Prostate Restored
Photo by The Lazy Artist Gallery Pexels Logo Photo: The Lazy Artist Gallery

What race has the most single parent?

Statistics by Race, Ethnicity and Family Nativity Data from 2019 indicates that: Black and American Indian kids are most likely to live in a single-parent families (64% of Black children and 52% of American Indian children fit this demographic).

aecf.org - Child Well-Being in Single-Parent Families
What fruits detox your liver?
What fruits detox your liver?

Fruits: Apples, Grapes and Citrus Fruits Including citrus fruits provides your liver with enzymes that help in liver detoxification. Jul 30, 2019

Read More »
Last updated Nov 8, 2018
Is prostate biopsy risky?
Is prostate biopsy risky?

There are risks associated with prostate biopsies, but physicians can take steps to reduce those risks. Risks and ways to manage them include:...

Read More »
Last updated Jul 25, 2022

Child Well-Being in Single-Parent Families

This post high­lights the lat­est sta­tis­tics and demo­graph­ic trends involv­ing sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies. It iden­ti­fies some com­mon hur­dles fac­ing these fam­i­lies and shares oppor­tu­ni­ties for sup­port­ing both sin­gle par­ents and their children.

Defin­ing Chil­dren in Sin­gle-Par­ent Families

The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT® Data Cen­ter uses U.S. Cen­sus Bureau data to define chil­dren in sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies. This demo­graph­ic group describes any child under age 18 who lives with an unmar­ried par­ent. Chil­dren liv­ing with cohab­it­ing cou­ples are includ­ed in this group, but chil­dren liv­ing with a mar­ried par­ent and step­par­ent are not.

Sta­tis­tics About Chil­dren in Sin­gle-Par­ent Families

In the Unit­ed States today, near­ly 24 mil­lion chil­dren live in a sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­ly. This total, which has been ris­ing for half a cen­tu­ry, cov­ers about one in every three kids across Amer­i­ca. A num­ber of long-term demo­graph­ic trends have fueled this increase, includ­ing: mar­ry­ing lat­er, declin­ing mar­riage rates, increas­ing divorce rates and an uptick in babies born to sin­gle mothers. With­in sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies, most chil­dren — 15 mil­lion — live in moth­er-only house­holds. Near­ly 6 mil­lion kids live with cohab­i­tat­ing par­ents and some 3 to 4 mil­lion kids live in father-only house­holds, accord­ing to 2019 esti­mates.* Among unmar­ried par­ents, the share of sin­gle moth­ers has shrunk in recent decades while the share of cohab­it­ing par­ents has grown.

Sta­tis­tics by Race, Eth­nic­i­ty and Fam­i­ly Nativity

The like­li­hood of a child liv­ing in a sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­ly varies by race, eth­nic­i­ty and fam­i­ly nativ­i­ty. Data from 2019 indi­cates that: Black and Amer­i­can Indi­an kids are most like­ly to live in a sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies ( 64 % of Black chil­dren and 52 % of Amer­i­can Indi­an chil­dren fit this demographic). % of Black chil­dren and % of Amer­i­can Indi­an chil­dren fit this demographic). White and Asian and Pacif­ic Islander kids are least like­ly to live in a sin­gle-par­ent house­hold ( 24 % of white chil­dren and 15 % of Asian and Pacif­ic Islander chil­dren fit this demographic). % of white chil­dren and % of Asian and Pacif­ic Islander chil­dren fit this demographic). Lati­no chil­dren and chil­dren who iden­ti­fy as two or more races fall some­where in the mid­dle — with 40 % of kids from these groups liv­ing in a sin­gle-par­ent family. % of kids from these groups liv­ing in a sin­gle-par­ent family. Fam­i­ly nativ­i­ty makes a dif­fer­ence: 38 % of kids in U.S.-born fam­i­lies live in a sin­gle-par­ent house­hold com­pared to just 24 % of kids in immi­grant families.

Sin­gle-Par­ent Fam­i­ly Dif­fer­ences by State, City and Con­gres­sion­al District

The like­li­hood that a child lives in a sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­ly varies by location. At the state lev­el, this sta­tis­tic varies — from a low of 19% of kids in Utah to a high of near­ly 50% of kids in Louisiana and Mis­sis­sip­pi liv­ing in a sin­gle-par­ent household. Among the 50 most pop­u­lous U.S. cities with data in 2019: The share of chil­dren in sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies ranged from a low of 21% in Seat­tle to a high of 71% in Cleve­land. The KIDS COUNT Data Cen­ter also breaks this sta­tis­tic down by Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict, which indi­cates even greater vari­a­tion local­ly — from a low of 14% to a high of 71% in 2019.

