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Kaleigh Whitehill

Prof. Allena Williams

ENG 1201

4 August 2020

The True Effects of Single Parenthood

The timeless Disney film “Lilo and Stitch” centers around a young Hawaiian girl’s

adventure with a space alien; however, the heartbreaking subplot focuses on Lilo’s older sister

Nani, who has been forced into the role of mother and father for Lilo after a tragic car accident

killed their parents. Nani is seen struggling financially, mentally, emotionally, and even

physically as she battles the government for custody of her only remaining family, her sister.

Though clearly dramatized for Hollywood’s sake, it is a universally accepted truth that children

within these single parent households have it ‘worse off’ than those blessed with a nuclear, dual-

parent family. But is there more to the curse of being born (or forced) into a single parent home?

Though negative effects on social-emotional development of children in single parent

households have been observed, these consequences are merely correlational as opposed to

causal when accounting for contributing circumstances. Furthermore, it is inaccurate to say

single parent status itself causes negative child development.

In order to prove that single parenting is not a sole cause for said negative effects on child

development, we must first recognize the relevance and history of the subject, then elaborate the

associated consequences. Finally, we’ll consider alternative reasonings for these effects to prove

single-parent household status alone is not enough reason to attribute any noticeable effects.

The mod podge of family types seen throughout America today has not always been the

case, and the prevalence of single motherhood is the highest it has ever been. Up until the
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1950’s, most households (4 out of 5) were generally owned by married couples: However,

households maintained by women without spouses increased from 3.6 million in 1950 to 5.5

million in 1970 while households maintained by women who had never married increased from

248,000 in 1970 to 2.7 million in 1988 (Wetzel). In 2016, 23% of America’s population of those

18 and under (73.7 million) were living with a single mother versus the 8% statistic recorded in

1960 (Census Bureau Reports). Clearly, the ever-growing presence of single motherhood cannot

be ignored or denied, and it is more important now than ever to understand the negative

consequences on child development associated with single parent upbringing so that appropriate

measures can be implemented early to minimize these effects.

To begin, single parent households have been linked to lower educational achievements.

Children from single parent households are on average about twice as likely to drop out of high

school compared to those in dual-parent households (McLanahan). Additionally, children in

single parent households are five percentage points less likely to enroll in college and seven

percentage points less likely to graduate college (McLanahan and Sandefur). Though not the

most important indicator, higher education has repeatedly been linked to a better quality of life

because having a college degree, or even at least some college credit, leads to better jobs with

higher pay. It is not impossible, but very difficult to get a well-paying job with only a high

school diploma or GED – if a child were not to attain either levels of education, they are almost

surely tanking their future by ensuring they will not qualify for any decent, well-paying jobs.

Children in single parent households also have a higher rate of idleness. ‘Idleness’ is a

term coined by McLanahan and Sandefur referring to a person’s disinterest or inability to

maintain consistent involvement in the workforce. This problem generally effects young men

more than young women; these young men of single parent households are about 1.5 times more
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likely to be idle than those of two-parent households (McLanahan and Sandefur). This statistic

remained unchanged even after adjusting to account only for those children of single parents who

had graduated high school, showing that the rate of idleness relates to single parenthood

households itself and not just the high school dropout rate. Hands on job experience is necessary

to gain headway in the professional working world, and failure to cling or adhere to a labor

workforce can severely impact one’s future in the workforce. This again ensures a young adult

will fail to meet qualifications required to attain a decent job earning a comfortable, or even live-

able wage.

Additionally, children from single mother households are more likely to experience

developmental and mental problems such as psychiatric disorder, social difficulties, and mental

illness such as anxiety or depression. In one study, children in single mother homes scored

higher than those in two-parent homes in the categories of psychiatric problems, social

impairment, and family dysfunction (Litpon et al). Plus, single parents reported more, “cheating,

lying, bragging, and property destruction problems with their children than married parents did

about their children,” as well as higher rates of internalized behavior problems such as anxiety,

depression and withdrawal (Schmuck). These internalized mental problems can lead to

withdrawal, depression, eating disorders, suicide, and incurable catastrophic effects on a child’s

emotional and mental health. As far as behavior problems, these can create rifts and tension in

the child-parent relationship which can cause stricter parenting and may tiptoe into the

aforementioned hostile parenting. Considering that the children within these single parent homes

likely have few trusted adults to turn to, maintaining a strong, trusting relationship is very

important in these households to prevent further internalization of negative thoughts and

feelings. In addition to this, children with behavioral problems create a reputation for themselves
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that is difficult to change – schoolteachers and family members begin labeling the child as ‘bad’

or ‘troubled,’ and thus treat them as such. This can create a self-fulfilling prophecy within the

child and may help cause some of the previously discussed effects of low education aspiration

and idleness: The child grows up thinking they do not deserve to graduate high school or get a

good job, leading to lower school/work performance which furthers their poor reputation and

confirms their own negative thinking. It is a vicious cycle that is extremely difficult to change,

and the effects if remaining unchanged can be devastating.

