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Sociologyessay 2
Sociologyessay 2
Adam Leshok
Sociology
Kairis
2 April 2016
The type of families I researched were families lead by a single parent. I decided to
research this type of family because I know that over the last 50 or so years, single-parent
families have become more and more common and are even expected to increase in the future. I
also wanted to research statistics on single-parent families because I have been very fortunate to
be in this type of family/ living situation, but I know a lot of people who do live in this type of
could have more knowledge and understanding on the topic and better understand the situation
In my research, the biggest piece of information I found is that it is over five times more
likely that a single-parent household is lead by a mother than a father. Over 12 million cases of a
single-parent family being led by the mother were recorded in the 2012 U.S. Census, whereas
about 2.5 million cases of a single-parent family led by the father were recorded in the same
Census. I also found that throughout the whole United States, about 14.4% of families are led by
a single parent. 12.1% of families are led by a single mom, and 2.3% are led by a single dad
according to the same 2012 Census. Breaking it down by race however, things look much
different than the countrys overall statistics. The least common race to live in a single-parent
household is Asian American. Only 6.9% of Asian American families are lead by a single parent,
and again most of these cases are families led by a single mom. After that are white Americans,
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who do make up most of the population of the United States. 11.8% of white American families
live in a household led by a single parent. Then there is a large jump to Hispanic families with
20.9% of Hispanic families being led by a single parent. However, the highest percentage of
single-parent families are found in blacks or African Americans, who have a staggering 32.1% of
families being led by a single parent. That is almost one out of every 3 African American
households that has one parent absent, and in 90% of these cases it is the father who is absent.
What is even more mind-boggling is another way to look at the statistics that shows that 54% of
black children in the U.S. are being raised by a single mother. This is possible because in over
50% of cases, single parent households have more than one child under 18 years old, so by
counting all of the children instead of households, it was found that 54% of black children are
raised with their father absent. Trends pointed out by the U.S. Census show that father only
families were found to be economically better off than mother only families. Also single parent
families have even increased noticeably between the 2007 and 2012 Census. The Washington
Times analysis of U.S. Censuses show that in the last 50 years the number of single-parent
households has doubled. The 2012 Census also noted that more single parents were never
Theoretical Perspectives that can explain some of the trends in single-parent households
are conflict perspective and symbolic interactionist perspective. Conflict perspective focuses on
the power struggle between husbands and wives. Between the two parents in a family there is
constant conflict, sometimes big, sometimes small, between what the husband wants and what
the wife wants and children can increase this conflict because more decisions have to be made
about the life and well-being of the child. This conflict can be bad for the parents and the family
as a whole. It could also explain why there has been an increase in the number of single-parent
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families in the last 50 years and even in the last few years. There are becoming more and more
single parent households because in a household with only one parent making decisions there is
no conflict between one parent with the other in decision making because there is no other
parent. Which in some cases can be beneficial because it can lead to a more peaceful and less
tense home environment and can make things simpler. So since there is no conflict between two
parents in a one-parent household this is becoming a more popular option for people. Symbolic
Interactionist Perspective can explain why single-parent households led by the father are
economically better off than single-parent households led by the mother. This is because
traditionally women have been the stay-at-home parent and men have been the parent who works
to make money for the family. So in two-paycheck marriages, husbands tend to work more than
wives while wives take more time off to stay at home and take care of kids. This trend still
carries over into single-parent families. So in single-parent families led by the father they are
economically better off because the father works more and so he can make more money.
Although it could be argued that this is not what is best for the children in the family and it could
be said that the father needs to be home helping his children, economically speaking, father-only
households tend to be better off. As for race, I could not find much credible research done on
why certain races have much higher rates of single-parent households than others. But using my
own knowledge on the topic, including what was discussed in class last week about social
deviance and race, I would say that the reason more black and hispanic people have single parent
families than any other race would be because of education and poverty. Noting that in many
single-parent families the parent has never married, I believe it is because blacks and hispanics
have a higher percentage of people in poverty and without quality education and because of this
they do not have the money to get married. Also, since it is now more accepted to have children
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before marriage than any other time, people do not feel pressured as much into getting married to
have kids. So, people who may not be ready to have kids are having them which can be an issue
because without marriage there is less commitment so breakups and separation of the two parents
would not be surprised to come across people from a single-parent family at all. It is very
possible that some of my coworkers will be single parents or I may help single parent families in
my job however it may happen. In my own career as an Engineer I do not see myself being very
affected in my work by members of a single parent family because in doing my job it really will
not matter what backgrounds my coworkers have come from because that is not what my job will
be about. Now if I saw my future career to be a career in counseling, on the job I would just have
to be mindful when the people I am helping are from a single-parent household because
counseling would be on a case by case basis and people from a single-parent family could have
different problems or concerns than someone from a traditional nuclear family might and I would
have to give the people I am helping advice that would apply to them specifically. For example, I
may not want to suggest that a boy should go fishing with his dad because it would be fun if I
knew that he was from a single-parent family led by the mother. Instead I may want to give him a
suggestion of something he and his mother can do together. The information I have learned in the
research for this essay has truthfully been pretty eye opening for me because I have learned how
common some things, like not knowing your father or being a child of divorce, can be to some
people even though I have not been affected by it in my personal life. Knowing that not
everybody has had the same upbringing as me will help me be more conscious of the situations
of people around me. Some of the knowledge I learned in research will also help me be
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understanding of more people because I also learned about the effects that are caused by being
raised in a single-parent household, so I know what different family situations, like being raised
by one parent, can be like and what effect it can have on people in that situation. This will be
both helpful in my professional career later in life and in my personal life interacting with all of
the people I come across because I can be mindful of other peoples situations which will help
Works Cited:
Kreider, Rose M. America's Families and Living Arrangements: 2012. N.p.: U.S. Census Bureau,
n.d. Census.gov. U.S. Department of Commerce, Aug. 2013. Web. 2 Apr. 2016.
Andersen, Kirsten. "The Number of US Children Living in Single-parent Homes: Census Data."
Livingston, Gretchen. "Fewer than Half of U.S. Kids Today Live in a 'traditional' Family." Pew
Research Center RSS. Pew Research, 22 Dec. 2014. Web. 03 Apr. 2016.