Sta­tis­tics on Sin­gle-Par­ent Homes and Poverty

Fam­i­ly struc­ture and socioe­co­nom­ic sta­tus are linked, accord­ing to 2019 data. Near­ly 30% of sin­gle par­ents live in pover­ty while just 6% of mar­ried cou­ples fit this same sta­tis­tic. Among one-par­ent house­holds: Sin­gle par­ents are more like­ly to live in pover­ty when com­pared to cohab­it­ing cou­ples, and sin­gle moth­ers are much more like­ly to be poor when com­pared to sin­gle fathers.

Com­mon Chal­lenges of Sin­gle-Par­ent Families

A num­ber of fac­tors have fueled the rise in sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies. For instance: More peo­ple are opt­ing to mar­ry lat­er in life, skip mar­riage alto­geth­er and have kids out­side of mar­riage. At the same time, mar­riages have grown more like­ly to end in divorce. More than 20% of chil­dren born to mar­ried cou­ples will expe­ri­ence a divorce by age 9 and more than 50% of kids born to cohab­it­ing cou­ples will expe­ri­ence a parental breakup, accord­ing to some estimates.

When is the best time to take zinc for men?
When is the best time to take zinc for men?

Zinc supplements are most effective if they are taken at least 1 hour before or 2 hours after meals. However, if zinc supplements cause stomach...

Read More »
Last updated Jun 11, 2019
What are the negative effects of taking zinc?
What are the negative effects of taking zinc?

Oral zinc can cause: Indigestion. Diarrhea. Headache. Nausea. Vomiting.

Read More »
Last updated Sep 9, 2021
Imagine Your Moment Of Freedom!
Imagine Your Moment Of Freedom!

Fluxactive Complete is conveniently packed with over 14 essential prostate powerhouse herbs, vitamins and grade A nutrients which work synergistically to help you support a healthy prostate faster

Learn More »
Promotion

Tran­si­tion­ing to a sin­gle-par­ent house­hold can dis­rupt a child’s rou­tines, edu­ca­tion, hous­ing arrange­ment and fam­i­ly income. It can also inten­si­fy the inci­dence of parental con­flict and stress. These changes can be very dif­fi­cult — and even trau­mat­ic — for some children. Com­pared to kids in in mar­ried-par­ent house­holds, chil­dren in sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies are more like­ly to expe­ri­ence poor out­comes. While the research is com­plex, some­times con­tra­dic­to­ry and evolv­ing, mount­ing evi­dence indi­cates that under­ly­ing fac­tors — strong and sta­ble rela­tion­ships, parental men­tal health, socioe­co­nom­ic sta­tus and access to resources — have a greater impact on child suc­cess than does fam­i­ly struc­ture alone. Chil­dren thrive when they have safe, sta­ble and nur­tur­ing envi­ron­ments and rela­tion­ships, and these con­di­tions and con­nec­tions can exist in any type of family.

Socioe­co­nom­ic Dis­ad­van­tage and its Impact on Children

Sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies — and espe­cial­ly moth­er-only house­holds — are more like­ly to live in pover­ty com­pared to mar­ried-par­ent house­holds. Giv­en this, kids of sin­gle par­ents are more like­ly to expe­ri­ence the con­se­quences of grow­ing up poor. Chil­dren in pover­ty are more like­ly to have phys­i­cal, men­tal and behav­ioral health prob­lems, dis­rupt­ed brain devel­op­ment, short­er edu­ca­tion­al tra­jec­to­ries, con­tact with the child wel­fare and jus­tice sys­tems, employ­ment chal­lenges in adult­hood and more. Many fam­i­lies are low-income but sit above the fed­er­al­ly-defined pover­ty line. Chil­dren from these fam­i­lies often face sim­i­lar chal­lenges and live in com­mu­ni­ties with lim­it­ed access to qual­i­ty health care, com­pre­hen­sive sup­port ser­vices and enrich­ing activities. Researchers have also linked pover­ty to parental stress. Sin­gle par­ents may strug­gle to cov­er their family’s basic needs, includ­ing food, util­i­ties, hous­ing, child care, cloth­ing and trans­porta­tion. Nav­i­gat­ing these deci­sions alone — and with lim­it­ed resources — can send stress lev­els soar­ing. High parental stress, in turn, can spark even more chal­lenges and adverse out­comes among the chil­dren involved. Also worth not­ing: Pover­ty lev­els for Black, Amer­i­can Indi­an and Lati­no chil­dren are con­sis­tent­ly above the nation­al aver­age, and these gen­er­a­tions-long inequities per­sist regard­less of fam­i­ly structure.