Fig. 1. Chart explaining income differences between different family structures, including

accounting for different education levels and races.

Though rates of these negative effects on social-emotional development may be increased

within single parent homes, there are a plethora of causes that contribute to a child’s
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development. With 27% of solo (single) parents living in poverty, finances are a must-have

discussion regarding single parenthood (Livingston). It has long been well-established that single

parents are worse off financially; after all, it is pretty simple math that one parent equals one

salary, and children are notoriously very expensive. The above chart is a perfect visual showing

that no matter what the education level or race, single parents consistently get the short end of

the stick wage-wise every time. Poverty effects all aspects of a child’s life – education,

resources, environment, as well as psychological and developmental problems. Children raised in

poverty are also often forced to reside in neighborhoods with higher rates of violence. With

poverty and low income affecting virtually all aspects of a child’s development, and considering

the high rate of single parents living in poverty or low income – noting that low income was not

accounted for in the 27% statistic – the outlook for the development and well-being of children

raised in single families is a difficult battle from the start. Of course, all parents want to provide

everything for their children; however, when the resources simply are not available, the dice

appear loaded in favor of dual-parent, dual-income homes.

Another factor influencing children’s development in single-parent households is the

presence or absence of traumatic events such as divorce or separation. The experience of

traumatizing events in a child’s life is far more harmful than the missing parental influence:

Children of single parent homes whose parents did not get divorced or separated had no

significant behavioral differences compared to dual-parent homes (Schmuck). In other words, if

the child never knew their missing parent, they have relatively similar rates of behavioral

problems as those in dual-parent homes. Children whose fathers live in separate homes due to

separation or divorce, yet still have some semblance of presence in their lives are affected far

worse than those who never knew their absent parent. Often, separation and divorce cause
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weakened relationships between the child and the father due to less time together, which can

cause the father to disengage from the child and results in a lowered sense of trust and

commitment (McLanahan and Sandefur). Additionally, children often harbor feelings of anger,

confusion, frustration, and self-blame when experiencing divorce or separation; and though it

may be a mutual decision, the father is often painted as the ‘bad guy’ who leaves his family, at

least in the child’s mind, due to mothers getting custody in most separation cases. School-aged

children of divorce showed increased levels of depression and anxiety due to the traumatizing

event of divorce itself (Agnafors). In contrast, children whose parent (usually mother) is single at

the time of the child’s birth do not have a sense of missing out, nor do they have prior

experience/memories of a ‘whole’ family. Though there may be problems during adolescence

with feelings of being unplanned or unwanted, the formative years are not affected or burdened

with these feelings of anger or hurt, and thus their development is not as negatively affected from

the start. Therefore, it is safer to say that traumatizing events in childhood have far more known

negative effects when compared to the possible, correlational negative effects observed in single-

parent homes.

In addition to this, maternal mental well-being and education level plays a role in

increasing or decreasing the negative consequences on child development. In a study performed

by Lipman et al., single mother families had higher rates of family dysfunction, psychiatric

problems and maternal depression as well as lower rates of social support. Additionally, low

maternal education is shown to have a negative effect on social impairment of the child (Lipman

et al). Not only do these factors increase risk of negative or hostile parenting styles, but they also

influence the child heavily because children will follow the example they are given. In the case

of low education achievement, some children may feel further motivation to attend college and
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create a better life and future for themselves than what their mother had. However, many take a

viewpoint that if their mother/father did not go to college and still managed to successfully raise

a child on their own, then college is unnecessary for the child.

Some researchers still argue that single parenting is the main reason for these negative

behaviors and development within children. One reason for these claims is that children in single

parent households are missing a parental influence, either maternal or paternal. This particularly

becomes a problem when the child becomes an adolescent because lacking someone of the same,

or even of the opposite gender during puberty can be stressful and cause adolescents to seek

advice from peers or the internet, which could provide false or dangerous information

(Schmuck). Additionally, researchers assert that the overall stress of being a single parent

(finances, nurturing, caretaking, housework, etc.) can lead to negative or hostile parenting styles.

