Mental Health of Children in Single-parent Homes

The purpose of this paper is to examine the mental health and stability of children in single-parent homes, as well as to analyze the child's capacity to form lasting relationships. we will also look at parental separation, depression, school behavior and adjustment, sexual development and identity problems faced by these children, and the parent's role in preventing or abetting these problems.

Millions of children in America today live in single-parent households, the vast majority of these families consisting of a working mother and one or more children. As the divorce rate increases, this situation is likely to grow. Before looking at the effects of this type of environment on the child himself, we should first examine some basic facts about single working parents.

How a child reacts to a parent working is strongly colored by his perceptions of why the parent works. The parent should give much careful thought to explaining the reason to him, without making the mistake of getting overly involved in explanations beyond his grasp. The eleven year old has little trouble understanding that the family needs the mother's income to help pay expenses. The child may even be able to sympathize with her mother's need to do something constructive with her time.

However, let a mother who is the sole support of a three year old son tell him that she works because she needs the money and he might make her a present of $100 in pay money as an inducement to stay home. Instead, t

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a cliche" perhaps, but still important. What is meant by the term? Quality time is best defined by what it is not. The quality in time has nothing to do with ballet lessons or fancy summer camps or lavish parties. It may well be the two hours spent sitting next to the child at the hottest play in town, but it can just as easily be the twenty minutes the parent spends perched on the edge of the bathtub while the four-year old is taking a bath. Spending quality time with a child means simply being with him, showing him that the parent cares about him, that she is interested in what he is doing, in what he has to say. It hardly matters what the parent is doing with the child, as long as attention is given over to the relationship. Some single parents make the mistake of thinking that because the children are involved in their own activities, the parent is not needed. This is a particular pitfall with schoolage kids, who sometimes seem to need no more contact with their mothers than a passing "Hi, Mom, what's for dinner?" (Callahan, 1989). Nothing could be further from the truth. Many family counselors who deal with children of working single parents warn that the parent who sees her children so absorbed in activities wit

Category: Psychology - M