FAMILY SINGLE PARENT HOUSEHOLDS By Amanda Hermosillo What
FAMILY: SINGLE PARENT HOUSEHOLDS By Amanda Hermosillo
What is family? • A family according to the U. S. Census Bureau is ” a group of two people or more (one of whom is the householder) related by birth, marriage, or adoption and residing together”. • Family is a major social institution and the most important one, as it serves as a socialization agent. The family teaches a child culture, values, and beliefs that are important to the society in which he or she is being raised. Through this informal education/ cultural transmission a child learns to survive and society continues on. • Throughout different societies the concept of family might be very different to that which we are accustomed to in the U. S. Family in the United States can be described as a nuclear family ( parents & children) or extended family (this extends to a lineage of people who are related by blood, marriage, or adoption).
Traditional Roles • Traditionally in the United States the family consisted of a mother, father, and children this is known as a nuclear family. • Members in a family typically fill some role, for example a child’s role is to listen and obey whoever is in charge of the family. In 1950’s U. S. A society this was usually the husband who was typically the sole income earner and the one that made the decisions in a family. A woman was usually a stay at home mom cooking, cleaning, and looking after the children. These roles fulfilled family functions and needs. • These traditional roles are unequal as power gets distributed largely based on gender which society (especially in the 50 s) perpetuated based on whether you were born male or female. • A perfect example of this is from the popular sitcom Leave it to Beaver in which Ward Cleaver tells Beaver that “a woman's place is in the home and if she's in the home she might as well be in the kitchen”.
The Evolution of Family Structure • Of course families in the United States now are very different from families in the 1950’s. • The modern family of today has gone through many transformations due in large part to changes in society. From more women entering the workforce and taking over the breadwinners role, higher rates of divorce and remarriage creating blended families, same sex marriages, single parent households, cohabitation, couples choosing to remain childfree, and people getting married at an older age have all shaped the transformation of what a family is.
What do families do? • This evolution of family structures led to a different approach in which we would be allowed to broaden what encompasses a family and the question became not what a family is but what does a family do? • The functionalist definition to this question is “that a family provides the physical, social, and emotional needs of individuals and society”. • This definition allows for much more inclusivity as throughout our life we often look to different people at different moments of our life to provide a variety of different types of support and affection. For example a long time family friend is often times considered as “part of the family” and this is because they provide some sort of emotional, physical, or social need.
Single Parent Households • These rapid changes in family structures has given rise to single parent households which are often the product of divorce, death of a parent, desertion, etc. • The most common single parent households are headed by women, in the United States 86% of households are led by single mothers. • Single parent households are most common in developed countries. • Beside the contribution of changing social and cultural trends other factors such as increased employment opportunities for women and the availability of welfare benefits which have allowed women the opportunity to set up their own households have all contributed to this rise in single parent families. • When we take race and ethnicity into account the statistics show that African American children are most likely to end up in a single parent household with 55. 2%, followed by 31. 1% of Hispanic children, 12. 9% of Asian children, and 20. 7% White children.
Single Parent Households • While women are the most common leaders in single parent households, between 1970 and 2012 there has been an increase in single parent households headed by fathers. • This increase may be attributed to fathers obtaining custody of their children during a divorce. • Single fathers on average are more likely to have higher incomes and are slightly better educated than single mothers. • The U. S. Census shows that it is more common for white fathers to head a single parent household than African American men.
Struggles • Parenthood is challenging with two parents, in a single family those challenges get doubled. • The difficulties associated with single parent households include an overload of responsibilities from child rearing and making all the decisions for the family, to working to provide a stable income, and cleaning around the house. This doesn’t even include the fact that you must be available to give both emotional, social, and physical support to your children, as well as keep yourself sane and healthy in all aspects wellness. • When a single parent is unable to maintain all these responsibilities they may experience feelings of loneliness, depression, or anxiety. • In the past their was also a social stigma attached to being a single parent especially for mothers this was in large part due to social and cultural views and beliefs, but thanks to changing societal views the stigma associated with being a single parent has diminished. • Single fathers have their own societal struggles to deal with, for example because single fatherhood isn’t as common as single motherhood it is uncommon for them to develop the social networks that single mothers often do. They must often also deal with agencies that are not accustomed to fathers having custody.
Financial Difficulties • A single parent household does not necessarily have a more difficult time than a traditional family in which there are two parents. • There a number of factors that must be taken into account for example, gender, race, ethnicity, and class. • Nevertheless single parents must rely on being the sole income provider as well as the sole caregiver. • The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that after a divorce women experience a 73% decline and men experience a 43% rise in their economic well being. • A survey done in 1991 discovered that a single family with children under the age of 18 in which the mother was the sole provider had an income of $17, 747 while single fathers had an income of $30, 445.
Comparison • The economic disparity between men and women can be attributed to the gender pay gap in our society. Women on average make 78 cents for every dollar a man earns and their average earnings in a year are about $11, 000 less than a man. • This gender pay gap is carried on to single parent households, if a woman is in charge of being the sole income provider than based on the pay gap of course she is going to make less than a single parent household in which the father is the sole income earner. • This is a major reason as to why we see more single mothers in poverty than we do single fathers.
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