Hostile parenting has been found in one study to be one of the most damaging factors related to

negative social-emotional development; the combination of family types and a variety of listed

negatives with the greatest effect on children in the cited study were single mothers with hostile

parenting styles (Lipman et al). On this, mothers who are separated report having undermined

authority and therefore struggle with controlling their children (McLanahan). Single parents are

often under to a lot of stress, be it financial or otherwise; these struggles may result in harsh

words, lashing out or hostile/aggressive parenting styles which increases the likelihood of

negative effects on children’s development. This is particularly damaging in a single parent

home because the child has no other parental influence to turn to and if there is no other trusted

adult around for the child, they may internalize and withdraw as previously discussed.

These assertions are unfair for a number of reasons. Firstly, hostile parenting is not

exclusive to single parent households. Dual parent or cohabitating homes with parental problems
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can just as easily, if not more so cause hostile parenting. This idea links back to traumatizing

events being more impactful than single parenting itself; parents who constantly fight and argue

are likely to take that stress and anger out on their children, or even in some cases, use their

children to ‘get back’ at each other. This can cause arguably greater damage on a child because,

in some cases, they begin to blame themselves for their parents arguing – more so, they blame

themselves for forcing their parents to remain in a loveless, vengeful marriage.

Secondly, single mothers have repeatedly shown to express more warmth towards their

children which, “increases self-esteem, coping mechanisms, and decreases anxiety among older

children,” (Schmuck). These are very important life skills to have in order to have a mentally

healthy and well-adjusted child. This is purely logical reasoning; in a sense, it is almost

compensatory for the single parent to bestow heightened warmth or expressions of love and care.

Note, that is not to say that parents in dual-family homes love their children less, merely that

single parents feel the obligation to express their love more vigorously and definitively.

Thirdly, research findings on parental stress in single parent households are split pretty

evenly; about half reported more stress and half reported the same amount of stress or less in

comparison to dual parent households. With such split research it is unfair to make an affirmative

assertion one way or the other.

In conclusion, though there is plenty of evidence linking negative consequences on

children’s social-emotional development to single parent households, the evidence is merely

correlational. Child development within single parent homes rely on several other influences

including parenting styles, relationships with extended family/other adults, parental mental

health and economic status to name a few. Yes, these factors may be linked to single parent

families – however, to attribute negative consequences solely on the status of single parent
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household itself is unfair and hardly justified. Additionally, single parents have many

opportunities for welfare programs to help ease the stresses of single parenting. Single parents

struggle, as do their children, but with enough love, patience, perseverance and social support,

these ‘broken’ families can create some of the strongest, most passionate and hard-working

people this world has ever seen – like a little girl who befriends and saves a host of alien

creatures because of the love her sister, her only ‘ohana,’ showed her.
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Works Cited

Agnafors, Sara et al. “Mental health in young mothers, single mothers, and their children.” BMC

Psychiatry. 11 April 2019. http://liu.diva-

portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1324367/FULLTEXT01.pdf. Accessed 15 July 2020.

Lipman, Ellen M. et al. “Child Well-Being in Single Mother Familes.” ScienceDirect. January

2002. https://www-sciencedirect-

com.sinclair.ohionet.org/science/article/pii/S0890856709605918?via%3Dihub#bib20.

Accessed 15 July 2020.

McLanahan, Sara. “The Consequences of Single Motherhood.” The American Prospect. 19

December 2001. https://prospect.org/health/consequences-single-motherhood/. Accessed

13 July 2020.

McLanahan, Sara and Sandefur, Gary. Growing Up with a Single Parent: What Hurts, What

Helps. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England. Harvard University Press, 1994.

Schmuck, Dominic. "Single parenting: fewer negative effects of children's behaviors than

claimed," Modern Psychological Studies: Vol. 18 : No. 2 , Article 12.

https://scholar.utc.edu/mps/vol18/iss2/12. Accessed 12 July 2020.

Porter, Jenny. “The Majority of Children Live with Two Parents, Census Bureau Reports.”

United States Census Bureau. 17 November 2016.

https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2016/cb16-192.html. Accessed 14 July

2020.

Wetzel, James R. “American families: 75 years of change.” Monthly Labor Review. March 1990.

https://www.bls.gov/mlr/1990/03/art1full.pdf. Accessed 14 July 2020.