Single Parent Statistics

Being a single parent is no easy task by any means. The statistics of single parents that can be found on the Internet can be manipulated to come to a lot of different conclusions, some pleasant and some unpleasant. It's true that children who grow up in a single parent household have a tougher time, but this cannot be thought of as a rule of thumb. It most certainly all depends on the nature of the parenting involved.

It would be completely unfair to state that children in single parent households are more prone to violence, drug abuse and alcohol abuse, even though, some statistics do point towards this. In fact, if you scour all information properly, you will surely find a lot of troubled teens and young adults have grown up in a household with both parents.

In fact, it can also be argued that such a household the child is given more attention and care because the family knows that they have a liability of sorts. It's not uncommon for a child to be closer to a mother or a father and not get along with the other parent at all, but this is not possible in such households. Analyzing the statistics and jumping to conclusions is far simpler than delving beneath the surface and pinpointing the real cause of certain problems and difficulties.

A defining factor in such an analysis is the age of the child. A child in his/her preteens will find it more difficult to suddenly cope in a single parent household after many years of having both parents around, and such a situation could have some serious ramifications. On the other hand, if the child has grown up with one parent around since a very young age then the bond between the parent and the child is certainly much stronger. The negative effects on such a child are much lesser.

Statistics in America

The U.S. Census Bureau released a report in November, 2009 called 'Custodial Mothers and Fathers and Their Child Support: 2007', and this report outlined some interesting single parent statistics and numbers. Some of the key points of the report were as follows:

• There are almost 14 million single mothers and fathers currently raising their children in the United States. There has not been a major change in this number since 1994, thus the percentage of single parent households has actually gone down over the last 15 years.
• There are about 80 million children under 21 in the United States, and about 22 million of these children are being raised in a single parent household.
• Out of all the single parents, female constitute about 83% of the total number, and single fathers around 17%.
• Working single parent statistics make far more interesting reading. Around 54% of custodial single parents are employed on a full-time basis, 28% on a part-time basis and 18% do not work at all.
• Around 25% of single parent households live below the Federal poverty levels. This is an alarmingly high number, as only 12% of the entire United States population live below the poverty level.
• The government organization that provides aid to needy single parent households was formerly known as Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), and it is now known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). In 1993 the AFDC provided help to 22% of single parent custodians, but in 2007, only 5% of single parent custodians required help from the TANF.

Raising a child in a single parent household is obviously harder, and this can have some unwanted effects on the development of a child, especially in families where there is more than one child. The area that is hardest hit is the financial one, as there is only one source of income instead of 2. In almost all cases, you will find that a single parent is far more attached to a child, and is much more involved in the development of the child, and is also more protective. There is a natural mentality of an inherent disadvantage in such a family, but this does not necessarily mean a bad thing. Most families successfully overcome this hurdle and emerge much stronger and closer due to such a situation.

Inferring too much information from these statistics is not advisable, as every family is unique and different. There are certainly some obvious advantages and clear disadvantages of raising a child in a single parent household, but this is not a debilitating or a crippling factor by any means.