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Effects of Single Parenthood on Childrens Academic
Achievement

Teacher: Julien Fournier
Sociology of the Family
387-H02-HR
Heritage College

Date was printed

By: Name of student(s)





1
The following research will examine the various effects of single parenting on childrens
academic achievement. The Western cultures ideology of the family, which consists of a
traditional married monogamous heterosexual co-resident nuclear family, is only the norm for
less than half of Canadians. There are now many more different types of families that are
becoming more and more accepted in this culture. The family structure we will be exploring is
that of the single-parent family. We will be comparing the traditional nuclear families to single
parent families and will be overviewing the negative impacts of this family structure on
childrens behavioural, social and academic development. We suspect that this family structure
will, ultimately, have a negative influence on academic achievement.

The two main concepts we will be exploring through our research are:

1. Single parenting: Single-parent families are families with children under age 18 headed by a
parent who is widowed or divorced and not remarried, or by a parent who has never married.
(Davidson, 2004)

2. Academic achievement: For the purpose of our research, academic achievement will be
defined as the level of academic performance and the level of school completion.


Below is an outline of the topics covered in this research in relation to the main concepts.

1. Causes of single parenthood

1.1 Changes of causes of single parenthood over the last five decades in North America
(Cheal, 2008: 10)
1.2 Single parents by choice (Miller, 1992)
1.2.1 Adoption, insemination
1.3 Single parents by divorce, separation or mortality (Cheal, 2008: 10 and Miller, 1992)


2. Parents background

2.1 Education
2.1.1 Single parents must often drop out of school to be able to work more. (Jones,
2007)
2.1.2 Lower test scores in math, reading and science were found in children whose
mothers have not completes high school and raised them on their own.
(Seiple, 2010)



2
2.1.3 Previous research on postsecondary participation of Canadian youth found
that no one factor can fully account for who goes on to postsecondary
education (Lambert, Seman, Allen and Bussire, 2001).
2.1.4 The family structure, the parental educational attainment and the parental
values towards postsecondary education were all related to postsecondary
participation. The proportion of youth who participated in postsecondary
increased as parental education increased. The dropout rates were significantly
lower for those whose parents think that pursuing education was important."
(Shaienks and Gluszynsk, 2007).
2.2 Parenting skills:
As a result of being a single parent, there is a lot of stress put on the parent which
could affect how the parent raises their children. This can result in spending less
time with their children, not being as involved in their childrens education,
working overtime since there is only one income in the family, and the stress that
is being placed on the single parent can cause them to lash out at their children
which can greatly affect their childrens academic achievement. (Jones, 2007).
2.3 Age (Cheal, 2008:11)
2.3.1 The negative effects of having a teenage parent
2.3.1.1 They have not completed a high level of education
2.3.1.2 Their low income
2.3.1.3 Their lack of parenting skills
2.4 Gender
2.4.1 In mother-only families, children tend to experience short-and long-term
economic and psychological disadvantages; higher absentee rates at
school, lower levels of education, and higher dropout rates; and more
delinquent activity, including alcohol and drug addiction. (Marriage and
Family Encyclopedia, 2009)
2.4.2 It has been shown that children in late childhood experience greater levels
of well-being when living with a parent of the same gender. (Lee, Sang
Min, and Jason Kushner, 2008)
2.4.3 It has been hypothesised that the absence of the father has a great negative
effect on socialization influences. (Marriage and Family Encyclopedia,
2007)
2.4.4 Psychodynamic theories highlight the importance of matched-gender
single-parent led households for the proper gender and cognitive
development of the child. (Freud 1949 found in Lee and Kushner, 2008)







3
3 Decrease parental involvement

3.1 Time constraints
3.1.1 Are set on single parents because of their commitment to work and financial
problems. This leads to decreased time available to participate in their childs
learning. (Zhang, 2007; Marriage and Family Encyclopedia, 2007)


4 Economic deprivation

4.1 According to the 2000 American census, the rate of poverty in single-mother
households is 26.4% versus 6.4% for two-parent families. (All-About-Motherhood)
4.2 Economic hardship in single-parent families is likely to require adolescents to work
long hours and to take greater responsibility for younger brothers and/or sisters. As a
result, these time-consuming activities are likely to be related to lower school
achievement. (Marriage and Family Encyclopedia, 2007)
4.3 Single parents must work more hours than a person in a two-income household to be
able to meet all their needs, therefore less time is available to help children in their
studies.
4.4 Single mothers suffer the greatest income disadvantage (Cheal, 2008: 32)
4.5 Many single parent families live below the poverty line. (Pan, 2008)
4.6 Family income is directly related to postsecondary enrollment and achievement.
(Shaienks and Gluszynsk, 2007).
4.7 Socioeconomic status:
"Research indicates that socioeconomic status (SES) is the best predictor of academic
attainment, and that low-SES forecasts low attainment (Caldwell and Ginther 1996;
Hoobs 1990)." (Lee and Kushner, 2008)


