Single-parent Mothers Research Articles

Student Discipline and High School Performance

This paper examines the relationship between student misbehavior and academic performance and the effects offamily structure and mother's employment on misbehavior and performance. Using panel data on high school sophomores from the High School and Beyond (HSB) survey, we estimate a number of linear panel models. The findings indicate that sophomores with low grades misbehave more as seniors than those with high grades. Academic achievement in the sophomore year has little effect on changes in misbehavior. Misbehavior, however, has negative effects on changes in grades and achievement test scores. Finally, living in a single-parent family and mother's employment negatively affect both achievement and behavior.

The Changing Legal Status of the Single Parent

The vast majority of US single parents have an absent parent with whom they must deal. The existence of the other parent is one of the most problematic areas of single parenting. In the past problems caused by the relationship with the noncustodial parent have been somewhat limited by the fact that the single parent mother has enjoyed a preferred status in decision making for the child. For a number of reasons this preferred legal status has been changing. This paper explores the reasons for and extent of these changes and examines the implications for future policy and practice. It treats separately parents who have never been married and parents who have been married and divorced because they differ considerably in the law. In the not too distant past the legal status of the never married mother was almost that of sole parent but since 1971 the US Supreme Court has granted unmarried fathers some rights to participate in decision making for their children custody and visitation. The divorced mother never enjoyed the sole parent status of the never married mother. Noncustodial divorced fathers had rights to visitation and to seek custody. However custodial parents still enjoyed considerable autonomy in making decisions about the upbringing of the child. In the last decade the concept of joint custody has gained widespread attention. Although joint custody may involve a more or less equal sharing of the physical care and responsibility of a child many joint custody awards give decision making power to both parents and physical care to 1 usually the mother. Changing parenting styles the growing recognition that the relationship of the noncustodial father to his children is critical to their development and equalizing responsibility for child care after divorce have led to more acceptance of joint custody. By December 1984 at least 30 states had enacted legislation expressly authorizing joint custody.

Working mothers of pre-school children in an underdeveloped society

The present study attempts to understand the problems of working mothers with pre-school children. A sample of mothers who use the day care system run by the Colombian state is studied. Though this sample is not statistically representative of the female population with pre-school children, it presents similar characteristics to those of the women in the large urban centres. It was found that: (a) The living conditions of the families in the low and middle-low socio-economic positions are more limited than those observed in the families in the middle-high socio-economic position. (b) The intensity and the composition of domestic tasks also vary, not only by virtue of the different economic resources available to the family, but also by virtue of differential access to public services such as electricity, running water, public transportation and so on. (c) The very organization of the family appears to be affected by their socio-economic conditions. This is particularly evident for the single parent (mother) families which are more frequent in the middle-low and lower social positions. Although the mothers take the children to these centres looking for a service for the children and not for themselves, the centres become a very important promotion space also for the mothers. In fact, for the majority of them, this experience means a link allowing them to partly overcome the isolation that characterizes their daily life. It is concluded that the conditions of social reproduction can be substantially improved for the families from the lowest social strata, if there is an adequate state participation in this process. There is no doubt that it would be a fundamental factor advancing the circumstances of the working mothers of young children and especially those from the lower income sectors.

Coping as Divorced Single Parents: A Comparative Study of Fathers and Mothers

Knowledge of coping patterns and the adjustment to divorce of single parent fathers with custody of the children and single parent mothers with custody is important to many professionals in the decision-making process during custody disputes. A study of 33 divorced single parent fathers and 38 divorced single parent mothers found almost no statistically significant differences between the two groups on a large number of measures. Fathers held a slight edge over the mothers in income, education, and the tendency not to move from their home and community after the divorce. But in responding to 63 questions in the areas of the history of the divorce process, feelings as a single parent, childrearing issues, the children's feelings and behaviors, relations with the ex-spouse, and forming new social relationships, the two groups of parents differed significantly on only one question.

New findings in research on go-between process

This is one of a series of reports by the authors exploring Zuk's go-between method of doing family therapy. Graduate students in counseling are given intensive training in Zuk's method and then apply it with emotionally disturbed children and their families. Replicated studies have consistently described improvements in the behavior of the disturbed children, and in the relationship of parents and children. This is a report on the children followed up one to two years after therapy. As compared with untreated children, treated children were more l ikelyto be in public school class, or employed, and had less court involvement. They were rated bv school personnel as havins made more academic progress than the untreated children, and were more improved in attention and concentration. An analysis of intact versus SPM (single parent, mother only) families was suo~o_,estive [hat SPMs were less responsive to treatment than intact families. In bod~ treated and untreated families, SPM mothers and their disturbed sons tended to rate each other as less symptomatic than intact mothers and their disturbed sons. The finding confirms other clinical and empirical observation of refractoriness in SPM families. During a five year, federal and state-of-Pennsylvania-sponsored research and training project we explored the effectiveness of Zuk's go-between process on families having a child James J. Garrigan was formerly affiliated with Centennial School, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa. 1801 S. Andrew F. Bambrick is affiliated with Allentown State Hospital, 1700 Hanover Avenue. Allentown. Pa. 18103. Reprint requests should be addressed to James I. Garri~.an, Ed. D., CPI, MSC. Chief. Psvcholo~,y Service, L.S. Armv Hospital, Ft. ~tewart, Ca. }131 },

A Comparison of the Self-Esteem between Boys Living with Single-Parent Mothers and Single-Parent Fathers

This study investigated the self-esteem of boys between the ages of 9 and 14 as related to the sex and adjustment of the custodial parent, the frequency of visitation of the noncustodial parent, the length of time the child lived in a single-parent home, and the quality of the relationship between the parents. Results revealed no significant difference in self-esteem between boys living with single-parent mothers and boys living with single-parent fathers. No significant correlations were found between self-esteem of boys, the length of time they lived in a single-parent home, and the quality of the parental relationship. The self-esteem of those boys who saw their absent-from-the-home parent once a month or more was significantly higher than the self-esteem of those boys who saw their absent-from-the-home parent less than once a month.

The Planning And Implementation Of A Parent Training Group To Teach Child Management

The following discussion relates our experience of teaching behavioural techniques of child management to single-parent mothers. We found that these mothers were able to conceptualize the theories of child behaviour and apply them successfully to their own children through the use of behavioural programmes.In teaching behavioural techniques to parents we had the following aims in mind:1. To initiate behavioural change2. To maintain behavioural change3. To foster the group members' ability to anticipate future problems and to deal with these with the minimum of professional advice. Firmer control of their children would result in greater feelings of self confidence for the mothers.

Trigenerational enmeshment: unresolved ties of single-parents to family of origin.

Some divorced single-parent mothers return home to live with their families of origin. The absence of clear delineation of the roles of grandmother, mother, and child can produce a dysfunctional family unit, identified here as trigenerational enmeshment. Clinical features of this subgroup are discussed, and examples of treatment approaches are presented.