Maura Coolbaugh

Single-Parent Households
Health disparities are defined as inequalities that occur in the provision of health care and
access to health care across different racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups. In the United
States, this issue is more well known within ethnic minorities such as African Americans, Asian
Americans, Native Americans, and Latinos. There are many factors that lead to health disparities,
a few of them being the following: poor access to healthcare, poverty, exposure to environmental
problems, inadequate level of education, and individual and behavioral factors (Health
Disparities). Poverty is a determinant that is viewed at the most when determining status within a
community, state or even country. Having a great amount of, or severely lacking, money causes a
multitude of problems to arise. Single parenthood is a bigger indicator of poverty than race.
Employment, marriage, education, and family size are all powerful determinants which are
indirectly involved with the effects of single parent households. (Espinola). Today, one-third of
American children a total of 15 million are being raised without a father. Nearly five million
more children live without a mother (Anderson). Having only one parent be the caretaker and
the provider for the family causes stress and hardships to occur for the entire household. Going
beyond the general knowledge of single-parent homes, this paper will address the following
question: How does living in a single parent household affect income and the childrens lives?
Although there is a range of topics and pathways that can be taken to approach this topic, I will
discuss more specifically the following: the rise of single-parent households, the stereotype of
race within single headed homes, the hardships single parents face, and the effects on the
children of single parents.
Marriage is no longer considered as important as it used to be in order to procreate or
attempt to make a family (Rosiak). Consequently, single parent households have been on the rise.

Maura Coolbaugh

The younger generations, who were brought up by only one parent, see their parents as
successful and hardworking and more importantly, as proof that marriage is not necessary to live
a fulfilling life with children; to some this is seen as an issue that needs to be fixed. It has been
suggested that in order to fix this, the idea that marriage is not important must be reversed. Some
households were not always headed by a single parent; some had adults who cohabitated and
others are the result of failed marriage. Divorce, especially in the past few years, has become
increasingly common as married couples are starting to separate more frequently. In 2012, 41%
of poor children lived with two married or two unmarried parents, 28% with a never-married
single parent, 22% with a divorced or separated single parent, and 8% with no parent (Womens
Legal). Poverty within homes stretches throughout all households, however, a total of 58% of
poor children are living a single or no parent households for various reasons. Parents do what
they can to care for their children so they will not marry or separate from someone they do not
believe are good role models for their children. This is not just an issue within America,
however, it affects women and children globally. Most other countries have similar percentages
of single parent homes but there are some middle eastern countries have lower rates and some
African countries have higher percentages (World Family).
Two determinants, which go hand in hand, are environmental location and race. Neither
one, however, is a definite statistic and there are of course those who do not fit into the
generalities. According to the CDC, nationally there are 29% of white babies that are born to
unwed mothers, 53% Hispanic babies born to single mothers and 73% of black babies born to
single women (Espinola). The numbers increase with the different races although they still show
that there is a high percentage of single mothers no matter their race. From his article Fathers
Disappear from Households across America, Luke Rosiak states the following statistics:

Maura Coolbaugh

Among blacks, nearly 5 million children, or 54 percent, live with only their mother compared
with 41 percent of impoverished Hispanic families and 32 percent of poor white families In all
but 11 states, most black children do not live with both parents. In every state, 7 in 10 white
children do. These statistics prove that there is a parallel with single parent households and
different races across the country, and although some are worse than others, there is need to
improve with all races. Blacks are shown here to commonly be raised in single parent homes.
There are certain states, Maine, Vermont, and West Virginia, who have the lowest dualparenthood rates for whites in the country; once again proving that this is not just a one race
issue in the United States. The white population does have overall lower percentages while
blacks have, on average, higher statistics. This can be considered a generational disparity, due to
the fact many minority families started the trend of single parent households earlier than whites
because of all the other disparities and hardships they had to face.
Hardships are dealt with every day in single parent households. Some may include lower
household income, lower wage, and difficulty finding good employment, as well as health and
food insecurities. Married couples have an average income of $80,000 while single mothers on
average about $24,000 a year (Anderson). This difference alone represents the beginning of the
difficulties parents and children must face when both parents are not present and willing to
contribute. In 2012, 48% of single parents worked full-time all year long, and 24% were not
employed at any time in the year, however, in 2013, the numbers rose to 69% of single parents
who were employed. More jobs are becoming available and even more single parents are getting
their degrees and the majority of them, 54%, are attending college as well. Although, with this
increased education, low wages are still common amongst single parents. Alongside the lack of
income, 33% single parent households are food insecure and 13% use food pantries in order to

