictor of how their children performed academically.

If parents established high expectations for their children, then they would perform well in school. If no expectations were set, students performed poorly and became stressed.