Working parents: single parents' double bind.
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Child↗
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Results for “Single Parent”
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Group work with single parents--a single and separated parents' group.
Two social workers attached to a health centre organised a group for single and separated parents with problems, as an addition to medication and individual treatment available. This paper covers the selection, aims and structure of the group and examines the content of the meetings. It concludes that this is a viable method for alleviating the social isolation and anxiety of lone parents beyond their participation in groups.
Adult↗
Ratings of parent behaviours for delinquents from two-parent and single-parent homes.
Mother and son ratings of parent behaviours on the dimensions of loving, demanding and punishing, using the Bronfenbrenner Parent Behaviour Questionnaire, were compared for juvenile delinquents from two-parent and single-parent homes respectively. Mean rating for all variables were in the average range, and little difference in ratings of mothers' behaviours was found, for either boys or mothers, between the single-parent and two-parent groups. These findings are in contrast to the frequently suggested link between delinquency and disturbed family interactions.
Adolescent↗
Associations between the mental health and social networks of children and parents in single-parent families. A comparison between a clinical group and a control group.
The parents and children in single-parent families were studied. A group of 39 children ages 9-16 years who had been patients at a child and adolescent psychiatric clinic and a control group with an equal number of children were interviewed together with their single parent regarding social network and mental health. The networks of children and parents in the control group were more similar to each other than the networks of parents and children in the patient group. The crosswise influence of parents' mental health, children's behavioral disturbances and social networks showed associations between parents' mental health and children's behavioural disturbances, between parents's social networks and children's behavioural disturbances and between parents' mental health and their social networks. There was, on the other hand, no association between parents' mental health and the social networks of their children.
Adolescent↗
[Being raised by lesbian parents or in a single-parent family is no risk factor for problem behavior, however being raised as an adopted child is].
Modern reproductive techniques and alternative family structures (with single or homosexual parents and adoption situations) raise questions about the consequences for the growing children involved. Genetic links appear to be less important for the functioning of a family than a strong wish for parenthood; parents who have become parents only through great efforts display a better quality of parenthood than average natural parents. Characteristics of the parent/parents, such as paedagogic qualities, and the quality of the parent-child relationship appear more important than the type of family. Published results of research reveal no reason why lesbian families should be judged differently from heterosexual ones as family types for the raising of children. The main negative factor for the functioning of the child growing up in a single-parent family is the marriage conflicts that have led to the single-parent situation; being raised by a single parent in itself has no adverse effect. Raising adopted children from other countries makes far greater demands on the adoptive parents than parents of biological children have to meet. The raising of a foreign adopted child by a single parent entails additional risks for the child's development. Data on the development of children in alternative family structures frequently concern exceptionally competent parents, which may have biased the findings.
Adoption↗
Maternal employment and parent-child relationships in single-parent families of low-birth-weight preschoolers.
BACKGROUND: The influence of premature birth of an infant in female-headed, single-parent families together or in conjunction with family environment factors, such as employment of the mother, on the mother-premature child relationship has not been considered in past studies. OBJECTIVES: To explore differences in parent-child and family relationships for employed and nonemployed single mothers of low-birth-weight (LBW) and full-term preschool children and to describe the relationships of the mother's employment status, employment history, and employment attitude-behavior consistency to parent-child and family relationships. METHODS: Single mothers with LBW (n = 60) and full-term (n = 61) preschool children provided data on their employment situation, the Parenting Stress Index, the Feetham Family Functioning Survey, and the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment. RESULTS: Employed mothers had more positive perceptions and provided more enriching home environments for their children. Greater attitude-behavior consistency was associated with more positive perceptions of the parental role. CONCLUSION: Thus, in single-parent families, employment and consistency are positive influences on the mother-child relationship.
Adaptation, Psychological↗
Dispelling myths and creating opportunity: a comparison of the strengths of single-parent and two-parent families.
Although single-parent family life has become mainstream in many ways, knowledge about these families has been focused predominantly on the chronic problems they experience. This study describes the strengths of single-parent families, compares these strengths to those of two-parent families, and describes families' explanations of the effect of self-identified strengths on health. Although single-parent and two-parent families are different structurally, the nature and pattern of strengths are found to be more similar than different between these two groups. These findings challenge stereotypical views of single-parent families that emphasize problems and vulnerability and exclude a consideration of their strengths.
Adaptation, Psychological↗
Parenting in the single parent family.
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Child Care↗
An examination between single-parent family background and drunk driving in adulthood: findings from the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort.
