Despite the stigma that surrounds the concept of a man or woman being the sole caretaker for a child, many kids flourish under the supervision of a single parent. But–generally speaking–does having only one parent to look after them cause psychological damage to a child?
Before we go making any bold proclamations, let’s take a step back and analyze the social aspect of it all. Specifically, the stigma that is ever so present in today’s society.
For generations, the idea of raising a child all on your own has been met with much skepticism and disapproval. And, in recent generations, much of the stigma has been fueled by negative views towards teenage moms and babies born to unfavorable circumstances. More over, society also tends to have negative views regarding an older, unmarried woman raising a child by herself. Ideally, society views a “happy, functional” family as one that consists of two parents.
It seems that society has molded some pretty critical eyes towards single parents; especially towards single mothers. In fact, in a 2010 study the Pew Research Center found that 69 percent of people feel having and raising a child without a man to help raise that child is “a bad thing for society.”
Yikes.
The fact of the matter is that there a number of reasons why single parents are ubiquitous in today’s world. What matters most is whether or not it’s a viable option, and does it provide an equal benefits for our children. Better yet, does being raised by only one parent affect the psyche of a child?
Well, much to the ire of skeptics and critics…single parenting is just as effective as a “normal” family life and household.
In a recent article published by Psychology Today, Susan Newman, Ph. D. references a study in which researchers studied solo mothers and two-parent families when the babies were infants. They revisited the question two years later and published their findings in the study, “Solo mothers and their donor insemination infants: follow-up at age 2 years.” Again they compared solo mothers and married women who became pregnant via donor insemination (DI).
Here’s what the research team reported:
“This route to parenthood(via DI for solo mothers) does not necessarily seem to have an adverse effect on mothers’ parenting ability or the psychological adjustment of the child.” In fact, “The solo DI mothers showed greater pleasure in their child and lower levels of anger accompanied by a perception of their child as less ‘clingy’. Fewer emotional and behavioural difficulties were shown by children of solo than married DI mothers.” The results during those typically more trying “terrible twos” were similar when studies examined the quality of parenting and children’s psychological adjustment at ages 3, 7, and 10, again with DI solo mothers and DI married parents.
Read more about studies that disprove the stigma regarding single parents! Visit page 2 for more!
In a 2016 study published in Journal of Family Psychology, “Single mothers by choice: Mother–child relationships and children’s psychological adjustment,” children of single mothers were compared with children in two-parent households.The children ranged in age from four to nine and were all conceived by donor insemination—50 solo mothers and 51 two-parent families.
The study, conducted by Susan Golombok and her colleagues at University of Cambridge, used a series of interviews with parents, researcher observation, teacher reports and measurements for psychological problems such as ADHD, and autism. The findings for both family types were the same on an array of measures: warmth, conflict, stress, adjustment problems, mother’s well-being, among others. No significant differences were discovered.
Study lead Susan Golombok claims that, “The low level of psychological problems among the children of single mothers by choice in the present study suggests that lack of knowledge of the identity of their biological father does not have a negative impact on their psychological wellbeing.”
As Dr. Susan Newman asserts, “[w]hen thinking about the positive results of solo motherhood, especially using donor insemination, the desire to have a baby, psychological screenings, the expense and difficulties in becoming pregnant should be considered. Single women who choose motherhood often wait until they are older to start their families. Many also go to great lengths to become mothers, making children of single mothers very wanted children—all of which may help explain the optimistic outcomes. Solo mothers by choice are certainly, as Rebecca Traister wrote, not ‘economically, socially, sexually, or reproductively dependent on or defined by the men…'”
Quite frankly, the stigma surrounding single parenting needs to cease. There are simply too many factors that play into the overall psyche of a child, but one thing is for sure: a child raised by a single parent is by no means at a disadvantage as compared to a child raised by a more traditional family.
This article was based on a piece published by Psychology Today
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