5. Psychological and behavioural problems

5.1 It is shown that children from single parent families are most likely to drop out of
high school, runway from their home, or go to prison. (Pan, 2008).
5.2 Children from single-parent families are twice as likely to suffer from mental
health problems as those living with married parents.(All-About-Motherhood).
5.3 Fewer economic resources are also linked with residential instability, which
further contributes to children's academic and behavioral difficulties. (Marriage and
Family Encyclopedia, 2009).
5.4 The psychology of your child is important when viewing the effects of single
parenting. Divorce can make your child wonder if he or she did anything wrong to cause



4
the divorce. This can be devastating for a child. Being raised by a single parent and never
knowing your mother or your father can be equally disturbing for a child. He or she may
wonder if the absent parent is alive and why that parent abandoned him or
her.(Scheidies, Cassandra, 2010)


6. Health problems

6.1 Children who lived in households headed by single mothers are 2.6 times more
likely to have fair/poor health than peers in two-parent families. (Health Matters,
2007).
6.2 Due to the absence of one parent in the household, children are more likely to
suffer from health problems than children from two-parent families. In mother-
only families, there is a decline in the standard of living which results in the lack
of health insurance; therefore the family cannot afford medical care if they need
it. (Marriage and Family Encyclopedia).


7 Residential instability

7.1 Changing residences is a common circumstance in single-parent family
configurations. This requires the children to adapt to new environments and form
new friendships often.
7.2 The main negative impact of this instability is school transitions.
7.2.1 These transitions will most likely lead to unwanted behavior and
poor academic achievement. (Berk, 2010).
7.2.2 Here we will analyze regular transitions all children have to face,
but it must be taken into considerations that children from single-
parent families may have to face more of these transitions. An
example of the negative result of a normative school transition is
that many students feel "less academically competent and decline
in motivation" at the time of the transition into junior high and
high school from elementary school. (Berk, 2010).
7.2.3 Also, a study done by Roeser, Eccles, & Freedman-Doan in 1999
has shown that there is an" increase in truancy and out-of-school
problem behavior across the transition to high school." (Berk,
2010).
7.2.4 It has also been proven that adolescents with strong friendships
will have less adjustment problems at the time of school
transitions. Which may not be the case of children in single-parent



5
families, since, like we just stated, may not have many long term
friendships. (Berk, 2010)


8. Teachers response to loss of a parent

8.1 Teachers and other members of the school facilities might treat children from single-
parent led families differently. They might lower their expectations for them because they
know their home situation. If this becomes a routine early on in a child's education, this
may lead to a serious deficit. Children in such a scenario will have problems when they
reach high schools and post-secondary educations. (Effects of Single Parenting date
unknown).


9 Canadian/American statistics

9.1 Of children born since 1984, more than 60% will spend an average of 5 years of
their childhood in a single-parent family. (Adoption Library)
9.2 For teenagers, students from broken homes were 30% more likely to miss
school, be late, or cut class than students from intact homes, in part because single
parents had more difficulty monitoring their children.( Schultz,2006)
9.3 30% of all children in the United States spend their entire lives with single
parents. (Adoption Library)
9.4 In one study, more than 60% of fathers either did not visit their children or had
no contact with them for over a year. ( Marriage and Family Encyclopedia)
9.5 In the year 2000, 2% of all USA homes were single-father families compared to
7% being single-mother families. (Lee and Kushner, 2008).
9.6 In a research study by Cohen (1988) it has been shown that "almost 73% of the
daughters in single-father families have higher scores than the means of the sons
in single-mother family households on English and mathematics teachers'
evaluations." (Lee and Kushner, 2008)
9.7 Approximately 1 percent of single parents, both men and women, find
themselves single parents as the result of the death of a spouse.(Pan, 2008).
9.8 According to (Astone, 1991: 309:20) half of all children born in the late decade
will spend some time living in a single-parent family before reaching age 18.

9.9 Statistics Canada 2006, Census Ottawa-Gatineau Region:
Total number of census families in private households - 20% sample data:
8,314,310
Total couple families by family structure and number of children: 262,700



6
Married couples: 211,590
With children at home: 126,570
Common-law couples: 51,105
With children at home: 20,590
Total lone-parent families by sex of parent and number of children: 51,615
Female parent: 41,405
Male parent: 10,205.
9.10 When comparing children from lone mothers family to children from
couples below the low-income cut-off, the percentage of children who repeated a
grade was 13% percent of the sample and 8% respectively. When the same
children were surveyed 7% of the children with lone mother families had overall
poor school performance, compared to 4% of children from coupled homes all
again below the low-income cut off line. (Corak, 1998)
9.11 The same comparison as above were made with children from lone
mothers family to children from couples above the low-income cut-off, the
percentage of children who repeated a grade was 9% percent of the sample and
4% respectively. When the same children were surveyed 3% of the children with
lone mother families had overall poor school performance, compared to 2% of
children from coupled homes all again above the low-income cut off line. (Corak,
1998).


In way of conclusion, as defined by David Cheal, a family is what people define it to be in their
ongoing social interactions (Cheal, 2008). The single-parent structure is therefore still a family.
This structure is proven to have a high risk of having negative impacts on the childrens overall
well-being. More specifically, this family model has negative influence on the childrens
academic achievement, school motivation and post-secondary enrolment.















7
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