Effects on Children in Single Parent Household

The effects of growing up in a single parent household The U.S. Census Bureau reported that about 30 percent of American families are headed by only one parent. Single parent households numbered over 12 million in the year of 2000. According to this, single parent families can no longer be viewed as nontraditional families. These families are all around us today. So, interest has grown as to the effect of these households on Children’s well-being. The most important effect of single parent household on children is in academic achievement. According to the research named Single parenting and children’s academic achievement from Kunz (2010), most single parent households are run by mothers. Therefore, children who lack fathers’ attention can’t have a happy learning environment. They usually perform poorly in school because the lack of guidance on their homework. From this research, we can conclude that for every 100 dollars of child support mothers receive, their children’s standardized test scores increase by 1/8 to 7/10 of a point. In addition, children with single mothers who have contact and emotional support from their fathers tend to do better in school than children who have no contact with their fathers. We can make a conclusion from this research that because children live in single parent household, they can hardly do well in academic achievement. Emotional effects also play an important role in the life of children growing up in a single parent household. According to the article named Children in single parent homes and emotional problems by Erica Williams (2003), living in single parent household can have many emotional effects on children, including feelings of abandonment, sadness, loneliness and difficulty socializing and connecting with others. Nowadays, because living in single parent household, more and more children become autistic. They can’t develop interpersonal relationship with normal people, which avoid them from surviving in the

References: Kunz, M. (2010). Single parenting and children’s academic achievement. Retrieved from http://library.adoption.com/articles/single-parenting-and-childrens-academic-achievement.html Williams, E. (2003). Children in single parent homes and emotional problems. Retrieved from http://www.thehilltoponline.com/2.4839/children-in-single-parent-homes-and-emotional-problems-1.472758#.UjSszMZ9dyc