Single Parents in Indonesia: How to Carry Out the Practice of the Eight Family Functions?

Abstract

A single parent’s phenomenon as a vulnerable family is commonly found in Indonesia with an increasing number from year to year. This study aimed to see the profile of a single parent in Indonesia and the implementation of family functions. A quantitative approach through secondary data analysis from the 2019 Program Accountability Performance Survey Family Module was used in this research. Processing and data analysis were carried out descriptively using cross-tabulation and chi-square correlation tests. The results showed a picture of a single parent in Indonesia that require special attention, namely single mothers due to a divorce, age group of 31–50 years, have many children, have low education, moderate economic status, have a job, live in urban areas, and most of them are in Java. The practice of implementing family functions is still deficient in single parent. Based on its characteristics, only the level of education, wealth, work status, and knowledge of family functions were positively and significantly related to the practice of family function in single parent. This study recommends the need for strategies in optimizing the implementation of family functions in single parent, namely socialization and strengthening of family functions, mainly reproductive functions, by prioritizing the description of a single parent in Indonesia that require special attention.