Single-Parent Families Influence On Children's Development

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Family plays a very important role in children’s development. Family structure is a significant factor which will influence a lot for children, and the influence in childhood may last for their whole life. From the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment,21 percent of 15-year-old students lived in single-parent families in the United States. The figure shows that one in four of 15-year-old children live in an incomplete family. As the rates of divorce and premarital pregnancy rose substantially, the situation got more serious in recent years. According to some correlational studies, the children who living in single-parent families have lower achievements on average than other children living in two-parents families. Due to the financial, …show more content…
The family (father and mother) is the foundation to healthy child’s development, through them,the children achieve a sense of belonging, stability, and security. A break in the marital relationship increases the risk of social problems, substance abuse, and academic decline. (Figueiredo&Dias, 705) According to Maslow’s psychological theory, the needs of love and belonging are the foundation of self-actualization. Only the children don’t have worry and fear on emotional concern, can they have the courage to improve themselves and achieve their dreams. In a complete family, parents could have more time and energy to supervise their children. These children could enjoy the emotional concerns from both of their parents and get enough emotional supports to do everything. In the most of single-parent families, the parent has to be busy earning money to making their living. Both of their parents have their own business. In fact, children even seldom see their parents let alone accompany and emotional supports. Family structure is associated with children’s well-being. Giving the benefits associated with married parents, researchers and policymakers generally view the percentage of children living in two-parent families as an important indicator of child well-being(Shore,2). Because of the lack of emotional support, children living in single-parent family always feel lonely and inferior. During their …show more content…
The children’s early educations mainly come from their families. In the two-parents families, the parents always give their children guidance to influence their values and ethics. For the children living in single-parent family, their parent doesn’t have time and energy to give them enough beneficial education for their development, especially under huge living pressure. Thus, these children are possible to make bigger mistakes in their future. For these children, they are more likely to get low grades in their exams; more likely to dropout from schools; more likely to have a criminal record. Children who spend their entire childhood living with their married, biological parents experience, on average, fewer academic, behavioral, and social problems during both childhood and adulthood than those who spend time in other family types.(Magnuson;Berger,575)The two-parents families tend to give correct and appropriate family education to their children that will benefit their future development. In nearly all countries, students living in single-parents families have lower achievement on average than students living in two-parent families(Woessmann,46). The parents are the models for their children. Children can subconsciously copy their parents’ habits since their childhood, as well as the values and moral character. Parents act different role models in different family structures. The children

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