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Angelo Knight

Prof. Johnson

ENG 1201

11 July 2021

Literature Review on Single Families

Single Families and the effects of single parent homes have always been in the shadows,

in regard to children’s well-being. This topic brought me toward the question, “What are the

effects of a single parent home?” This question leaves such a wide lens opportunity for a variety

of answers. The answers can be from a physical perspective, psychological perspective, and

even emotional perspective. This research assignment allows for a deeper understanding and

comprehension of the things that single parent household residents have to handle. And as a

product of a single parent household, this assignment allows me to grasp a new level of peace

with certain circumstances that arise through most single parent households.

One of the sources/articles that immediately stood out, in terms of relevance, was the

“Probit Model Based Research on the Influence of Social Capital to Psychological Capital of

Children from Single Parent Families: Empirical Analysis based on CHARLS Data of China.” This

article is based out of research given during the 2020 International Conference on Information

Science and Education. The authors of this article are Yang Zan and Zhao Xi. Something I

appreciate about this article that stands out amongst the rest is that it is research from outside

of the United States of America. This experiment included 552 single parent families and 1,140

families in Shandong Province. There were several key results from this experiment from social

to psychological. “Children from single parent families are more likely to be bullied at school
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and have less happiness in school. Compared with the two-parent family, the social capital of

children from single parent family is significantly lower in terms of family, peer, school and

community levels.” These two among other key points are what help explain the effects single

parent homes have on children.

The second source/article that I researched for this topic was “Influence of single -

parent families on child development.” This article, while originally composed in Portuguese,

has a lot of research based on the methodological characteristics and depth in their research

evidence from January 2010 to April 2015. The authors of this research article are Angela

Helena Marin and Sheila Caroline Hnediuk from Melo. The key points of this article are that

there was an “increased risk of developing psychological disorders, development of behavioral

and learning problems and highlight the importance of multidisciplinary interventions with

families, especially in social and psychological spheres, aiming to assist its members in the

performance of their roles and functions.” By witnessing the evidence, this article provides

several effects in different aspects of single family homes.

The third source/article that stood out to me was from a different angle. While it is

important and normal to seek the effects of single parent homes on children, it is also

important to take into account the effects of the parent. This Spring 2021 article, “Underserved

but Undeterred: Single Mother Students' Experiences at Community Colleges”, discusses the

single mother opportunities and involvement in higher education. In particular, author, Loni

Crumb examines “inclusive student orientations, campus affinity groups, and intrusive advising

that may aid in retention and degree completion for single mother students amid the

challenges they may face.” The main purpose of this article is to recall “the experiences of
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single mother students enrolled in community colleges across the United States and identify

ways that administrators, faculty, and staff can foster their academic persistence.”

The fourth source/article related to my topic discussed the social adjustments that may

be needed with a parent absent from the home. “The model of children's social adjustment

under the gender‐roles absence in single‐parent families” also takes a focus into the socio

economic effects as well. This article is from June 2019 written by I-Jun Chen, Hailun Zhang,

Bingsi Wei, and Zeyao Guo. Some of the key points from this article were that “single mothers'

and their daughters' feminine traits were both higher than their masculine traits, and sons'

masculine traits were higher than their feminine traits. Significant differences were found

between children's gender‐role types depending on different raiser.” From a socio economic

viewpoint, this article also states that, “family socio‐economic status and single parents'

gender‐role types positively influenced parental child‐rearing gender‐role attitude, which in

turn, influenced the children's gender traits, and further affected children's social adjustment.”

This evidence of socio economic effect adds another layer on the general effects of single

parent homes.

The fifth and final source I obtained used more of a performative outlet rather than a

written article. This performative outlet was a 2014 Film by Writer, Producer, and Director,

Tyler Perry. This movie highlights the difficulties in being a single mother. However, what I

enjoy about this film is that it doesn’t focus on the negative so much. The five single mothers in

this film eventually come together to form a support group to help one another showing the

possibilities single parents could create if they were to stick with one another. While this film
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does focus primarily on the mothers, you can visually witness what a single mother might go

through.

In conclusion, this topic of the impacts on single parent families is filled with various

responses. There could be an emotional reaction, as seen in the Probit model based research

article. There could be a developmental reaction, as seen in in the Angela Marin article. There

could be socio-economic reaction, as seen in the gender role absence article. And there even

could be a parental reaction, as seen in both the single mother community college article and

the film, The Single Mom’s club, which includes some positives to single motherhood.

Nonetheless, there is definitely a connection to the unfortunate circumstance that is single

parent households and the effects that it has on the ones involved.
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Work Cited

“Children in Single-Parent Families: KIDS COUNT Data Center.” Kids Count Data Center, The Annie E.

Casey Foundation, Oct. 2020, datacenter.kidscount.org/data/line/106-children-in-single-parent-

families?loc=1&loct=1#1/any/false/1729,37,871,870,573,869,36,868,867/asc/any/430.

Chen, I‐Jun, et al. “The Model of Children’s Social Adjustment under the Gender‐roles Absence in Single‐

parent Families.” International Journal of Psychology, vol. 54, no. 3, June 2019, pp. 316–324.

EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=s3h&AN=136336579&site=eds-

live.

Crumb, Loni. “Underserved but Undeterred: Single Mother Students’ Experiences at Community

Colleges.” Community College Enterprise, vol. 27, no. 1, Spring 2021, pp. 66–72. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eft&AN=151054706&site=eds-live.

Melo, Sheila Caroline Hnediuk de, and Angela Helena Marin. “Influência Das Composições Familiares

Monoparentais No Desenvolvimento Da Criança: Revisão de Literatura / Influence of Single-

Parent Families on Child Development: Literature Review / Influencia de Las Composiciones de

La Familia Monoparental En El Desarrollo Del Niño: Revisión de La Literatura.” Revista Da

SPAGESP, vol. 17, no. 1, Jan. 2016, pp. 04-13. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edssci&AN=edssci.S1677.2970201600010000

2&site=eds-live.

Perry, Tyler, et al. The Single Mom's Club. Lionsgate, 2014.

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“Socioeconomic Status.” American Psychological Association, American Psychological Association, 2021,

www.apa.org/topics/socioeconomic-status.

Yan, TANG, and ZHAO Xi. “Probit Model Based Research on the Influence of Social Capital to

Psychological Capital of Children from Single Parent Families: : Empirical Analysis Based on

CHARLS Data of China.” 2020 International Conference on Information Science and Education

(ICISE-IE), Information Science and Education (ICISE-IE), 2020 International Conference on, ICISE-

IE, Dec. 2020, pp. 58–63. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1109/ICISE51755.2020.00020.