By: Bettany Valsin

Single-parenting is something that has been a very debatable aspect in society as to whether or not it served as being “socially healthy”. Being that the standard and traditional family is seen as having both a mother and father, single-parenting has caused many to fear that the outcome and structure could potentially be destroyed by embracing single-parenthood. Historically, single-parenting was something that society really looked down upon and didn’t embrace at all. On the contrary, now it seems as if single-parenting has become more socially acceptable, because we live in an era in which the independence of women is rejoiced, and encouraged. Therefore, instead of single-parenting being viewed as a pity case, society is bound to make that man/woman feel as if they are some sort of warrior. A downfall to this is that now single-parents are suffering more and more economically, because in my research it states that a lot of single parents have an income below the established national poverty level (Journal of Extension, pg. 1) .So now the problem with single-parenting has shifted from just being socially unusual, to  being an economic threat as well. In addition to that, single parents are also said to lack all of the skills to provide the necessary emotional needs and some physical needs as well. Why is that our society is more accepting to single=parenting nowadays if they only seem to produced undesired results? Well, if we take on this situation with a sociological perspective, we discover that because our society has grown to support the independence of women, single-parenting then serves as a way to embrace the independency and strength of a woman. Society wants to support the fact that women feel as if they can take on the role of both the man and the woman in the household as opposed to the mindsets historically. Historically, this was deemed unacceptable, because the majority of society back then always placed women under men, and no one truly respected a woman taking on major roles. Therefore, present-day single-parenting does not seem so uncommon, but instead two parent households are beginning to seem less likely to discover.

Link to website: http://www.joe.org/joe/1984september/a2.php

Single Parenting: Deviance Over Time

By: Eric Banduch

     Single parenting is not a recent phenomenon. It can be said with certainty that since the beginning of the human race, children have been raised by only one parent. With that being said, in today’s society the norm is for two parents to raise their child together. According to Merton’s Strain Theory, “deviance occurs when a society does not give all its members equal ability to achieve socially goals” (Conley 192). Single parenting is one of the best examples of this theory in action. Since our society is based around a nuclear family that consists of two parents, with one traditionally being more of a breadwinner and the other more of a caregiver, society doesn’t provide the same opportunity to succeed to a parent that has to attend to both of the parental roles. Most of the time single parenting is a burden not asked for, but rather thrown onto the shoulders of the single parent via divorce, death, unexpected pregnancy or other extreme cases. According to the CDC, forty-one percent of all births were to unmarried women. Paying attention to Figure 1 (focusing on the green line), we can see that in 1980 that percentage was closer to seventeen and in 1940 it was all the way down at less than five percent.

Along with this gradual increase of births to single women came a gradual increase in the social acceptance of single parents. Going back even just a few decades single woman were looked down upon by family members, even in cases of unforeseen pregnancies. In terms of degree of deviance, being a single parent has become less and less deviant. Society is also embracing the idea of having single parents participate as major contributors to the workforce. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for single parents averaged 8.2% in 2010. That is an increase of .4% from 2009, but decrease of about 1.8% as recent as 2003. Without delving into the socioeconomic impacts of this, the simple fact that single parents are getting more jobs proves that society is more accepting of them. With this being said there are several deviant acts still associated with homes with single parents. For example, "75% of teenage pregnancies are adolescents from single parent homes", and "63% of suicides are individuals from single parent families" ("Single Parent Statistics"). In conclusion, as the prevalence of single parents will likely continue to increase, so will the social acceptance of being a single parent. Society now provides many programs such as tax relief from the government to allow single parents to survive in today’s society.

Link to several facts about singe parents over the years: http://www.singleparentsuccess.org/stats.html

Works Cited:

"Changing Patterns of Nonmarital Childbearing in the United States." NCHF Data Brief. Center for Disease Control, May 2009. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db18.pdf>.

"Unemployed Persons by Marital Status, Race, Hispanic or Latino Ethnicity, Age, and Sex." Bureau of Labor Statistics. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2003. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. <ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/lf/aa2003/pdf/cpsaat24.pdf>.

"Employment Status of the Population by Sex, Marital Status, and Presence and Age of Own Children under 18, 2009-10 Annual Averages." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 18 Oct. 2009. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. <http://www.bls.gov/news.release/famee.t05.htm>.

"Single Parent Statistics." Providing Support to Single Parents through Higher Education. Single Parent Success Foundation. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. <http://www.singleparentsuccess.org/stats.html>. 

