Single Parent Households
Single parent households can result from divorce, death of a parent, parents living apart, and from parents who were never married. The demography of and reasons for single parenthood differ across countries. Single parent households are predominantly female headed and are typically of lower socioeconomic status than two parent households. Children in single parent families experience more behavioral, emotional, and academic problems, on average, than do children in two parent families, but most children in single parent families do not have long term negative outcomes. Factors such as parental well being and positive parenting are generally more important than family structure in relation to children's adjustment. Keywords: child development; family/household; marriage; motherhood; psychology