Economic Implication, Fathers Parenting Role and Behavior of Children - Article Example

Running Head: Single Parent Family Single Parent Family Review of the Economic Implication, Father’s Parenting Role and Behavior of Children (Name of Student) (Name of University) Abstract Growing up in single parent families has an impact on the level of earnings of children in early adulthood as a result of lower education they attained. Economic deficiency while growing up in this family structure is the main factor that brought about the negative impact of single parent family to children’s socio-economic well being. Also, these children have higher risk of committing delinquent behaviors in their adolescent years which affects their ability to pursue higher education and eventually highly accomplished jobs. These delinquent behaviors can hamper the future opportunities that these children can explore particularly if they succumb to substance abuse, teenage marriage, and eventual divorce. Introduction This article reviews eight peer reviewed articles and research based articles related to single parent families. There has been a continuing increase in the number of single parent families in the United States from the 1960s to present. In fact, selected areas in the country reported to have higher number of single parent family population than two parent family population. This only means that single parent families have become a crucial segment of the country’s population and in molding future members of the labor force and of society in general. Thus, it is only fitting to look into the situation of this family structure. It specifically answers the following questions: (a) What is the present and future economic implication of single parent families to children?, (b) Can father led single parent families equate mother led single parent families in terms of household management and child relationship?, and (c) What is the impact of living in single parent family to the behaviors of adolescent children? Articles 1. Journal Article by Krein, S. (1986) entitled Growing-up In A Single-Parent Family: The Effects On Education and Earnings Of Young Men. Krein (1986) researched what are the outcomes for young adult men who grew up in single parent families in terms of education and income. Data came from approximately 5,000 respondents over a 12 to 14 year period of interviews with mothers and their sons who were age 28 to 38 years old when the study ended. It found out that those young men who grew up with single parent families attained lower years of education by half or one year compared to young men who grew up with two parent families (p.164). It revealed further, that such lower years of education is dependent on the number of years they stayed in single parent families. Thus, the more years they spent growing up in single parent families, the lesser number of years they will attain education. In terms of childhood years, reduction in years of education is statistically significant during the preschool years. However, increase in income generation of single parent families increases the potential of children for higher education. Further, it found little significance correlation between growing up in single parent families and earnings of young adult men. Analyzing the result of the study implied that it cannot directly relate levels of earnings of young men as a direct effect of growing up with single parent families. Also, having a negative impact to the number of years of education of these young adult men does not necessarily correlate with the impact on earnings. The study focused its discussion on three periods of childhood education wherein preschool had the most significant consequence. However, it did not mention effects in college education. The mere fact that it mentioned no significant effect on the elementary and high school education of these young men showed that even with a single parent family, they were able to finish preparatory education to help them find opportunities to expand their education through college or higher training. 2. Journal Article by Risman, B.J. (1986) entitled Can Men Mother? Life As A Single Father. This research article surveyed approximately 150 single fathers on their expereinces as primary parent in single parent family. Keeping house, relationship with their children and satisfaction on their role as single parents were identified. It showed that “four out of five single fathers” (Risman, 1986, p.95) were self sufficient in taking care of their household particularly in terms of cooking, cleaning and buying groceries. Like mothers, they were anxious to ensure that their homes met the needs of their children particularly in addressing health emergencies. They spent significant amount of time and affection with their children . Thus, they were very satisfied of their roles as single parents to their children. Like mothers, they too had their own support network in case of medical emergencies such as friends, relatives or girlfriends to help them out. Analyzing the results of the research implied that male led single parent families are equally competent as female led single parent families. Thus, fathers should be given equal rights for custody of their children during post divorce proceedings. This eradicate the typecast role of men as irresponsible parent to their children. 3. Journal Article by Mueller, D. and Cooper, P. (1986) entitled Children of Single Parent Families: How They Fare As Young Adults. This research surveyed a total of 1,448 respondents with age ranging from 19 to 34 (Mueller & Cooper, 1986, p. 170). They came from a mixture of single parent families and two parent families grouped separately to determine how different are the situation of Young Adult Men from the two groups in terms of education, occupation, earnings, marriage and parenthood. Young adult men who came from single parent families had one year less of educational attainment compared to those who came from two parent families due to differences in income. They normally finished high school but those coming from two parent families attained at least one year of college education or its equivalent. As a result, they have higher incidence of unemployment and lower occupational status (p. 173). Consequently, they have lower yearly income and has a higher potential of not owning a home and will potentially seek assistance from government welfare. They were also found to have higher likelihood of getting separated or divorced or not marry at all (p. 174). Also they were found to become parents at an earlier age, single parents and live with their children during old age (p. 174). Analzing the results of the research implied that economic condition plays a crucial role in improving the future opportunities for young adult men who grew up with single parent families in terms of education, occupation and earnings. Psychological impact of growing up in a single family seems to led them to seek out but not sustain intimate relationship thus they end up repeating the vicious cycle of becoming single parent themselves and rearing children in the same environment they have grown up with. 4. Journal Article by Hill, R (1986) entitled Life Cycle Stages For Types of Single Parent Families: Of Family Development Theory. Single parent families usually are economically deficient particularly if it is a result of transition from divorce which critically form part of the disruption from two parent families. Hill (1986) stipulated that “single parent families experience more and longer critical transitions” (p. 28) towards stability of lifestyle compared with two parent families. This creates a disarray in the structural living conditions of both the parent and the children which include “vulnerability to the crises of poverty and of low morale” (p. 28). The primary parent at this point have to face the crucial transition in parenting role wherein the mother will also play the role of the father at some point in time and vice versa. Analysis of this article implied that single parent family is a life cycle stage in itself which requires a lot of changes both for the parent and the child. The lost of earnings solidly provided by two parent families is a big adjustment in itself for single parent families which impact greatly to other facets of their family life. 5. Journal Article by Deval, E., Stoneman, Z. & Brody, G. (1986) entitled The Impact of Divorce And Maternal Employment On Pre-Adolescent Children. Deval, Stoneman and Brody (1986) researched on the whether children from single parent family led by mothers have more obligations in the households, has lesser participation in activities outside the home and interact lesser with their peers. Their research showed a contrary result meaning children from single parent family do not have more responsibilities compared to children from two parent families. They are involved in activities outside the home and still normally interact with their peers (p. 156). However, they perceived themselves less involved with activities but compared to other children this perception does not hold true though. The study, however, showed that there is higher potential for higher “emotional responsibility” (p. 158) for children from single parent family particularly for divorced parents. This aspect contributed to the reason why these children tend to grow up faster compared to children from two parent families. Analysis of this article implied that children from single parent family have higher responsibilities in terms of emotional aspect rather than the physical aspect. Due to limitations in their income, single parent families usually live in rented homes where owners are responsible for taking care of maintenance of the premises; hence limiting involvement of the family. 6. Report of Peer Reviewed Articles and Researches by Lye, D (1999) entitled What The Experts Say: Scholarly Research on Post Divorce Parenting and Child Well Being which she reported to the Washington State’s Gender and Justice Commission and Domestic Relations Commision. Lye (1999) compiled works of experts related to the impact of divorce and eventual living in single parent families on children. She found out that these children suffer psychologically, sociologically, emotionally, cognitively and medically in their transition from two parent to single parent family due to divorce (p. 4-9). Behavioral problems, substance use and delinquency are another repercussions of this transition which occurs during adolescence. These children were also found out to be subject to potential for lower educational and occupational attainments during adolescents and early adulthood respectively. They were also found out to have higher risk of leaving home early, getting pregnant early which is mostly unplanned, married early mostly during teenage years and eventually divorcing and setting up single parent families of their own. The economic status of single parent families also determine the well being of children. McLanahan and Sandefur (1994, Lye, 1999, p. 4-10) used four data samples from national surveys that supported the premise that children’s well being is at a disadvantage economically in single parent families compared to two parent families. Lye (1999) interestingly culled out information the trend of father led single parent families is increasing starting in the 1980s (Eggebeen et al, Garasky & Meyer, Lye, 1999, p. 4-10). Further, during the 1990s, fathers were found out to be more involved in their children’s lives economically, physically and emotionally. 7. Journal Article from Page, M. and Stevens, A. (2005) entitled Understanding Racial Differences In the Economic Costs of Growing Up In A Single Parent Family. Page and Stevens (2005) evaluates if there is a difference in the economic situation of Black and White children living in single parent families. They found that there is substantial reduction in incomes of both single parent families of the two race (p. 81) with higher percentage of reduction seen among Black single parent families that increases as time goes by (p. 82). Single parent families among White race showed recovery of lost income three and half years after their divorce which was not seen among Black single parent families. Also, lost of father’s income after divorce is higher among Whites but child support from fathers as while as mothers’ earning reduce the amount of lost income over the 3.5 period. However, this does not hold true for Black families signifying lesser child support contribution from Black fathers. It was established that both Black fathers and mothers had limited labor opportunity after divorce which resulted to Black children having ten times lesser child support than White children (p. 88). 