Children With Behavioral Disorders in Single Parent Homes Essay

Every year more than half of all marriages between a male and female end in divorce (Weaver & Schofield, 2015), and data from the 1990 census states that over one million children experienced parental divorce (Amato, Sep. 2001). Compared to the 1960s 90 percent of children in the US grew up with two biological parents. Today that figure is only 40 percent (Bryner, 2001). Clearly, the prevalence of divorce should be a concern for the adults who live and work with the children who are affected by this phenomenon.

Divorce is one of the most common happenings in the world experienced by children. Most children go through different adjustments to become comfortable with the fact that their parents are not together anymore. Children of divorced parents are prone to lifelong effects. Seventy-five to eighty percent of children have divorced parents and twenty-five percent of those children have serious social, emotional, or psychological problems for the rest of their life. Most adults think that it is best for parents to stay together for the sake of their child because having two parents in different households can become difficult for the child socially and academically.

Through my research, I found that a single mom on average could not sustain herself for a year of the child’s life but an average single dad with could sustain himself through a year of the child’s life. I will talk about how the salary difference between men and women changes things. I will first show the calculations of the costs of having a baby and living for a year and deducting them from the salary, then an interview with my mother about how she had a stable job and couldn't support herself, then why women have a harder time supporting themselves compared to men. Overall you will see why single dads can support themselves and why single moms

and their world. He or she may be uprooted to a new school, city or

Janet Shansky of Iona college wrote this intellectual article about some major theories within divorced families. These theories have the potential to explain the connection between parental divorce and negative outcomes for the children. These include, but are not limited to, the "marital disruption" theory, the "reduced resources" theory, and the "parental conflict" theory. Shansky takes a deep look at all of the research that went into these theories and how they explain the adverse effects of divorce on children. Another aspect of her article is how these significant theories can be put to use in intervening future students and children from having such a hard time with this major change in their life.

The statistics for divorce in the 1990's suggest that nearly sixty percent of marriages end in divorce. Given this startling figure, the assumption can be made that many children will experience some effects caused by the life-changing event called divorce. What is it exactly about divorce that causes negative consequences for these children? In what ways will these children be effected? Will these effects show outwardly? I will attempt to uncover some of the complexities surrounding these psychological questions in the following text. The unsettling fact is: young children of divorced parents face great psychological challenges due to the environmental conditions and changes associated with divorce (Wolchik and Karoly 45).

In 2002, number of children living with their single parent was 16.5 million (Davidson). The most important thing is that each single-parent family is different from the other. Children who live with a widowed mother will definitely be living a different home life from children with divorced parents or the one whose parents were never married. Children of the parents who were divorced will always have some kind of relationship with parents and parents’ partners. But it is obvious that children from single-parent families face tougher times economically as well as

Morin, Amanda. "Fathers Raising Daughters: The Unique Challenges of Single Fatherhood." Education.com | An Education & Child Development Site for Parents | Parenting & Educational Resource. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 May 2013.

The mother, who often gets custody, will have to seek a job out side of the home. This is because child support is inadequate. The children make more demands on her because their father is absent. She has little time for a social life. Finances are strained. Fathers also have a large burden to bear. He may be seeing his children, but in all probability, they will not seek him out for advice, help, or support. Recently there has been an increase in the number of fathers who are awarded custody of their children, 25 percent in the last three years and 75 percent in the last ten years, and is continuing to rise. In fact, families headed by a single father are growing faster than any other family group in the nation. (“manslife”)

