Family Is The Fundamental Unit Of Society And Today It Is Used With A Wide Variety Of Meanings

During the 1990’s, a total of 71.5 million children under the age of 18 lived within the U.S. Of these children more than 70% lived in a traditional two-parent family, 25% lived with one parent, and less than four percent of children lived with another relative. As of 2013, about 46% of children live in a traditional two-parent family. The remaining 54% are divided into three categories: 15% live with two parents remarried, 34% live with a single parent, and five percent live without a parent. Studies show that children who live in an non-traditional family are at a greater disadvantage than children living in a traditional family. Children who live in non-traditional families are at a higher risk of experiencing economic and psychological/health

About four in every ten children born in America in 2008 were born outside of marriage, and they are disproportionately minority and poor. “Only about 6 percent of college-educated mothers’ births are nonmarital versus 60 percent of those of high school dropouts” (5). Scholars responded to this by studying single-parent families.

As time progresses, family structures are rapidly shifting. In 2007, unmarried parents produced 40% of US children. This was over twice the 18 percent in 1980 and about eight times greater than the 5% in 1960 (Waldfogel, Craigie, Brooks-Gunn, 2).  In a study of 5000 children in many large cities, 3,700 of them were born to unmarried mothers. According to Waldfogel, Craigie, and Brooks-Gunn, such familiar conditions are dangerous because of the way that single mothers and unmarried parents tend to have less stable lives and relationships

Similarly, some are faced with financial challenges while others are financially secure. In addition, some fathers are still involved in their children's lives, such as seeing them on weekends or holidays,while some fathers choose to be withdrawn from their childrens lives completely. Over the years, there have been many studies that show that the main dangers with single motherhood come from financial uncertainty and to a smaller degree, certain romantic patterns of the mother. A two-parent home that is economically steady with strain and conflict would be more damaging to children than a one-parent, financially stable home without strain and conflict according to McLanahan’s results. In truth, no household arrangement assures gladness or ensures

Not only is family structure changing across the United States, but in certain states it is much higher. Louisiana has the highest percentage of single-mother led families followed by Mississippi, South Carolina, and Georgia leaving Ohio at eleventh with the most single-mother families (.....). Single-parent families are increasingly common in today’s society. Since more than a decade ago, children are living with a single parent as well as the increase in kids living with a single father. The number of single father families has increased twenty-two percent in just ten years, while the number of married couples raising children has steadily declined through the years. "The American family has been changing for a long time," said Anastasia Snyder, an Ohio State University professor who studies family structure. "This is a trend, and I just don't see it turning around" (.....). As of 2000, the number of married couples with children led the statistics in Ohio with a whopping seventy-one percent but by 2010, the number had a dramatic decrease to just sixty-five percent. Because of the increase in single-parent families, the number of households in Ohio has increased by 3 percent to 4.6 million while the overall population only grew 1.6 percent to 11.5 million residents (.....). Divorce most likely plays a role on these numbers as well but is mostly because of single-parent

About four in every ten children born in America in 2008 were born outside of marriage, and they are disproportionately minority and poor. “Only about 6 percent of college-educated mothers’ births are nonmarital versus 60 percent of those of high school dropouts” (5). Scholars responded to this by studying single-parent families.

According to research conducted by Gunnar Anderson, nearly half of the children in America were living in single parent homes by the time they were fifteen years of age, in 2013. In 2010, the United States

The family structure of children living in nontraditional homes is increasing because the rate of divorce has increased. Statistics from the US Bureau of Census indicates that fifty-percent of families who were once married are now remarried or re-coupled, thirteen-hundred new stepfamilies are forming every day, one out of two marriages ends in divorce, seventy-five percent of divorced couples end up remarrying, fifty percent of the sixty million children under the age of twelve are currently living with one biological parent and that parent’s current partner. (Stepfamily Statistics, 2018).

The stereotypical view often associated with single motherhood is one of a chaotic household where there is no supervision and where most of the children are left to fend for themselves. A typical American household is one where both parents are present and care about the wellbeing of their family. Often times, single mothers are frowned upon because of the stereotypes associated with the label. They are seen as destructive household where there is an increase in chances “that the children involved will experience alcoholism, mental illness, academic failure and other troubles” (Roiphe 54-55). This study done by Princeton sociologist, Sara S. McLanahan, paints single motherhood as being extremely damaging to the children involved. Roiphe

Some of the outcomes that parents face raising children as a single parent are that children grow up with low parental involvement, supervision, and aspirations of becoming a doctor or engineer are only lived out by those who have more structure in their life’s and are middle class citizens. Usually when children grow up in low income areas they get the least-experienced teachers, these teachers are not used to the circumstances they will face so teachers are leaving and more schools are left with a shortage of teachers and children or young adults are not get stability, something that they are used to nevertheless something they need. Mothers do their best to find ways to work and be there for their children, but when parents can’t afford a family a lot of children turn to selling drugs and a life of crime to get money. This usually doesn’t happen when a single parent is a father due to the disciplinary figure the fathers

In America, roughly 34% of households are single parent households. This mainly occurs because most parents don’t get married or one parent decides that the pressure of raising a child is too much for them to handle. This decision not only affects the other parent, but it also has a major effect on the child. Single parent households can affect a child’s academic success, social life, social decisions, and emotions. Single parent households can also affect the parent that is the head of household financially, emotionally, it can cause stress and occasional guilt.

Single parent homes is something that we see more common in our generation than it has been in past generations. I have raised in a single parent home and now I am raising my child in a single parent home. I never really thought about all the stigma associated with being involved in this type of family types. According to Birkenmaier, Berg-Weger, and Dewees, society and some social service providers have viewed single parenthood as a blight that leads to insecure, delinquent, and otherwise unhappy and dysfunctional households. (20114.pg. 252) while there can be some downfalls for living in this family type, it is not always the worse possible outcome. I feel that seeing the struggle that my mother faced to get us up and dressed for school,

According to the Custodial Mothers and Fathers and Their Child Support, a report released by U.S. Census Bureau, claimed that out of 12.2 million single parent families in 2012, more than 80% were single mother parents. For a long time, there are many children that have grown up in a single-parent home. Kids who are raised by one parent seems almost impossible to them but have become more common in today’s society. Regardless of the situation, children who grow up in a household with one biological parent instead of two biological parents are often more susceptible to risks that can be harmful and hard on the child when having to acknowledge them. Single parents are detrimental to a child’s life, because they are at a higher risks of

Family is an important structure within society. The word family may be defined in various ways: you may define it as a group of close friends who you genuinely care for and trust, or as a group of people who are related by the blood which runs through their veins. In this country, we see all types of families. The traditional nuclear family consists of – a father, mother, and children. However, currently this is not always the case. Divorce rates have risen over the years, breaking the nuclear family; unfortunately, this event can affect children’s development. Gary Peterson and Kevin Bush mention the conclusion of – children benefiting from two-parent families rather than single-parent families (499). This can be proven when we notice

Married couples represent fifty one percent of Americans, many of which end in divorce spawning over eleven million single parent families. According to the American Psychological Association forty to fifty percent of marriages in the United States will end in divorce. This marriage dissolution rate results in fifty percent of our children witnessing the divorce of their parents, forty percent of which are being raised without fathers in the home. Divorce and single parent families have become a stigma in today’s society, which is why sociologist have begun studying these trends so intensely. Analysis of these trends allows us to better understand, and make conclusion as to how divorce affects children and what might be done to minimize its affect.