Child Rearing Capacity of A Single Parent : An Asessment

CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
Introduction
This thesis study entitled Child Rearing Capacity of A Single Parent

assessment, will tackle different facts that made it difficulties of being a single
parent. It will discuss the mere fact about parenthood and the importance, Single
Parents, mothers or fathers who raise their children without the presence of a
spouse.
Family, basic social group united through bonds of kinship or marriage,
present in all societies. Ideally, the family provides its members with protection,
companionship, security, and socialization. The structure of the family, and the
needs that the family fulfills vary from society to society. The nuclear familytwo
adults and their childrenis the main unit in some societies. In others, it is a
subordinate part of an extended family, which also consists of grandparents and
other relatives. A third family unit is the single-parent family, in which children
live with an unmarried, divorced, or widowed mother or father.
In the United States, for instance, typical family structures have changed
significantly, leading to an increase in single-parent families, which tend to be
poorer. Single-parent families with children have a much more difficult time
escaping poverty than do two-parent families, in which adults can divide and
share childcare and work duties. In 1970 about 87 percent of children lived with

both of their parents, but by the turn of the century this figure had dropped to 69
percent.
The divorce rate in the United States more than doubled between 1960 and
1980, although it stabilized in the 1980s and fell somewhat in the 1990s. More
importantly, perhaps, the proportion of children born to unmarried parents grew
from about 5 percent in the early 1960s to more than 33 percent by 2000.
Along this line of thought, this study is conducted to determine Child
Rearing Capacity of A Single Parent .

Statement of the problem

Major Problem
The study focuses on the Child Rearing Capacity of A Single Parent .
Minor Problem
To know the students reaction to the following questions:
Effects of being a single parent
Is it hard to be a single parent?
Have you ever experienced to give-up because of being a single parent?
Have you ever ask a favor to your ex wife/husband to provide your child?
Do you think that single parenthood affects your relationship with your child?
Do you think that single parenthood is acceptable in the society?
Do you take counseling to help you to raise your child right?
Do you expect that you will be rewarded because of your love to your child?
Have you encountered a financial problem?

Hypothesis
With

adequate

information

supplementary

to

previous

awareness

concerning the topic, it is hypothesized that the controlling purpose of this study
- to prove that the there are Child Rearing Capacity of A Single Parent .
The researcher assumes that the questions formulated will be answered in
the latter part of the research paper. As the paper progress, answers will be
acquired.

Significance of the study

The findings of this study shall reveal aspects of the Child Rearing
Capacity of A Single Parent , its history or background, the good effects and the
bad ones are also written here.
We can benefit from this study for it would bring us additional knowledge
about what is the importance to know about being a single parent.
The study is very significance according to the writers of the books that I
have read about the importance of Child Rearing Capacity of A Single Parent and
the website that are connected to this topic, I have visited about them.

Scope and limitation

This study was limited on Child Rearing Capacity of A Single Parent in terms of:
a. Effects of being a single parent, b. Is it hard to be a single parent?,
c. Have you ever experienced to give-up because of being a single parent?, d.
Have you ever ask a favor to your ex wife/husband to provide your child?, e. Do
you think that single parenthood affects your relationship with your child?, f. Do
you think that single parenthood is acceptable in the society?, g. Do you take
counseling to help you to raise your child right?, h. Do you expect that you will be
rewarded because of your love to your child? i. Have you encountered a financial
problem?.

CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

The researcher made use of the existing documents, publications, records

and studies which have bearings on the instructional problems met by teachers
in the various subject are of the elementary curriculum. The researcher can only
select a few which are directly relevant to this study.

Related literature
Anthropologists and social scientists have developed several theories
about how family structures and functions evolved. In prehistoric hunting and
gathering societies, two or three nuclear families, usually linked through bonds of
kinship, banded together for part of the year but dispersed into separate nuclear
units in those seasons when food was scarce. The family was an economic unit;
men hunted, while women gathered and prepared food and tended children.
Infanticide and expulsion of the infirm who could not work were common. Some
anthropologists contend that prehistoric people were monogamous, because
monogamy prevails in nonindustrial, tribal forms of contemporary society.
Social scientists believe that the modern Western family developed largely
from that of the ancient Hebrews, whose families were patriarchal in structure.
The family resulting from the Greco-Roman culture was also patriarchal and

