Respondents reported how often they âvisited or were visited by neighbors, friends, or acquaintancesâ and how often they âvisited or were visited by family members or relativesâ on a 1 (daily) to 5 (never) scale. There are three main pathways by which being raised by a single mother may produce a long-lasting impact on well-being in adulthood. Single parenthood is increasingly common in Western societies but only little is known about its long-term effects. Yes Age was centered before age2 and age3 were calculated. This is in contrast to evidence on negative life events during adulthood including divorce, bereavement, and unemployment for which the general principle of adaptation holds positing that the impact of an negative event decreases with increasing time since the event has happened (e.g., [17, 26]). In a fourth step, we included interaction terms into the regression analyses to analyze if the effects of the childhood family structure on adulthood life satisfaction varied depending on respondentsâ sex and age when completing the questionnaire following the procedure proposed by Aiken and West [24]. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0179639.g002. Effect of Single Parent Homes on Child Delinquency Single parenting effects children mentally, emotionally as well as psychologically. While it may be assumed that adults are able to reliably report whether they spent the entire childhood vs. only a part of their childhood with a single mother, this variable may still be subject to memory distortions. Compared to people raised by both parents, respondents reared by a single mother for between 1 and 14 years or for the entire first 15 years of their lives reported significantly lower general life satisfaction than the group reared by both parents. Any electronic reproductions must link to the original article on the APA Help Center. A single parent refers to one who cares for one or more children without the help of one of the biological parents of the child or children. Future cross-cultural research comparing effects of family settings on adulthood life-outcomes in several studies from different cultures may identify macro-level protective factors that could be targeted to improve the prospects of single parents and their children. No, Is the Subject Area "Social systems" applicable to this article? German Institute for Economic Research, Berlin, Germany, Affiliation Single parenthood is increasingly common in Western societies, with 27.5% of children in the US currently being raised in single-parent households—more than 80% of them in households headed by single mothers [].Although the importance of studying the long-term consequences of single parenthood on children is clear, there is still a dearth of knowledge on the … Yes Single parent families deal with many other pressures and potential problem areas that other families may not face. We therefore studied life satisfaction among 641 individuals (ages 18â66 years) who spent their entire childhood with a single mother, 1539 individuals who spent part of their childhood with both parents but then experienced parental separation, and 21,943 individuals who grew up with both parents. Given that one in four children now grow up in one-parent homes and that 42% of marriages end in divorce you might expect prejudice against single parents to … We focus on life-satisfaction in adulthood as a highly desirable characteristic which is assumed to play a crucial role for the populations' health, longevity, and citizenship [2, 3]. No, Is the Subject Area "Child health" applicable to this article? Effects of the breakup on children's school performance and peer relations. Regarding gender differences we test the idea frequently echoed in popular science, namely that men who were raised by single mothers are more disadvantaged in adulthood than their female counterparts. Missing occupational prestige was scored with the lowest value possible following the rationale that being unemployed or homemaker is regarded as lower in prestige than all other paid work. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. We expect a smaller decrease in general life satisfaction in this group, as the parent who left the family may still provide resources to support children when they enter adulthoodâwhich is less likely when the parent has never lived together with the child. There is also evidence that the absence of a father is associated with an increase in antisocial behaviors in boys, including violence, criminality, and substance abuse [16] and a decrease in social adjustment in general [5]. Here, all possible indirect paths were tested in individual models controlling age, age2, age3, sex, and childhood SES. (1979). C Changing Structure of the Family. The single parent may feel overwhelmed by the responsibilities of juggling caring for the children, maintaining a job, and keeping up with the bills and household chores. And typically, the family's finances and resources are drastically reduced following the parents' breakup. Individuals who grew up with a single mother for their entire childhood and to a lesser degree also individuals who experienced parental separation showed a small but persistent decrease in life satisfaction into old age controlling childhood socio-economic status. This is an important topic in today’s society because some single mothers can feel isolated, lack of support, financial struggles and emotional overwhelm. Descriptive statistics of the study variables for the three subgroups are presented in Table 1. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0179639.t001. Testing sex differences regarding the role of these adulthood life circumstances for life satisfaction revealed that physical health (i.e., the reverse-coded number of doctor visits; men: β = .09, t = 2.46, p > .05, women: β = .20, t = 5.80, p < .001, sex à physical health interaction: t = 2.66, p < .01) and number of friends (men: β = .05, t = 1.17, p = .241, women: β = .16, t = 4.61, p < .001, sex à number of friends interaction: t = 2.54, p < .01) were more strongly associated with life satisfaction among women who spent between 1 and 14 years of their childhood living with a single mother when compared to their male counterparts. Regarding the societal system where the children grew up, in the FRG, 18,186 respondents grew up with both parents up to the age of fifteen, 1234 lived with their mothers for between one and fourteen years, and 483 lived with a single mother up to the age of fifteen. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0179639.g001, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0179639.t002. Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom. Single-parent families are determined by the sex of the "primary carer," responsible for the children the majority of the time, and they can … In addition, the association between childhood family settings and adulthood life satisfaction did not differ significantly between individuals who grew up in the FGR or the GDR (F(2, 24107) = 0.734, p = .480, Societal System à 1â14 years with single mother interaction: t = 1.14, p = .253, Societal System à 15 years with single mother interaction: t = 0.34, p = .731). The participants also reported their socio-economic status (SES) in childhood (i.e., their parentsâ education and occupational prestige), their own SES in adulthood (i.e., employment status, occupational prestige, education, and net income), their physical health status during adulthood (the number of visits to the doctor, reverse-coded), their social integration in adulthood (number of friends, number of visits to/from friends, and number of visits to/from family members), and success in romantic relationships (their relationship status and if they were divorced). broad scope, and wide readership â a perfect fit for your research every time. Single parents have higher levels of mental health problems, which could result partly from the stress of trying to balance the needs of employment, home responsibilities, child rearing, and interactions with the child's school with limited time, personal, and social support (Cairney, 2003). Values are unstandardized path coefficients with 95% confidence limits. In model 1 (baseline model), parentsâ education (dummy coded) and occupational prestige (standardized) were included into the equation to control for childhood SES. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of young maternal age and maternal single status on maternal and child mental health and child development at age 3. The latter include death of one of the parents, abandonment which may occur in tough conditions, parents who neglect th… But if family members are still overwhelmed and having problems, it may be time to consult an expert or a licensed mental health professional. Even more drastic difference existed with regard to the child day-care infrastructure; more than half of the children who grew up in the socialist GDR were in regular day-care, which was free of charge, while less than 2% were in day-care in the FRG at the end of the 1980s [19]. 6 Best Ways to Reduce Problems Associated With Single Parenting In a related vein, children, whose parents divorce, exhibit slightly lower psychological well-being and social adjustment than children from stable two-parent families (e.g., [5, 7, 8â10]). The association between childhood family settings and adulthood life satisfaction was not moderated by respondentsâ age or respondentsâ sex (for further details see below). No, Is the Subject Area "Adults" applicable to this article? The values underlying Fig 1A are reported in Table 2, Model 1. Thus, the differences in life satisfaction were similar for younger and older, male and female, as well as participants who spent their childhood in the western oriented FRG or in the socialistic GDR. Inclusion of respondentsâ own education, occupational prestige, employment status, and net income during adulthood into the model attenuated the association of the different childhood family settings with general life satisfaction by a further 20% (Model 2). In conclusion, the present study shows that growing up with a single motherâin particular if the father is absent for the entire childhoodâpredicts a small but stable decrease in life satisfaction across adulthood that is partly explained by lower socio-economic status and educational achievement, inferior physical health, poor social integration, and lower likelihood of romantic relationship success in adulthood. Images from the APA Help Center may not be reproduced. All models controlled age, age2, age3, sex, and childhood SES. Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work. Dating back to the 1970s, the Family Deficit Model views the nuclear or two-parent family as the ideal family structure. A second pathway of impact is related to the generally lower socio-economic status and increased risk of economic deprivation among children in single-mother households (e.g., [4]). Regarding age differences one might assume that the effects of single parenthood wane across the adult life-span following the general psychological principle that the longer ago a negative experience the smaller the imposed impact (e.g., [17]). Data Availability: Data are available from the German Socio-economic Panel Study (SOEP) due to third party restrictions (for requests, please contact [email protected]). Single parenthood may be caused by either of these, choice or unexpected circumstances. Prior to the analyses respondentsâ ISCED-Scores were collapsed into three categories (low education [1]: ISCED-Scores 0, 1, and 2; medium education [2]: ISCED-Scores 3 and 4; and high education [3]: ISCED-Scores 5 and 6). A third pathway can be summarized as the âmissing-father hypothesis.â In popular science, it has been discussed that children need both a mother and a father, presuming that fathering involves distinct and necessary qualities which are particularly important for gender identity formation in boys (e.g., [14, 15]). To help find companies with a strong track record of hiring working/single parents, you can start by researching those included on best companies for working mothers. Click through the PLOS taxonomy to find articles in your field. (CNN) Roughly 24 million, or one-third of all American children under age 18, are living with an unmarried parent, according to a Pew Research Center analysis last year of … Single parents are resilient resulting from adjusting to their parental status, making them resourceful in budgeting, time management, and playing the portion of both mom and dad when necessary. Single parenthood is increasingly common in Western societies, with 27.5% of children in the US currently being raised in single-parent householdsâmore than 80% of them in households headed by single mothers [1]. The number of doctor visits as well as their generalized monthly net income in EUR were estimated by calculating the mean of all yearly data available. The scientific use file of the SOEP with anonymous microdata is made available free of charge to universities and research institutes for research and teaching purposes. The data distribution contract can be requested with a form. 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