BACKGROUND: It has been suggested earlier that parental loss could be an important risk factor for alcoholism in adulthood. We explored the association between different types of childhood families with later alcohol-related problems of the offspring, in particular drunk driving. METHODS: We used a large, prospectively collected general population birth cohort database (n = 10,934), the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort. Linked with the National crime register, it provided information on drunk driving offenses known to the police that involved persons 15 to 32 years of age (n = 432). Type of family was categorized into five subgroups: two-parent family and four types of single-parent families (single-parent all the time, single-parent at birth, parental death, parental divorce). The information about family type was obtained from questionnaires given to the mothers during mid-pregnancy and at the time of the 14-year follow-up. RESULTS: Single-parent family during childhood significantly increased the risk of drunk driving in adulthood among both males and females. Males who were born in single-mother families were at the highest risk of drunk driving offenses in adulthood (adjusted OR 2.4; 95% CI 1.4-4.2). The association between single-parent family and drunk driving among males was seen in all types of single-parent families except for parental death. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that growing up in a single-parent family is a potentially powerful predictor of adult alcohol-related problems, i.e., early-onset, late-onset, and recidivistic drunk driving.
Adolescent↗
Hospital-treated psychiatric disorders in adults with a single-parent and two-parent family background: a 28-year follow-up of the 1966 Northern Finland Birth Cohort.
This study investigates the relationship between the family type (two-parent and 4 different single-parent types, mainly divorced) during childhood up to 14 years of age and adult hospital-treated psychiatric disorders in a sample from the unselected, general population Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort (N = 11,017). Up to the end of 1994, a total of 387 individuals (3.5%) had a hospital-treated psychiatric disorder, with 3.1% in two-parent families and 5.4% in single-parent families (p < .001). The single-parent family was not associated with the child's schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders. The adjusted odds ratios (OR) for personality disorders were highest among individuals without a father before the age of 14 years (OR 4.8), or at birth only (OR 4.0), or with a history of parental divorce (OR 2.8). Parental divorce was also associated with alcoholism (OR 3.7) and parental death with depressive disorders (OR 3.4). In conclusion, we found an elevated risk of hospital-treated nonpsychotic disorder among individuals from a single-parent family background. It is likely that a combination of the single-parent family and psychosocial and/or genetic risk may influence the development of these disorders.
Adolescent↗
A structural approach to the single-parent family.
Although the single-parent family is becoming a predominant family structure, there is a surprising scarcity of articles discussing its typical problems or detailing specific therapeutic approaches. This paper attempts, first, to list some core problems encountered by all single parents and, second, to present a sequence of therapeutic approaches geared toward dealing with these problems. Structural theory, with its emphasis on subsystems, generational boundaries, and organizational patterns, provides a framework for viewing the built-in vulnerabilities of the single-parent family unit. Minuchin's (3) emphasis on generational boundaries and the problem of enmeshment underlies the theoretical and therapeutic approach presented here. I have drawn heavily on Haley's (2) idea that the therapist must be an authority, a problem-solver, and a teacher. Finally, the emphasis on creating new organizational patterns is most thoroughly explored in Aponte's (1) discussions of "underorganized families" (many of whom are single-parent families).
Adolescent↗
Individual characteristics associated with resilience in single-parent families.
This study identified individual characteristics as a resource to enhance the resilience of a family dealing with the loss of a parent. 25 white single-parent families who had lost a parent between 1 and 4 yr. previously were identified by four postgraduate students in the Western Cape, South Africa. Each single-parent, 19 women and 6 men (M age=48 yr., SD=7.65), were asked to state the personal qualities which helped the family adapt after the loss, after the Family Attachment and Changeability Index 8 and the Ego-resiliency Scale were completed. The expected positive relationship between personal resilience and family functioning could not be confirmed. However, the qualitative results indicate that optimism, perseverance, faith, expression of emotions, and self-confidence were prominent individual characteristics of resilience viewed as resources in promoting resilience in these single-parent families.
Biographies as Topic↗
Linking maternal efficacy beliefs, developmental goals, parenting practices, and child competence in rural single-parent African American families.
With a sample of 139 rural, single-parent African American families with a 6- to 9-year-old child, we traced the links among family financial resource adequacy, maternal childrearing efficacy beliefs, developmental goals, parenting practices, and children's academic and psychosocial competence. A multimethod, multiinformant design was used to assess the constructs of interest. Consistent with the hypothesized paths, financial resource adequacy was linked with mothers' sense of childrearing efficacy. Efficacy beliefs were linked with parenting practices indirectly through developmental goals. Competence-promoting parenting practices were indirectly linked with children's academic and psychosocial competence through their association with children's self-regulation.