bound by strict religious precepts. In later centuries, as the Greek and then the
Roman civilizations declined, so did their well-ordered family life.
With the advent of Christianity, marriage and childbearing became central
concerns in religious teaching. The purely religious nature of family ties was
partly abandoned in favor of civil bonds after the Reformation, which began in the
1500s. Most Western nations now recognize the family relationship as primarily a
civil matter.
Historical studies have shown that family structure has been less changed
by urbanization and industrialization than was once supposed. The nuclear family
was the most prevalent preindustrial unit and is still the basic unit of social
organization. The modern family differs from earlier traditional forms, however, in
its functions, composition, and life cycle and in the roles of husbands and wives.
The only function of the family that continues to survive all change is the
provision of affection and emotional support by and to all its members,
particularly infants and young children. Specialized institutions now perform
many of the other functions that were once performed by the agrarian family:
economic production, education, religion, and recreation. Jobs are usually
separate from the family group; family members often work in different
occupations and in locations away from the home. Education is provided by the
state or by private groups. Religious training and recreational activities are
available outside the home, although both still have a place in family life. The

family is still responsible for the socialization of children. Even in this capacity,
however, the influence of peers and of the mass media has assumed a larger role.
Family composition in industrial societies has changed dramatically. The
average number of children born to a woman in the United States, for example,
fell from 7.0 in 1800 to 2.0 by the early 1990s. Consequently, the number of years
separating the births of the youngest and oldest children has declined. This has
occurred in conjunction with increased longevity. In earlier times, marriage
normally dissolved through the death of a spouse before the youngest child left
home. Today husbands and wives potentially have about as many years together
after the children leave home as before.
Some of these developments are related to ongoing changes in womens
roles. Women in all stages of family life have joined the labor force. Rising
expectations of personal gratification through marriage and family, together with
eased legal grounds for divorce and increasing employment opportunities for
women, have contributed to a rise in the divorce rate in the United States and
elsewhere. In 1986, for instance, there was approximately one divorce for every
two marriages in the United States.
During the 20th century,

extended

family

households

declined

in

prevalence. This change is associated particularly with increased residential

mobility and with diminished financial responsibility of children for aging parents,
as pensions from jobs and government-sponsored benefits for retired people
became more common.

By the 1970s, the prototypical nuclear family had yielded somewhat to

modified structures including the one-parent family, the stepfamily, and the
childless family. One-parent families in the past were usually the result of the
death of a spouse. Now, however, most one-parent families are the result of
divorce, although some are created when unmarried mothers bear children. In
1991 more than one out of four children lived with only one parent, usually the
mother. Most one-parent families, however, eventually became two-parent
families through remarriage.
A stepfamily is created by a new marriage of a single parent. It may consist
of a parent and children and a childless spouse, a parent and children and a
spouse whose children live elsewhere, or two joined one-parent families. In a
stepfamily, problems in relations between nonbiological parents and children may
generate tension; the difficulties can be especially great in the marriage of single
parents when the children of both parents live with them as siblings.
Childless families may be increasingly the result of deliberate choice and
the availability of birth control. For many years the proportion of couples who
were childless declined steadily as venereal and other diseases that cause
infertility were conquered. In the 1970s, however, the changes in the status of
women reversed this trend. Couples often elect to have no children or to
postpone having them until their careers are well established.
Since the 1960s, several variations on the family unit have emerged. More
unmarried couples are living together, before or instead of marrying. Some

elderly couples, most often widowed, are finding it more economically practical to
cohabit without marrying. Homosexual couples also live together as a family
more openly today, sometimes sharing their households with the children of one
partner or with adopted or foster children. Communal families, made up of groups
of related or unrelated people, have long existed in isolated instances. Such units
began to occur in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s as an alternative
life-style, but by the 1980s the number of communal families was diminishing.
The Filipino concept

of independence

The Filipino child from birth constantly receives attention and help not only
from parents, but from two sets of relatives, from his fathers and mothers sides.
The whole neighborhood also contributes to the attention. This large kinship has
conditioned the child to leisurely grow up. Often, the child would seek help and
care in activities he could already carry out himself.

This was the prevalent development pattern of childadult relationships in

the Philippines between the fifties to the sixties. It was even mislabeled as
closeness, cooperation, respect and duty for adults. Guthrie and Jacobs
observed, The Philippines ideal is not self-sufficiency and independence, but

rather family sufficiency and a refined sense of reciprocity. This eventually leads
to nepotism in business, padrino system and political dynasties.