Poten­tial Emo­tion­al and Behav­ioral Impact on Children

Kids from sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies are more like­ly to face emo­tion­al and behav­ioral health chal­lenges — like aggres­sion or engag­ing in high-risk behav­iors — when com­pared to peers raised by mar­ried par­ents. Research has linked these health chal­lenges with fac­tors often asso­ci­at­ed with sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies, such as parental stress, lost social net­works, wit­ness­ing con­flict, mov­ing homes and socioe­co­nom­ic hurdles. Chil­dren of sin­gle moth­ers may face addi­tion­al chal­lenges. For instance: Depres­sion, which can neg­a­tive­ly impact par­ent­ing, is com­mon among recent­ly divorced mothers. Such hard­ships would be dif­fi­cult for any child. But kids can recov­er and thrive — par­tic­u­lar­ly when raised with the ben­e­fits of nur­tur­ing rela­tion­ships, sta­bil­i­ty, and men­tal health support.

Poten­tial Impact on Child Development

Experts are increas­ing­ly view­ing child devel­op­ment dis­rup­tions through the lens of adverse child­hood expe­ri­ences (ACEs). These poten­tial­ly trau­mat­ic events can take many forms, such as divorce or parental sep­a­ra­tion, pover­ty, men­tal health chal­lenges, sub­stance use and abuse at home, expo­sure to vio­lence, and so forth. ACEs can cause ​“tox­ic stress,” which can lead to last­ing, dele­te­ri­ous dis­rup­tions in a child’s phys­i­cal and men­tal health, edu­ca­tion and oth­er life outcomes. The risk of ACE expo­sure varies by a child’s race and eth­nic­i­ty, with Amer­i­can Indi­an and Black chil­dren more like­ly to expe­ri­ence mul­ti­ple ACEs than peers from oth­er racial and eth­nic cat­e­gories. Gen­er­al­ly speak­ing, how­ev­er: The more ACEs a child expe­ri­ences, the greater the risk of harm­ful effects.

Poten­tial Influ­ence on Education

Aca­d­e­m­i­cal­ly speak­ing, chil­dren in sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies are more like­ly to drop out of high school when com­pared to peers with mar­ried par­ents. This height­ened risk is like­ly is due to fac­tors asso­ci­at­ed with many sin­gle-par­ent house­holds; research indi­cates that chil­dren with few­er eco­nom­ic resources, more fam­i­ly insta­bil­i­ty, and more ACEs are at increased risk of poor edu­ca­tion­al out­comes — includ­ing drop­ping out of school.

Changes in Time Spent with Parents

What is the home remedy for prostate infection?
What is the home remedy for prostate infection?

The following remedies might ease some symptoms of prostatitis: Soak in a warm bath (sitz bath) or use a heating pad. Limit or avoid alcohol,...

Read More »
Last updated Nov 4, 2020
How can I increase my testosterone in 7 days?
How can I increase my testosterone in 7 days?

8 Proven Ways to Increase Testosterone Levels Naturally Exercise. Eat well. Minimize stress. Get vitamin D. Consider supplements. Sleep. Avoid...

Read More »
Last updated Jan 9, 2020

While every fam­i­ly sit­u­a­tion is unique, chil­dren in sin­gle-par­ent house­holds are like­ly to have less time with their par­ent when com­pared to peers in cohab­it­ing- or mar­ried-cou­ple house­holds. This is par­tic­u­lar­ly true if that par­ent works more than one job or long hours to make ends meet. After a divorce or parental breakup, chil­dren often have less time with their non­res­i­dent par­ent, which is typ­i­cal­ly the father. Main­tain­ing an involved, nur­tur­ing rela­tion­ship with the non­cus­to­di­al par­ent is high­ly impor­tant for a child’s well-being.

A Bet­ter Infra­struc­ture and Stronger Safe­ty Net for Families

Many pro­gram and pol­i­cy strate­gies exist to sup­port chil­dren in sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies and to reduce inequities due to race, eth­nic­i­ty and socioe­co­nom­ic sta­tus. For exam­ple, out­comes for these chil­dren can be improved by: Strength­en­ing finan­cial safe­ty net pro­grams and improv­ing afford­able hous­ing, which can reduce insta­bil­i­ty and parental stress. Pro­vid­ing afford­able, acces­si­ble high-qual­i­ty ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion, which has crit­i­cal ben­e­fits for child devel­op­ment and sup­ports parental employ­ment and fam­i­ly stability. Max­i­miz­ing two-gen­er­a­tion com­mu­ni­ty devel­op­ment strate­gies that improve the qual­i­ty of schools for kids and build job and par­ent­ing skills for the adults in their lives. Offer­ing trau­ma-informed and cul­tur­al­ly appro­pri­ate ser­vices — such as home-vis­it­ing ser­vices, par­ent edu­ca­tion, men­tal health care and sub­stance use treat­ment — that address parental stress and sup­port fam­i­ly relationships. Sup­port­ing the needs of young par­ents and also young fathers, espe­cial­ly those of color.