8. A Journal Article by Eitle, D. (2006) entitled Parental Gender, Single Parent Families, And Delinquency: Exploring The Moderating Influence Of Race/Ethnicity. Eitle (2006) assessed the pervasiveness of delinquent behavior among children in single parent families particularly in substance abuse. It uses data from Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey (2002, Eitle, p. 733) and from the United States Census (2000, Eitle, p. 733). Results of the assessment showed that girls who lived with their fathers for the past 30 days prior to the survey were found involved in substance used particularly marijuana. Consequently, girls and boys living with their fathers showed increased risk of illicit drug use than those living with their mothers (p. 737). Overall, the assessment found that girls living with their mothers have strong “parental attachment” (p. 737) while boys living with their fathers have lowest “parental supervision” (p. 737). Eitle (2006), however, cautioned using this data for predicting delinquent behavior among all children from single parent families. Conclusion The above articles commonly tackled the implications of economic situations of single parent family to children either in present situation or future opportunities in their adult life. All of the articles support the conclusion that single parent families particularly those that transcend from divorce of two parent families have immense impact to family earnings affecting the opportunities of children to education and eventually to their economic prospects in adulthood in terms of getting and maintaining jobs to support themselves. There are inconsistencies in the results of the studies of some of the articles in terms of maturity of children and efficiency of single parent familied led by the fathers. Risman (1986) indicated that father led single parent families are equally competent as mother led single parent families which mostly covers data from 1970s to 1980s. However, Eitle (2006) showed in his research with data covered the period 2000 to 2002 that adolescent children living with their fathers have higher risk of delinquent behaviors particulary use of illicit drugs compared to those living with their mothers. Further, boys living with their fathers were found to have lesser parental supervision. This ran in contrast to the result of Lye’s (1999) literature review of works of experts indicating that in the 1990s fathers found out in her review of works of experts that during the 1990s fathers are becoming more involved in the lives of their children. Another contrasting findings presented is the result that children from single parent families have higher emotional responsibility; hence making them mature faster compared to their contemporaries who grew up with two parent families (Deval, Stoneman & Brody, 1986). However, it runs in contrast to Eitle’s (2006) findings that children in single parent families are prone to delinquent behaviors which signify a lack of maturity to assess their actions. Critical Analysis The above articles showed that divorce has a great impact to the family structure of the country. It led to the creation of single parent family as another influencing family structure in society. However, based on the theory of household production, single parent families mostly headed by mothers are mostly faced by limited resources in terms of amount of time spent with their children and income generation due to the lost of contribution of the spouse in the household’s income. This have a lot of consequence to the present and future socio economic achievement of children as mentioned by Krein (1986, p. 162). This concept is also supported by the findings of Mueller and Cooper (1986), Hill (1986), Deval, Stoneman and Brody (1986), Lye (1999) and Page and Stevens (2005). All of these authors have proven in their respective researches that the risk posted by the reduction of earnings of single parent families is seen in the low educational attainment of children which affects their ability to have higher work accomplishments and higher earnings during adulthood. Such less stellar accomplishments can have an impact on their ability to maintain families of their own. Added to that is the psychological and emotional impact of growing up with single parent families which led them become parents at young age usually during teen age years which is a stage where a person is not yet mature enough to handle and maintain relationships. Thus, in the end they end up divorcing their spouses and sustaining single parent families themselves just like where they grow up repeating the vicious cycle of such family structure. The theory of family structuralism has been shown to evolve from the research conducted during the 1970s up to the present. The clear example of this is the evolvement of fathers from incompetent nurturer of children compared to mothers to equally competent primary care taker of their children. It cracked the barrier of gender role in terms of parenting. Men is now shown dealing with their children in within the structure of a family and not within their personality traits commonly considered aloof and emotionally unattached. Thus, even if they are single parents they are shown to be trying to create a child centered environment in their household by showing more affection and taking care of their children personally instead of delegating it to outside help as presented by Risman’s (1986) study and Lye’s (1999) literature review. References Devall, E., Stoneman, Z. & Brody, G. (1986). The impact of divorce and maternal employment on pre-adolescent children. Family Relations, 35(1), 1530159. Retrieved 04 December 2008, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/584294 Eitle, D. (2006). Parental gender, single-parent families, and delinquency: Exploring the moderating influence of race/ethnicity. Social Science Research, 35(2006), 727-748. Retrieved 03 December 2008, from http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ssresearch. Hill, R. (1986). Life cycle stages for types of single parent families: Of family development theory. Family Relations 35(1), 19-29. Retrieved 02 December 2008 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/584278 Krein, S.F. (1986). Growing up in a single parent family: The effect on education and earnings of young men. Family Relations 35(1), 161-168. Retrieved 30 November 2008, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/584295 Lye, D. (June 1999). What the experts say: Scholarly research on post-divorce parenting and child well-being, [Report], Washington: Gender and Justice Commission and Domestic Relations Commission. Mueller, D. & Cooper, P. (1986). Children of single parent families: How they fare as young adults. Family Relations 35(1). 169-176. Page, M. & Stevens, A. (2005). Understanding racial differences in the economic costs of growing up in a single-parent family. Demography, 42(1), 75-90. Retrieved 30 November 2008, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1515177. Risman, B. J. (1986). Can men ‘mother”? Life as a single father. Family Relations 35(1), 95-102. 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