The Filipino child is not encouraged right away to become independent

until he reaches school age. When the public school system was established by
the Americans for Filipinos, seven years old was considered the school age when
the child officially entered Grade 1. The 1935 Philippine Constitution reconfirmed
this. From the sixties up to the present, private kindergarten schools for the fourto five-year-old became popular. Towards the seventies, mothers in provincial
towns who used to be fulltime housewives went to work or became overseas
workers. Public school principals were pressured to set up, even unofficially,
preschool classes (During DECS Secretary Armand Fabellas term, these
preschool began to be officially recognized after the EDCOM national survey of
schools). It was only last year when preschooling became part of the Philippine
educational ladder. In spite of a strong national clamor, it took Congress two and
a half decade to legislate the Early Childhood Education (ECE) Act.

Related studies
All industrial nations are experiencing family trends similar to those found
in the United States. The problem of unwed mothersespecially very young ones
and those who are unable to support themselvesand their children is an
international one, although improved methods of birth control and legalized
abortion have slowed the trend somewhat. Divorce is increasing even where
religious and legal impediments to it are strongest. Smaller families and a
lengthened postparental stage are found in industrial societies.
Unchecked population growth in developing nations threatens the family
system. The number of surviving children in a family has rapidly increased as
infectious diseases, famine, and other causes of child mortality have been
reduced. Because families often cannot support so many children, the reduction
in infant mortality has posed a challenge to the nuclear family and to the
resources of developing nations.
Parent and Child, branch of the law of domestic relations that determines
the legal rights and obligations of fathers or mothers to their children and of
children to their parents. The legal relationship is distinguished from the natural
relationship; for example, two persons may have a legal relationship of parent
and child although there is no natural relationship, as in the case of an adopted
child.
In common law in the United Kingdom and the United States, parents were
the legal as well as natural guardians of their child. They had the right to name

the child and were entitled to custody. As custodians, they could reasonably
chastise the child, but for excessive punishment the parents were criminally
liable for assault, or for homicide in case of death. The father was deemed
entitled to custody of the child in preference to the mother. A parent was not
liable for a tort (wrongful act) of the child unless its commission was incited or
authorized by the parent. A parent could recover damages for torts committed
against the child. In common law, the parent was not civilly liable to maintain the
child, but was criminally responsible in cases of neglect, as when failure to
provide food or clothing caused injury or death.
The legal relationships of parent and child established under common law
have been modified by statute in Britain and the U.S. In general, such statutes
provide that a married woman is a joint guardian of her children with her
husband, with equal powers, rights, and duties. Either parent has the right to
custody of the children of the marriage, and in a divorce or separation the court
can award custody to the parent best qualified and able to care for the children.
Parents must provide for their children such necessities of life as food, clothing,
shelter, education, and medical care; if they cannot or will not, state laws
authorize intervention by designated authorities to ensure that children's needs
are met.
Children who are physically or emotionally abused by their parents may be
the subject of legal action in order to protect the children. Parents' rights to
custody of their children may be limited or, in extreme cases, terminated because
of failure to provide adequate care. Laws require a father to support his minor

children if he is able to do so, whether or not he has ever been married to their
mother. Failure to provide support may result in civil or criminal proceedings
against him. If paternity has been admitted or established, laws permit children to
inherit from their father's estate unless specifically excluded in his will.
Most single-parent households are run by mothers, and the absence of a
father -- coupled with lower household income -- can increase the risk of children
performing poorly in school. The lack of financial support from a father often
results in single mothers working more, which can in turn affect children because
they receive less attention and guidance with their homework. Researcher
Virginia Knox concluded from data from the National Longitudinal Survey of
Youth, that for every $100 of child support mothers receive, their children's
standardized test scores increase by 1/8 to 7/10 of a point. In addition, Knox
found that children with single mothers who have contact and emotional support
from their fathers tend to do better in school than children who have no contact
with their fathers.

Research paradigm

The conceptual framework illustrates the concept used by the researcher in

relation to the study.

INPUT
Child Rearing Capacity

of A Single Parent

PROCESS
to know the capacity of a single parent upon child rearing, the researcher used:
a. Questionnaire
b. Observation
c. Researching thru internet and textbooks inthe library
OUTPUT
Single parent capacity in child rearing is limited, although others was given help
from the government by single parent law and child support from the other half.

