The Negative Effects Of Single Parents

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Overall, there are a number of studies showing the negative impact a non-involved father has on his kids as they are growing up. It is also likely that the effect of a father’s absence is long term-- making it decidedly more difficult to have a successful life as an adult. Scott Winship of the Brookings Institution, examining young adults in their mid-20s, found it not only was more difficult for a kid growing up poor in a single parent household (Mom or Dad), it is harder for those kids to climb up the economic ladder and move ever upward away from their more humble beginnings. Winship adds, “You are more likely to rise out of the bottom if you live with two parents, and you’re less likely to fall out of the top.” Although there is a good amount of research demonstrating that living apart from a parent (typically the father) is associated with a host of negative outcomes, it is only fair to recognize those findings are not entirely conclusive. Sociologists Sara McLanahan and Christine Percheski found that while uninvolved or absent fathers are factors in a kid’s more limited adult opportunities; it isn’t proven that detached fatherhood by itself caused those outcomes. Consider that single parents or noncustodial parents can have other differences from married parents besides family structure per se (generous and involved extended families, being highly motivated individuals to have their kids succeed etc.). The researchers, however, did come to the conclusion that single

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