Myth: Children who grow-up in a single-parent household are more likely to struggle in school, get into trouble with the law and develop serious social problems.
Truth: Single parents have raised many well-behaved, successful people. Many negative responses to children raised by a single parent have more to do with economic hardships than the lack of one parent.With hard work, love, positive discipline and good parenting skills, single parents can raise capable, content, successful children. (Positive Discipline, 1999, pg.3)
Myth: Children from single parent homes will never have healthy relationships in the future.
Truth: Children of divorced parents seem to put more energy into maintaining their relationships. A study of more than 6 000 adults found that 43% of grown up children of divorced parents are happily married which is almost the same percentage as those who grew up in two parent homes. (Positive Discipline, 1999, pg.3)
Myth: Children from single parent families have lower self-esteem.
Truth: This is sometimes true for the reason that many children in single parent families have low income, which is often associated with low self esteem. Children with less money than other children will have low self esteem, and this is true even in poor two parent homes. (Cullen, 2000)
Myth: After a divorce, the children involved are better off in stepfamilies than in single-parent families.
Truth: The evidence suggests that stepfamilies are no improvement over single-parent families, even though typically income levels are higher and there is a father figure in the home. Stepfamilies tend to have their own set of problems, including interpersonal conflicts with new parent figures and a very high risk of family breakup. (McLanahan & Sandefur, 1994)
Works Cited and Consulted
________. (1999) Positive Discipline for Single Parents, 2nd Edition, Prima Publishing.
Cullen, Loanna. (2000). “Confronting the Myths of Single Parenting”. Village Inc.
McLanahan, Sara & Sandefur, Gary. (1994). Growing Up With a Single Parent Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
McLanahan, Sara (March 2002) “Life without father: what happens to the children?” Amaerican Sociological Association. School of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of Minnesota.