DEFINITION OF TERMS
Qualification. Any quality, skills, knowledge, experience
Instructional.

The act of instructing, knowledge, information given or taught. A

command or order.
Motivation.

Provide with or affect as, a motive, innate or impel.

Character.

The pattern of behavior or personality found in an individual or

group.
Behavior.

The way a person behaves or acts; conduct; manners.

Strategy.

Skill in managing o planning especially by using stratagems or artful

means to some ends.

Educational.

Relating to education, giving information; educating.

Performance.
Methods.

The act of performing, execution, accomplishment and fulfillment.

A way of doing anything, modes, procedure, process especially a

regular, orderly, definite procedure or way of teaching and investigating.

Principles.
School.

The ultimate source, origin, or cause something.

A place or institution for teaching and learning, establishment for

education. Any situations, set of circumstances, of experience through which

gains knowledge, training or discipline.
Technique.

Any method or manner to accomplish something.

Competence.

Condition or quality of being competent; ability; fitness

specifically, legal capability.

Parent. mother or father: somebody's mother, father, or legal guardian.
Family. a group of people who are closely related by birth, marriage, or adoption

CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY

Research design
The descriptive normative survey method of research was used because it
is fact finding with adequate interpretations involving descriptions and recording.
Furthermore the purpose of this kind of research is t report the present status of
the child rearing capacity of a single parent.
Locale and population of the study
52 community people respondents were the respondents of the study.
They answer the questionnaire that was made by the researcher.
Description of the respondents
The respondents of the study were 52 community people respondents that
were aware about the topic of the research, child rearing capacity of a single
parent.
Statistical treatment used
PERCENTAGE - this was used to find out part of relation of the score of one
respondents to the whole group.
RANKING - This showed how the scores of a respondents to the group

MEAN - this was used to get a representative score of the group.

FREQUENCY - this is used to determined the number of responses as
perceived by the respondents or the different categories included in the study.
Instrumentations used
For gathering the data for the research study, a questionnaire was used
because it is widely accepted and the most practical way of eliciting information.
The researchers also conducted interviews and observation as well as know
Child Rearing Capacity of A Single Parent .
INTERVIEW - This was used to be able to get some information which
cannot be gathered through the questionnaire.
OBSERVATION - This was used to be able to get some information on the
actual practices of the respondents.
DOCUMENTARY ANALYSIS - This was used by means of references,
magazines, Internet, and other studies made by the researcher.
STATISTICS
ANSWERS / TOTAL NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS * 100%

CHAPTER IV
PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

This chapter deals with the presentation, analysis and interpretation of the data
gathered from the respondents through the used of different tools the
questionnaire which revealed Child Rearing Capacity of A Single Parent . The
data pertinent to each given problem are herein presented and organized
according to the order of the problems in Chapter I.

TABLE I
EFFECTS OF BEING A SINGLE PARENT
DOES BEING A SINGLE PARENT COULD AFFECT YOUR OTHER
INTERRELATIONSHIP WITH OTHERS?
CATEGORIES

ANSWERS %

YES

9.61

NO

20

38.46

MAYBE

27

51.92

TOTAL

52

100%

this table shows that parents interrelationship with others does not affect at all
for the 20 respondents with 38.46 percent on their being a single parent, while
51.92 percent

does not think either way if their case affects their

interralationships, while 9.61 percent grees that it does affect them.

TABLE II
IS IT HARD TO BE A SINGLE PARENT?
CATEGORIES

ANSWERS %

YES

46

88.46

NO

3.84

MAYBE

7.69

TOTAL

52

100%

being a single parent is not as easy as it sounds, and so does 46 respondents

with 88.46 percent agreed that it is hard to be a single parent while 2 respondents
does not agree because they are being helped by their parents while 4 out of 52
respondents answered maybe or sometimes it is hard and sometimes its not with
7.69 percent.

TABLE III
Have you ever experienced to give-up because of being a single parent?
CATEGORIES

ANSWERS %

YES

46

88.46

NO

3.84

MAYBE

7.69

TOTAL

52

100%

TABLE IV
Have you ever ask a favor to your ex wife/husband to provide your child?
CATEGORIES

ANSWERS %

YES

52

100

NO

0.00

MAYBE

0.00

TOTAL

52

100%

TABLE V
Do you think that single parenthood affects your relationship with your child?
CATEGORIES

ANSWERS %

YES

38

73.07

NO

12

23.07

MAYBE

3.84

TOTAL

52

100%
TABLE VI

Do you think that single parenthood is acceptable in the society?

