Statistically, by the age of 18, over 50% of children in the U.S. are going to spend a portion of their childhood in a single-parent home. These numbers, experts say, make it crucial that we understand how the changes in the structure of the family influence many areas of children's lives, including educational outcomes (Schneider, Atteberry, & Owens, Family structure and children's educational outcomes, 2005).
And, again, the results of studies in this specific area indicate that, taking into account any other external factors, when it comes to achievement in an educational setting, children living with their own married parents do significantly better than other children. The influences that family structure and support can have are so strong they can counter the negative forces of social status or cultural background. It is established by study after study that what the parents do in the home provides the opportunity for academic success for the child, and not the family's background. Parents who give the child stimulation and support make the difference (Net industries (2), 2010)
And there are reasons that two-parent families form a better backbone for academic and other successes for the child than single-parent families. Without going into all the details of the research, the idea is that the absence of one parent is usually associated with less time spent with a child and less parent involvement. This, then, on average, results in less positive outcomes at school. From an economic perspective as well, the suggestion is made that the financial hardship in a single-parent family is most likely to require teenagers to work, in addition to going to school. They also must take more responsibility for younger siblings. And, as a result, these activities not only lead to exhausting them in addition to their schoolwork, but lead to lower achievement levels at school (Net industries (2), 2010).
It is interesting to note that, even at the college level, for children who are raised without married parents, college attendance rates are lower, and they tend to be selected for less competitive colleges and universities. Research has even indicated that young women who grow up with their own married parents tend to marry later. And there is a link between delayed marriage and a higher level of educational achievement (Schneider, Atteberry, & Owens, Family structure and children's educational outcomes, 2005).
Amato (2005) in The Future of Children, computed some statistics concerning the solidarity of the family structure in 2005 vs. 1970. He found that if the U.S. family structure was as strong today as it was then:
643,000 fewer children each year would...
Interestingly using that age group 7-10 years, olds also helps the reader to understand the possible severity of this type of problem. The regression models showed that there were significant associations with income, mother's aptitude, as well as home environment. In addition, the differences between single parent family structures vs. two parent were evident. The researchers indicated that they utilized a richer fuller definition of family structure however; this
The attitude of being the "Little Emperor." Albeit, normally disappears by the time the child from the one child family begins working when an adult. Child psychologist David Elkind Ph.D. (2009), Professor Emeritus of Child Development at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, asserts in the article, "The only child," that many of the currently adolescent singletons regularly presenting with a variety of social and behavioral problems (¶ 1). This social
This method presents only evidence of whether there is a difference in the mean of two groups, so in this case showed there to be a difference in the mean level of substance abuse in children from one and two parent families. This type of analysis is a simpler method than regression, and may be ample to answer the research question of whether there is increased risk for those
Clinical Interventions With Families- Critical Family Transition Paper Family Identity An individual's family of origin denotes the family he/she was raised in, as against the persons he/she resides with at present; it represents the place where individuals, normally, are trained to become what they currently are (i.e., where their adulthood identity is developed). It is an individual's biological/adoptive family that teaches one how he/she must process emotions, communicate with others, and
Unemployment and Family Structure The Sociological and Psychological Affective Dimensions of Unemployment on Family Structure Human society has forces that sometimes create balances and imbalances among individuals within the society. With this premise, it can be said that some changes within the social structure may be beneficial to an individual and detrimental for the other. Indeed, one illustration of these imbalances in the society is the negative, or non-beneficial, effects of unemployment
It is also important in connection with the ongoing contemporary debate about same-sex marriage and same-sex adoptive partners (Healey, 2008). Research Question 1. How prevalent are so-called non-traditional families (NTFs) in the U.S. 2. What problems (if any) have been associated with NTFs? 3. Are children living in NTFs benefited or harmed by their situation? 4. Are children living in NTFs better off than children living with unhappily married parents in traditional families? Problem Statement So-called
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