Nontraditional Families Affects on Children

Nontraditional Families affects on children

Liberty University

For the duration of the past few decades there have been numerous changes to family structure. According to Feldman, " With an increase in the number of parents who both work outside homes, a soaring divorce rate, and a rise in single-parent families, the environment faced by children passing through middle childhoods in the 21st century is very different from that faced by prior generations" (Feldman, 2011). Family structures within nontraditional home family have similar characteristics that affect a child growing up (Ono & Sanders, 2010). According to the International Journal of Childbirth Education, "defining the term nontraditional family may elicit many different responses depending on the age, gender or geographical location" (Lantz, 2012). One of the reason children in nontraditional families are consider to have disparities more notable is because of instability of family structure formation (Ono & Sanders, 2010). Another reason is because of the instability within family structure that cause children to have increasingly salient part of their lives (Fomby & Cherlin, 2007). Consequences of living in a nontraditional family setting often come from changes in the family and disruptions (Porter, 2012). According to Bramlett & Blumberg (2007) "Family structure can have a profound impact on children's experiences and life trajectories. Family structure affects a child outcome of life in many ways such as educational attainment and general well-being.

History

The early 1900's the family consisted on a father who is breadwinner and takes care the family financially, the stay at home mom who takes care the house and children, and of course the children. They all live a house somewhere in the suburbs. That was the only ideal view of a model family. According to Feldman, "A look back at television shows of the 1950's finds a world of families portrayed in a way that today seems oddly old-fashion and quaint: mother and father, married for years, and their good-looking children making their way in a world that seems to have few, if any, serious problem" (Feldman, 2011 p191). Today the ideal family is totally different. The thought of family today, is only a parent or caregiver working multiple jobs to raise their child. Or the family is seem as people who decide to stay together for many years resulting in common law versus getting married. Some of these parents become more involved with their career goals and obtaining stability that forming a family and getting married. Over the past few decades only about 3 out of 10 kids live in traditional family setting, the rest live in some form of a nontraditional family home (Rimm, 2010).

Single parent families

Single parenting has become a more popular style in the last couple decades. Single parenting has become one of the most common nontraditional families. According to George, "Although there are exceptions, this state usually occurs for one the three reasons: the parent was never married, the parent had separated or divorced from the spouse, or the spouse has died" (George, 2009). Single parents usually experience higher level of stress due to financial situations, high and low relationships with their children in addition to parenting styles, and sometimes the lack of rest (George, 2009). Around 43% of children live within a single parent home that is at or below the national poverty level (George, 2009). Due to not being financially stable, some single parents are forced to live in low-income neighborhoods which result into poor schooling systems. More children are likely to drop out of school and to be raised in poverty. Consequently there are more like to be teen pregnancies. Around 60% of children are raised by young single parents who are less likely to get married (Feldman, 2011). In addition to teenagers are more likely to raised their child without the help and support of the father, as a result most teenagers abandon their education and have to rely on minimum wage jobs for a source of income (Feldman, 2011).

According to Feldman, " The consequences of living in a single parent families depends on the financial condition of the family and, if there had been two- parents, the level of hostility that existed between them" (Feldman 2011). the majority of people think the cause is whether there were two parents at first and situation changed leaving one parent to raise the child. Additionally the economic status is a very important aspect on determining what types of consequences the child will grow up with. Consistent with Bramlett & Blumberg, "For most health indicators, children in single mother families had poorer health status than children living with biological parents (Bramlett & Blumberg 2007). Most people believe this is because most single parents may to work more to take care of the children, and still remain in poverty. In addition to more children becoming more likely to suffer from health problems due to the lack of regular doctor visits or adequate preventive services (Rosenfeld, 2010). A child's ability to go to school on a consist bases and participate with some social activities can be affected by health problems (Rosenfeld, 2010). Single parents, who are often faced with stress from living situations, normally have more psychological distress, and this affects their parenting styles (George, 2009). For example, children who live with single parents as a result of a divorce, have parents that become less authoritative (Lambie, 2011).

Single parent families have more financial restraints that have a negative effect on a child's educational achievement (Hampden-Thompson, 2013). Most of these parents are unable to buy additional resources to help with children educational attainment (Hampden-Thompson, 2013). According to Feldman, "Economically disadvantaged children are at risk for poor academic performance, higher rates of aggression and conduct problems" (Feldman, 2011). Research has been proven that there is a correlation between a parents completed level of education and the child pace of learning (Hampden-Thompson, 2013). In addition to when a parent did not finish high school most likely the child will do the same and drop out. Children of single parents have been shown to have lower test scores in school and higher rates of grade retention when compared to children who live with both parents (Potter, 2012). Some single parent have to move frequently, this also cause children to have a higher risk of academic problems (Amato 2005). Because a