Single Parenting: An Act of Deviance

By. Mark Geaslen 
 

Single Parenting has been viewed in the past as deviant, but over the years it has become more socially acceptable. Today society views single parenting less supportive than having 2 parent families. Our society believes a child with one parent behaves in a deviant behavior. Therefore, kids tend to act in an uncivil manner. They are usually less attentive, not well responding and stubborn. According to Laurance Steinberg in his article “Single Parents, Stepparents, and the Susceptibility of Adolescents to Antisocial.” He includes data that stated children who live in a single parent home are more likely to engage in deviant behavior.” Also in the article “Single Parent Homes Effect On Adolescence” by Milena Abreu, she explains that these kids are not monitored as much with a single parent than with two parent families. “Understanding the family structure can have an important role in the intervention and prevention of deviant behavior in the child. More parental monitoring was associated with less delinquency in a single parent household.” (Abrue) These children attain their personality and behavior patterns from their parents. If the parent is not around at all, due to work or other reasons, the child will end up learning deviant behaviors either from friends or others. Children learn from interacting with their parents, and if their parent is gone then a child will engage in deviant behaviors. Abreu explains this through the control theory. “Control theory views lack of supervision as a disrupted, parent child bonding seen in single parent homes. The less time the parent interacts with the child, the more time the child has to engage in deviant activities.” (Abreu) Therefore, society believes that children in a single parent home lack the ability to learn social norms. Since these children do not learn the correct norms, they tend to have a problem with controlling themselves toward authority. If there isn’t a parent around to discipline them, then they believe they are in control of themselves and others around. Parents are supposes to teach their child respect, manners and norms. Children with one parent are given a nanny or a baby sitter sometimes because their parents are unable to be home. This could really affect the child’s behavior. “Researchers illustrate that children from a single parent or stepfamily may have lower levels of control placed on them then children from a biological households.” (Abrue) Society believes that single parenting causes children to become deviant, so this causes the parent to be viewed as an irresponsible parent. I am from a 2 parent family, but I have many friends who are not, and I have seen emotional struggle from them. Single parenting does not address that a kid will be deviant, but it can cause a child to lean toward the deviant side.

http://www.usfsm.edu/academics/cas/capstone/2010-2011/interdisciplinary%20social%20sciences/abreu-single%20parent%20homes%20effect%20on%20adolescence.pdf

Steinberg, L. Single Parents, Stepparents, and the Susceptibility of Adolescents to Antisocial Peer Pressure. Child Development, Vol. 58, No.1 (Feb., 1987), pp. 269-275

Social Acceptibility of Single Parenting Dependent on Socioeconomic Status?

By: Kayla Hemingway

For the past several decades, as people become less dependent on economic partnerships, the family unit has been changing its shape.  While people still claim to “value” marriage, it is more of a personal choice based on love and emotion, no longer a multi-functional, economic necessity.  Thus, it seems as though divorce, and consequently, single parenting, are becoming not just more common, but more socially acceptable in general.  However, depending on who you ask, single parenting isn’t perceived quite so positively in some certain social milieux.  My own experiences as a single parent have really given me a lot of insight on how a person’s socioeconomic status influences the likelihood that they will become a single parent.  As a member of an upper middle class family, becoming a single parent was quite the scandal in my community.  My parents were ashamed and hid it from other family members.  Contrarily, when a girlfriend of mine found out she was expecting out-of-wedlock, her family threw her a huge baby shower and they were over-the-moon happy for her.  I know a lot of it had to do with the fact that she came from a one-parent home and was of a lower socioeconomic status.  Becoming a single parent was “the norm” for her and her family.  As recently as 1995, 45% of children raised by divorced mothers and 69% of never married mothers are impoverished or near so. (http://www.census.gov/prod/3/97pubs/cb-9701.pdf)  So we know that single parenting has to be more widely accepted by those of lower economic statuses.  

But why is this?  Especially when considering that historically single parenting was rejected by all socioeconomic groups.  Maybe it is media driven?  After all, a single mother is likely to spend a lot of time outside of the household, working.  This gives a child a lot of time focused on things such as TV. (media).  You flip on the TV. these days and half of the shows and movies playing are glamorizing single parenting.  Take MTV’s “Teen Mom” for example.  Granted, “Teen Mom” focuses more on the aspect of teen parenting and that is an issue all in itself, but it also embellishes single parenting by making these young single girls look like heroes.  There are tons of blogs with dedicated fan bases to these young single, mothers.  Check out one that I found with extra enthusiastic fans, here:

Teen Mom Junkies

Citizens of lower socioeconomic statuses are already more likely to deviate, and when you flip on the TV and see single parenting plastered in a positive light everywhere, it has an effect on the adolescents watching it.  It has an amplified effect on the adolescent watching it that have an absent parent.  No matter the reason, it is clear that the social acceptance of single parenting widely varies among the audience.  

http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP03-04-Usdansky.pdf
http://www.census.gov/prod/3/97pubs/cb-9701.pdf