Impacting multiple areas of society, “fatherlessness is a link with virtually every social ill you can name” (Marche, 2013). The numbers are staggering and statistics show, “65 percent of all our children are growing up without a father in the home” (Chiles, 2010). Chiles (2010) also states, “one third of our babies live in poverty and when a child grows up without a father, they are 20 times more likely to end up in prison.” Poverty and fatherlessness is without a doubt a contributing factor to current societal issues. Data shows that the amount of unmarried women giving birth is in an upward spiral. According to Marche (2013), “in 2008, 41 percent of births involved unmarried women compared with 28 percent in 1990.” This information shows the digression of the family unit, and the decreased level of commitment among men to engage in as the husband and father to their family. Currently, an “estimated 24.7 million children (33%)” live without their father” (“U.S. Census Bureau”, 2010). The epidemic is not only evident in the unwed partners, but divorce contributes as well to the troubling effect upon children. Botèro (2012) states “children of divorce without enough father contact are prone to have poor social skills; to struggle with the five D’s (depression, drugs, drinking, discipline and

Divorce is comparable to an epidemic since it has been filtering through many societies at an increasingly alarming rate. According to the most current statistic, there are more than 2.1 million marriages in the United States (“Children of Divorced Parents”). Out of those, almost half end in divorce. Divorce nowadays is extremely common. In fact, in America there is one divorce every thirty-six seconds (National Marriage and Divorce Rate Trends”). Each year over a million American children suffer from the divorce of their parents (Amato 24-26). Even though it might be shown to benefit some individuals in their own personal case, for the majority it causes a decrease in an individual’s life and puts many people “on a downward trajectory from which they might never fully recover” (Amato). Over long term, the United States divorce rate has been on a rise since 1980, which means more children being affected (Macionis). These children that are affected are faced by emotions of anger, confusion and even fear. These emotions affect their academic performance, social interactions, behavior, self-esteem and other negative effects. This literature review is important in calling attention on the current research studying impacts of divorce on children. The topic of divorce is a wide-ranging topic. However, this particular literature review focuses only on the effects that divorce has on children. The data presented in this paper is collected from

The trend of single-parent households are drastically increasing every year. The United States Census Bureau reported in 2013 that about 27.8 percent of children lived in a household with only a mother or only a father. In 2013, 23.7 percent of all children were living with their single mother and is

Twenty-three percent of kids are living with a single mother (lecture notes). Let’s be honest the majority of the time when it comes to custody for a child the mother wins. There even use to be a law in some states where if a couple divorced the mother would get custody, however that is no longer the situation. The reason why the mother usually gets custody of a child could be sexual stereotype. Woman are the back bone of this country without them men wouldn’t be the men who they are so that might be the reasoning behind woman getting custody most of the time. Why being a single mother is a problem is because kids are expensive. For a middle-income, married couple with two children its estimated to be $245,340 to raise a kid in 2015 from birth

Each and every day a child somewhere in the world is experiencing major changes within their family. One of those major changes is divorce or separation of parents. Divorce is “the action or an instance of legally dissolving a marriage”(Webster, 2011 p1). Today’s reality shows that couples only have one in two odds of remaining together. “ The U.S. Census bureau – involved in research about counseling children of divorce- estimating that approximately 50% of all American children born in 1982 lived in a single-parent homes sometime during their first 18 years. Mostly are due to divorce”(Children of Divorce, 2008 p.1). The rapid increase in divorce rates is a factor that has contributed to the large decline of the typical family. “Over 1

Parents need to maintain the daily schedule. This is most difficult for the parent who does not have primary custody of the child. The non custodial parent must try to accomplish a schedule of their own that must include the needs and wants of the child. Depending on the work situation of this parent, it can be a quite difficult task. “The finding that decreased income was associated with higher divorce adjustment for men but not for women was inconsistent with findings that divorced women suffer financially to a greater extent than divorced men” (527 Plummer). With this fact, it is known that single-parenting affects a woman more heavily that it would a man. If the custodial parent is constantly trying to keep up with the demands of their job, this will affect how much time the parent and child will spend together. The attachment many children develop with their father by the preschool years makes them sensitive to changes in the amount of time they spend with him and interact with him. A younger child cannot always understand who their father really is. This leaves fathers feeling desperate for time with their child. When the father spends time with his children, he is liable to stretch the time they have together by taking the children home later, which causes stress for the mother because she has such negative feelings toward the father. This becomes “fuel” for confrontations with the father.