Term Papers on SINGLE PARENTHOOD

Term Paper Title	SINGLE PARENTHOOD
# of Words	2790
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	11.16

SINGLE PARENTHOOD

by

OUTLINE

I.  Opening Statement / Introduction.

     a. I am not…
     b. Parental experience
c. Keeping up with the Jones’

II. Evaluation.

a. Statistics; Marriage and Divorce

     1. percentage of married couples
2. non-family households
3. median age of marriage for men/women
4. woman headed households and those never married

     b. Evaluation of statistics; no-fault divorces

     c. Statistics on single parenthood

          1. Ľ of all children under 18 live in a single parent household;
              estimations for the year 2000.
          2. 68% live with biological parents
          3. black and white percentages

III.  Miscellaneous knowledge.

     a. point out my being a single parent
     b. single fathers vs. single mother statistics

IV.  Life as a Single Parent.

     a. juggler example
     b. distressing statistics
     c. Cosby excerpt to change mood
     d. no “right” approach; authorization for leniency
     e. child-care responsibilites / tips

V.  Resources

     a. utilization of books
     b. useful daily tips from Krueger
     c. nation-wide support groups
     d. military family support units

VI.  Summary.

     a. total acceptance of situation, strengths and weaknesses, and the child(ren)
     b. no magic formula, just a lot of TLC

VII.  Opinion.

     a. commonality of single parenthood
     b. closing statement

I
am not a psychologist or a sociologist. I am a single father in aggressive
pursuit of a doctorate in parenting which has so far consumed five years and four months of my life.  Nothing I’ve ever done has given me more joys and rewards than being a single parent to my daughter.

     T
he perfect scenario:  two people meet, fall in love, have a lovely
wedding, a romantic honeymoon, successful careers, a house mortgage, 2.3 darling children, and live happily ever after. That’s the way it’s supposed to happen, right? At least for the Jones’ family it does. Few situations have ever been more idyllic and unfortunately, reality doesn’t always deal from the same deck of cards and it most often doesn’t turn out that way.

W
hat happens next?  Divorces happens next; a very common aspect of
today’s society. For foundation purposes, let’s look at a few statistics:

         - The percentage of households consisting of married couples fell from 79 percent in 1950 to 55 percent in 1991.

         - Non-family households--mostly people who live alone—grew from 10 percent to 30 percent of households during the same period.

         - Between 1956 and 1990, the median age at first marriage rose from 20.1 to 24 for women and from 22.5 to 26 for men.

         - Since 1950, the percentage of American families headed by women has nearly doubled, to 17 percent.

         - Thirty-one percent of one parent families are now headed by never-married women, in contrast to 6.5 percent in 1970 (Parkman, pp. 29-33).

     H
ow can this be? Perhaps the shift to no-fault divorce is a major reason
family life has become less attractive to many Americans. Under the no-fault divorce laws of most states, one spouse may unilaterally dissolve a marriage. These laws have reduced the incentives for spouses to commit themselves to their relationship and have caused many other people to either delay or forgo marriage (Parkman, pp. 29-33).  Furthermore, no-fault divorces, ushered in 20 years ago was hailed as a quick and easy solution to relationships gone sour (Moody, pp. 70-78).  Then there are the children between the two separating parents.

W
hile data strongly supports the idea that a two-parent family works out
better than a one-parent situation, this has been seemingly over-looked as the decision to separate is eminently alluring.   Single parenthood in the United States has exploded in the last decade.  Over 14 million children (1/4 of total) under the age of eighteen live with only one parent and predictions estimate that by the year 2000, over one-half of all family units will be headed by a single parent (Krueger, pp. 13).  In addition, only 68 percent li...

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