Achievement↗
Parental distress and children's problems among single-parent families in China.
The coercion model explains reciprocal relationships between parents' and children's adjustment problems, with the mediation of parenting behavior and social relationships. A survey of 301 single parents in Guangzhou, China, was performed to test such a model with reference to parental distress, perceived behavioral problems and anxiety of the eldest child, acceptance of the child, and experienced social pressure and social support. Structural equation modeling demonstrated a good fit of the coercion model as a theoretically based and simplified representation of the relationships, supporting the hypotheses that (a) the parent's acceptance helps prevent the child's behavioral problems, (b) the child's behavioral problems and anxiety contribute to the parent's distress, (c) the child's behavioral problems and anxiety invite social pressure on the parent, (d) social pressure on the parent aggravates and social support for the parent attenuates the parent's distress, (e) social pressure on and social support for the parent facilitate the parent's acceptance of his or her child. However, the effect of parental distress on acceptance of the child was not significant.
Anxiety↗
Children's adjustment and prosocial behaviour in step-, single-parent, and non-stepfamily settings: findings from a community study. ALSPAC Study Team. Avon Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood.
The adjustment and prosocial behaviour of 4-year-old children and their older siblings growing up in step-parent or single-parent families, or with two biological parents, was investigated within a longitudinal community study, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood (ALSPAC). Mean differences in mothers' perception of adjustment were found for children in different family settings, with higher levels of problems and lower prosocial scores reported for those in single- and step-parent families than those in non-stepfamilies. Individual differences within each family setting were marked. With the exception of single parenthood, which remained a risk indicator for the 4-year-olds, the contribution of family type to differences in adjustment and prosocial behaviour largely disappeared when account was also taken of negativity in family relationships, maternal age, education level, depressive symptomatology, and history of previous live-in relationships, mothers' support networks, and the family's current financial and housing circumstances. Boys remained more at risk for adjustment difficulties than girls when this range of factors was taken into account. The limitations and implications of these findings on a community sample, a first step in a programme of research into family processes in children's adjustment, are discussed.
Adolescent↗
[Self-exercised health care and consultation of medical aid by single-parent mothers or fathers - results of a federal health survey].
PURPOSE: Single parents are at high risk of economical poverty and social deprivation. In this study we investigated the association of single parenthood with self-reported health, self-perceived mental disorders and the use of medical services. METHODS: The public users file of the German Health Survey 1998 were used for secondary analysis. Single-parent mothers aged 18 to 45 with at least one child under the age of 18 (n = 81) were compared with two control groups of the same age: mothers living in traditional nuclear families (n = 104) and women living in partnership status without children (n = 140). RESULTS: Single-parent mothers report less frequently than controls of a very good or excellent health status and more frequently of mental complaints (differences of single items of 10 to 15 percent). Feelings of discouragement and sadness are more common in this group. Overall, single-parent mothers do not use medical services more frequently than the control groups, but there are differences in the use of some specialists, especially psychotherapists. CONSEQUENCES: In respect of health, psychological stress is at a high level whereas the value of subjective health seems lower. The emphasis on situational parameters provides an insight into positive coping strategies and shifts the focus on influences that support health in a positive manner.
Adolescent↗
[Single parenting in Germany. Conflict between job and diapers].
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Adult↗
The single parent: power and the integrity of parenting.
I have explored some issues of power and the balance of power in the situation of the single parent and the family. The single parent may need the support of a holding environment to achieve psychological integration as exemplified by my treatment with Ms. B. Without a cooperative mate and with societal prejudice, the psychotherapeutic situation may be the only nurturing environment. The therapist empowers the single parent by providing a supportive, nurturing environment. Parenting is receiving bad press in this decade. More examples of child abuse and the extreme of homicide come to public attention. Children do have power and society needs to support a constructive use of child as well as parental power. At this stage in societal/cultural development the legal system is unfortunately more available to punish than provide lines of protection or guidance to parent or child. The psychoanalytic literature hasn't been kind or supportive to the parent. We must keep in mind that the psychotherapist's lot is simpler, less stressful, and more protected from real life stresses than that of the single parent. I suggest a model of parenting with the establishment of ongoing dialogue between parent and child in which each is receptive to the other. While it is the parental task to set limits and teach about the real world, the goal is to establish an exchange in which parent and child are both teacher and student. This creative relationship produces growth and builds esteem for parent and child alike.
Adult↗