Maura Coolbaugh

feed their kids and themselves. Health care coverage is another advantage which single-headed
households are not able to afford with 11% of children and 27% of parents having no health care
coverage. In order to have access to health care, food, and other advantages, there first must be
enough income to provide and continually pay for them; however, with the time restraints and
environmental limitations of single parents, finding proper employment and income is the
founding issue with this health disparity. (Womens Legal)
Children are specifically targeted within single parent households and usually experience
multiple difficulties. Ann Espinola reported, from an I-News analysis that children raised in
female-homes in Colorado are four times more likely to live in poverty than those from marriedcouple homes. Growing up in a poverty-stricken home generally leads to living in poverty as
well; the poverty rate for children in single parent homes is triple that of children who grew up
with two parents. This is linked to poor health, school dropout, and negative adult outcomes
(Womens Legal). It is extremely difficult to change ones socioeconomic status alone. Income
level correlates with education level which is also more difficult to achieve for children in
poverty. Without the money necessary to pay for high school or a higher institution, there are
only a limited amount of employment opportunities. With a limited amount of career paths, a
higher income becomes increasingly more challenging to accomplish. Most single-parent homes
are headed by women and it is believed that lacking of a father figure negatively affects the
personalities and outlooks of the children. A growing number of studies show that fatherlessness
has major negative impacts on the social and emotional development of children. One of these
studies done at the University of Melbourne found that absent fathers were connected to higher
rates of juvenile delinquency. While on the other hand, a Canadian study showed that kids whose
fathers were active parents in their childhood had fewer behavior problems and higher

Maura Coolbaugh

intellectual abilities as they grew older, even in families that were socio-economically at-risk
(Anderson). Luke Rosiak argues that the leading cause of fatherlessness is incarceration,
especially among lower class individuals. While in prison, the fathers are unable to pay child
support, play an active part in their childs life, or provide any type of financial or emotional
support. Although it has not yet been determined what is truly the number one cause of
fatherlessness, statistics show that 1 in 33 black men, and 1 in 83 Latino men were in prison in
2010 as well as 1 in every 150 white men (Espinola). Fatherlessness is shown to be an issue that
affects negatively affects children.
Single parent households have been on the rise in the past few years because marriage is
not seen as important as it has been in the past. Even though this has become a new trend, the
statistics remain the same; single parents generate less income, have less education, and struggle
with putting food on the table for their families. Single parent homes do not just affect the
parents, however, there are also negative impacts on the children as well. Children of single
parents end up with a lower education level, have a higher likelihood of living in poverty, and
generally are found to have worse health. It is often thought of that communities and groups are
only has bad as their lowest members. Allowing generation after generation to suffer from the
consequences of being a single parent is an issue that the public should be concerned about. Kids
and parents should not be left as a failure or just another statistic. Communities can come
together, at the neighborhood or city level, and help families by having more donations of food,
or even having babysitters available at a lower cost than normal. Schools can provide after
school programs where teachers stay later and help children with their homework or to safely
play games. Government policies hardly reach smaller families and homes so it is important that
communities come together to help one another and support those who need it.

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Works Cited
"Health Disparities." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, 01 Sept. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.
<http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/disparities/>.
"World Family Map 2014." World Family Map 2014. DOHA International Family Institute,
2014. Web. 14 Mar. 2016. <http://worldfamilymap.ifstudies.org/2014/articles/worldfamily-indicators/family-structure>.
Anderson, Kirsten. "The Number of US Children Living in Single-parent Homes Has Nearly
Doubled in 50 Years: Census Data." LifeSiteNews. LifeSite, 4 Jan. 2013. Web. 28 Feb.
2016. <https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/the-number-of-children-living-in-singleparent-homes-has-nearly-doubled-in>.
Espinola, Ann Carnahan. "Single-parent Family Major Factor in Widening Disparities." Rocky
Mountain PBS News. PBS News, 20 Jan. 2013. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.
<http://inewsnetwork.org/2013/01/20/single-parent-family-major-factor-in-wideningdisparities/>.
Rosiak, Luke. "Fathers Disappear from Households across America." Washington Times. The
Washington Times, 25 Dec. 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.
<http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/dec/25/fathers-disappear-fromhouseholds-across-america/?page=all>.
The Womens Legal Defense and Education Fund. Single Parenthood in the United States. New
York: Legal Momentum, 2014.