CATEGORIES

ANSWERS %

YES

28

53.84

NO

20

38.46

MAYBE

7.69

TOTAL

52

100%

TABLE VII
Do you take counseling to help you to raise your child right?
CATEGORIES

ANSWERS %

YES

1.92

NO

51

98.07

MAYBE

0.00

TOTAL

52

100%

TABLE VIII
Do you expect that you will be rewarded because of your love to your child?

CATEGORIES

ANSWERS %

YES

1.92

NO

51

98.07

MAYBE

0.00

TOTAL

52

100%

TABLE IX
Have you encountered a financial problem?
CATEGORIES

ANSWERS %

YES

38

73.07

NO

12

23.07

MAYBE

3.84

TOTAL

52

100%

CHAPTER V
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION
Summary
Finances

If you are like many single parents, you work long hours to earn enough to pay
for all the expenses of running a home and raising children alone, child
development experts with the Kids Health advise. Even if you are lucky enough to
have some financial support from your childrens other parent, chances are you
feel like you are constantly juggling your financial obligations. You might even
have to deny your children some of the things they want or need, according to
the website of The Future of Children. You might work extra hours to pay for
tutoring for your daughter, but your son might not be able to take drum lessons
he always dreamed of because of your financial limitations.

Parenting Quality

Your parenting skills might suffer when the relentless duties of your everyday life
pile up. Long work hours might cause you to miss important school functions.
You might not be able to afford a babysitter to get out for a few hours of important

down time. You might overreact when your kids leave their socks on the living
room floor. You might even confide in your children about personal, financial or
professional problems. However, they likely do not have the emotional strength
or maturity to deal with adult situations and might feel obligated to somehow help
you. Improve your relationship by making the most of your quality time together
and finding ways to incorporate special one-on-on time with each of them.

Children

If you went through a divorce, you are not the only one recovering from the major
transition. Even though your children likely prefer a peaceful single parent home
to a miserable two-parent home, they might have adjustment problems to living in
a single parent home or feel ashamed of the divorce, state Kids Health
professionals. If your ex does not see your children as often as he did before,
they might struggle with abandonment or resentment. They might harbor
unrealistic fantasies about reconciliation or have bad memories of your breakup,
the American Academy of Pediatrics' HealthyChildren.org reports. Consider
counseling for yourself and your children if you notice that you or they are
suddenly having trouble sleeping, concentrating or experiencing problems at
school or work, HelpGuide.org advises.

Self-Esteem

No matter how hard you try to build them up, your children might struggle with
some self-esteem issues growing up in a single parent home. They might have
reduced expectations for their own relationships later in life and crave affection,
especially if your busy work schedule makes it hard for you to shower your
children with love often enough. Your children might blame themselves for your
living situation. Even though you might not be able to stop them from making
comparisons, you can help build their self-esteem. Small things like posting a
good report card on the refrigerator or acknowledging when they remember to
take out the trash can help build their feelings of self-worth.

Conclusions

That this study was conducted, to be able to understand the importance of

understanding the meaning and the effects of family, and especially to tackle and
understand the child rearing support of single parents.

It sought to define the meaning of being a single parent. It will open the eyes of
the readers about the situation of the single parents and what they encounter,
their strength and their weaknesses and how one can help them to provide for
their child or children.

Recommendations

Based

from

the

major

findings

and

conclusions

drawn

the

following

recommendations are written;

Students. They will gain knowledge and understanding about single parenthood
and its effect to oneself.
Teachers. They would be guided accordingly on how to teach their students
about the importance of family.
Parents. They would understand why should they educate their children about
family relationship.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Funk and Wagnalls, Company ; Funk and Wagnalls Encyclopedia ; 2004 edition ;
family
Student News Journal ; Senior edition ; 2002 edition.
Sonia Zaide ; Current Issues ; Filipino Families; 1995 edition
(http:// HYPERLINK "http://www.samgoldstein.com" www.samgoldstein.com ).
Lansdown, John : Family ; Encyclopedia Britannica 2000 edition