Single Parent Families

“Studies show that children that live in single parent family households are six times more likely to suffer.” With high percentages of marriages ending in divorce, and high rates of abandonment, single parent families are being more and more common. Children who grow up in single parent families encounter financial hardships, emotional problems, and are likely to become criminals.

Children that grow up in single parent families face many economic and financial problems.”In addition, mothers face economic adversities; they often remain unskilled, unemployed, and unemployable.”(Economics of Single-Parent Family Life).Usually single mothers remain unskilled because of there low knowledge, they are unemployed because they don’t have enough experience for the job, and are unemployable because they don’t have a good work historial to fall upon on. This situation is very sad for both mother and child. Having no job means you have to suffer just to buy everyday needs, and giving children a shelter to live under. “Income = (education attained) x (work ethic) x (unity of family structure),” (Fagan).  The income of single parent depends on there education level. If they attended college they would have a higher education level then someone that only when to high school. Usually single parents can’t even afford a good education therefore they face many economical issues.

Family structure affects family income in many negative ways. “The median income of single-parent families is only about half that of 2-parent families, regardless of educational background,” (Economics of Single-Parent Family Life). One spouse engaging their money for everything affects the financial status of the family. Having one person supporting there family is very hard, and the thought of having no money can be very heart breaking. “A family’s income is used to finance immediate needs and, if it is sufficient, it may allow the family to save for future needs,” (Fagan). Meaning that families usually use there money because they have to pay there financial issues, and the money left over they usually save it, but when being a single parent spouse you usually can’t because there isn’t even enough to pay the financial issues. Single parent families can’t enjoy the luxuries of life, and cant live the same life that two-parent families live. Being a single parent family is harder then being a two-parent family because, the less spouses making money the less money the family will have.
Single parents increase there labor force in order to stabilize there income. “Full-time employment does not guarantee financial security, given the structure of the labor force, the lower wages paid in female-dominated occupations,” (Economics of Single-Parent Family Life). Even when having a full time job, the single parent cannot be guaranteed a stable financial status. When the single parent’s increase their labor force they still are missing income to pay for financial inquiries.”Part-time jobs don’t help as much as they should”(Fagan). Sometimes part-time jobs aren’t as satisfying as most people think, they sometimes still don’t supply as much as they should. Having both a full time job and a part time job doesn’t mean you’ll be able to supply for the children’s needs.
Single parent families always face emotional problems. “Children are twice as likely to exhibit anti-social behaviors, when growing up in a single parent family household,”(Fagan). When growing up in a single parent family, you are less likely to be social because all the other children have two spouses. When feeling like your different you can’t relate to other children, therefore it’s hard to be social.”Children feel guilt and depression when knowing that there single parents can’t afford and can’t supply what two parents can” (Fagan). Children suffer from depression because there parents can’t supply what the need. Children shouldn’t suffer from depression, they should be able to live as normal people and not have to suffer because there family struggles. Both parents and children living in a single parent family household suffer from depression and guilt.

Children raised in a single parent family are more likely to have emotional behavioral problems. “Children are two or three times more likely to commit suicide than children in two parent households,” (Magginis, Robert L.).  Children are more vulnerable to commit suicide because they feel as there family isn’t complete.  Children that attempt suicide because they don’t have another spouse feel hatred towards there family structure.”Children almost always suffer from being heart broken because they no longer have two spouses to love” (Magginis, Robert L.).  Children do not feel the same when they have been around two parents all there life and are then exposed to just having one parent around. Usually when the child is going through these types of situations it is helpful to have a couple of good friends around that, will support you and give them that love and comfort they need. Usually children cannot process the whole one parent situation without having some sort of emotional feeling. It is very hard for them to think that they aren’t the same as regular families. They usually feel left out. Children do suffer more from emotional problems when living in a single parent family household then those who live in a two parent family household.

Children living in a one parent household are exposed to a lot more violence then those in a two parent household.”Teenagers are usually exposed to being in gangs,” (Magginis, Robert L.).When being a teenager living in a single parent family you are more exposed to gangs, teens see them as a second family. Teenagers sometimes feel as they don’t belong in a bad family structure with just one spouse, so they turn to there friends. This leads them into gangs. Gangs aren’t the answer at all, but there friends persuade them and they feel loved and cared about in there “click” that they choose to be a part of.”Children of all ages, living in single parent families are more prone to commit crimes,” (Magginis, Robert L.). This happens because sometimes children don’t want to ask there single parents for money that they know they don’t have so they just steal it. Stealing is due to poverty in single parent family households. Children are seriously exposed to a lot of violence.

Most of the time children commit crimes because they have less attention from there family.”A lack of parent child time has consequences,” (Magginis, Robert L.)Not spending enough time with the children does really affect children. Children do other things like stealing, being in gangs, etcetera, because there family pays no mind to them. “Children in single parent families are more prone to commit crimes” (Magginis, Robert L.). This is because unmarried spouses often lack the skill to support or manage a household effectively. Therefore spending time with you children is valuable so they won’t commit crimes.

Single parent families suffer so many issues in there lives. They struggle with money, jobs, and low incomes. Due to this emotional problems arise both for parent and child such as depression and lack of good parenting. Children are more vulnerable to commit crimes and feel depressed. children living in single parent family households suffer from all these problems rather then children living in a two parent household.