Single Parent Homes and Child Development - Literature review Example

Single Parent Homes and Child Development Introduction Single-parenting has been found to a direct on the cognitive, emotional, mental and social development of children. This is in accordance to a number of researches carried out by both governmental departments and private organizations that estimated that more than 25% all children in the US live single parents (Osborn, 2012). The findings of these have revealed that children from single parent homes are more likely to develop behavioral problems than those that are the custody of both parents. However, behavioral problem is not the only risk. Other related pitfalls have been outlined and explained by different institutions and individual authors. Nonetheless, some scholars and researchers are optimistic that single-parenting could work even better than most marriages. The paragraphs that follow shall review the thoughts and arguments from both parties. The Negative Impacts and Risks of Single Parenting to Children Researches and societal views that are against the idea of raising children single handedly have a number of reasons for their firm stance. Some of the reasons are as follow: Economic Hardships When only one parent is left with all the duties and responsibilities of raising a child or children, and especially if the parent is not very stable financially, she or he might be overwhelmed by the economical burdens of the children. The little money earned may not be enough to cater for all the needs of the growing children. As such, these children may receive very little or no education at all. The single parent may not have the money to take the children to good schools. Some children may be lucky to join good schools but the parent could fail to give support by providing the necessary personal effects. Eventually, the child may not concentrate in class and still end up achieving very little from the school. Generally, there shall be a delay in the cognitive development of such a child (Amato, 2005). Poor feeding was also identified as another problem that comes with economic hardships. When one parent is missing from a family, there are limited resources to feed the children. This has been the case in families with large numbers of children. The little food obtained might not be enough for the whole family. Some will miss their meals and even the parent may sometime forego a meal for the sake of sacrificing for the children. It is a common Knowledge that food is essential for the development of all the systems in the body, including the brain. Therefore, lack of food will certainly interrupt the general development of children. The brain will not have the energy to think and solve various problems at personal level. The body shall be weak and emaciated. Psychologically, such a child shall remain unstable as he or she tries to solve the mystery surrounding the family that was once very stable. Due to the hard economic times in the family, a single parent might not be able to secure a house in expensive but peaceful residential areas. He or she will have to live in cheap and highly populated estate. Such areas are normally full of crimes since there are many jobless people idling around. As the children grow up in the area, they get bad influence from their peers and eventually acquire the bad behaviors. The children may have long term behavioral problems that affect their social development (Deen, 2013). Low-Quality Parenting It has been established by the Healthy Children Organization that the single parents usually do not give quality time for the children. Since the parent has to work hard al day to put food on the table, he or she may not have adequate time to spend with the family. In some cases, the children are usually left loose to go anywhere at their own time. They visit their friends and come back late at home. They also lack parental guidance and counseling on how to tackle various problems and cope with different stressful situations. For this matter, many children especially the adolescent do not know how to cope with stress and depression. According to psychiatrists, some of the leading risk factors for youth suicide include mental disorder, drug addiction, financial stress, legal problems, maltreatment, domestic violence, relationship break-ups, access to lethal means and depression in general. The mentioned factors usually cause very stressful situations for the youths. If they do not get instant solutions in such hard times, their depression usually lead them to suicide as the only available panacea (Austin, 2000). If the parents are staying together, they can share responsibilities and find time to counsel the children so as to avoid the unnecessary depression and suicide. The single parents also tend to have inadequate rules for the children. The children do whatever they want to without following some guidelines. There is no order in such families as the children may also fight each other. According to Vettere, such a family may be deemed as dysfunctional (2001). The family structure theory clearly outlines the members of an ideal family should interact in so as to uphold a healthy relationship among them. Salvador, in the theory of family structure, argues that the daily interaction between the members of a given family affects the behavior and lifestyle of the individuals. According to this theory, a functional family should have a well organized hierarchy that runs from the parents to the children. This chain of protocol has to follow in undertaking any major action in the family. A functional family must also be guided by the rules that are formed by the members in the higher hierarchies. However, these rules must be semi-diffused so as to allow a smooth interaction between parents and kids. The key factor to maintain a functional family is communication. Parents and children have to set clear channel of passing information. Dysfunctional families, on the other hand, are exactly the opposite of the situation described above. The dysfunctional families are very easy to tell using the family structure theory. Such families always have mixed subsystems with no clear division of the roles played each member. The responsible members may play the roles of the irresponsible members. There is also the element of poor hierarchical organization, whereby a child may replace his parent who either disable or just irresponsible. Cases of domestic violence, bad behaviors and child neglect are very rampant in such families. Children from such families usually end up being like their irresponsible parents since this is the normal lifestyle they know. Such characteristics are quite evident in most single-parent families today. On the contrary, children with co-operational parents always learn to subject to parental authority and behave well. This has also helped in building the interpersonal skills of the children (Lynn, 2014). Single-parenting Optimism Although single parenting has very profound disadvantages, a few optimists assert that such parenting is workable and may not affect the development of the children in any negative way. Single parenting resulting from divorce may lead to a peaceful family, unlike a conflicting marriage. A single mother, for instance, will put her past behind and concentrate on the care of the children. In fact, most single mothers are working and earn just enough money to provide for the children and take them to good schools. It is true that the parent may not have enough time for the children but the little time she or he spends with them is always very precious and the children get just sufficient guidance (Kunz, 2015). The hard work of a single mother usually earns her a lot of respect and love from the children. According to Kelly, single-parenting on its own is not the problem as is the perception of many (1997). The problem is usually other external related factors such as economical constraints, which affect even married couples. The single parents just know how to raise the children well without having to cause them any emotional, psychological and social problems in the course of their development. In summation, single parenting usually has a lot of risks on the development of children as discussed above. However, as put by the optimists, it all depends on the parent’s availability and financial stability; being a single parent can never be harmful to development of your child. Reference Amato P. (2005). The Impact of Family Formation Change on the Cognitive, Social and Emotional Well-being of the Next Generation. Marriage and Child Wellbeing. The Feature of Children. Princeton Austin J. (2000). Juveniles in Adult Prisons and Jails: A National Assessment. US Department of Justice. Washington DC Deen K. (2013). The Challenges of Single Parenthood. Healthy Children Organization. New York. Kelly J. (1997). Children with Single Parents. Marriage and Child Wellbeing. The Feature of Children. Princeton Lynn W. (2014). Caring for the School-Aged Child. American Academy of Pediatrics. Boston Osborn J. (2012). Single-Parent Families. Healthy Children Organization. New York. Vetere A. (2001). Structural Family Therapy: Child Psychology and Psychiatry Review. Chicago University Press. Chicago, 6(3). Read More