Strengths of Sin­gle-Par­ent Families

Many sin­gle par­ents pro­vide sta­ble, lov­ing envi­ron­ments and rela­tion­ships for their chil­dren. Exam­ples of how sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies can ben­e­fit chil­dren include: Solo par­ents may have more time to focus on their kids if they no longer need to spend time focus­ing on the needs of their spouse or partner. Years of fight­ing may pre­cede a divorce or sep­a­ra­tion. End­ing this con­flict and pro­vid­ing calm envi­ron­ments can reduce stress for both the chil­dren and parents.

Chang­ing the Con­ver­sa­tion About Chil­dren in Sin­gle-Par­ent Families

Chil­dren can thrive in any fam­i­ly struc­ture, and fam­i­ly struc­tures can change over time. Fam­i­ly types have also become more diverse, with blend­ed step-fam­i­lies, same-sex par­ent fam­i­lies, chil­dren liv­ing with rel­a­tives and more. In addi­tion, sin­gle par­ents who choose to have kids through donors or sur­ro­ga­cy may not have the same socioe­co­nom­ic dis­ad­van­tages and parental stress asso­ci­at­ed with oth­er sin­gle par­ents. As we think about fam­i­ly struc­ture and sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies, it may be help­ful to keep in mind these nuanced and evolv­ing issues.

For many years, the con­ver­sa­tion among researchers, advo­cates, pol­i­cy­mak­ers and oth­ers regard­ing sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies has focused on how this fam­i­ly type might neg­a­tive­ly affect chil­dren. What if, instead, we focus on what chil­dren need to thrive?

We know that all young peo­ple — includ­ing kids in sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies — flour­ish when they have car­ing, com­mit­ted rela­tion­ships with par­ents or oth­er lov­ing care­givers. We also know the impor­tance of safe, sta­ble homes, com­mu­ni­ties and fam­i­lies that have ade­quate socioe­co­nom­ic resources, social sup­ports and ser­vices. Focus­ing on qual­i­ty-of-life expe­ri­ences and ensur­ing equi­table access to oppor­tu­ni­ties can help young peo­ple reach their full poten­tial.

Learn More About Vul­ner­a­ble Fam­i­lies and Stay Connected

For decades, the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion has pro­mot­ed the well-being of vul­ner­a­ble chil­dren and youth, includ­ing those in sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies. The Foun­da­tion has tracked data, pub­lished resources, sup­port­ed pro­grams and advo­cat­ed for poli­cies to improve the lives of these chil­dren, youth and fam­i­lies. Explore the Foundation’s many pub­li­ca­tions, tools and best prac­tices, blog posts and oth­er resources, such as: * These 2019 esti­mates are the lat­est data avail­able from the Amer­i­can Com­mu­ni­ty Sur­vey. Sin­gle-year esti­mates for 2020 were not released. The KIDS COUNT Data Cen­ter will add sin­gle-year esti­mates for 2021 when available.

aecf.org - Child Well-Being in Single-Parent Families
How can I increase blood flow to my prostate?
How can I increase blood flow to my prostate?

“A healthy diet, regular exercise and weight control all help maintain blood flow to the muscle and allows the prostate to function best,” Coffield...

Read More »
Last updated Feb 16, 2022
What are 12 universal core values?
What are 12 universal core values?

Universalism: broadmindedness; wisdom; social justice; equality; a world at peace; a world of beauty; unity with nature; protecting the...

Read More »
Last updated Dec 4, 2022
Why can't I pee after prostate surgery?
Why can't I pee after prostate surgery?

Some men may find it difficult to urinate after surgery (urine retention). This is caused by scarring, which can cause the urethra to become narrow.

Read More »
Last updated Dec 15, 2020
What shrinks a prostate naturally?
What shrinks a prostate naturally?

Saw Palmetto Saw palmetto is an herbal supplement that's made from the fruit extracts of the saw palmetto plant. It's one of the more popular...

Read More »
Last updated Apr 26, 2020