Skip to main content

Single Parent Families

Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy
  • 123 Accesses

Synonyms

Custodial single fathers; Custodial single mothers; Custodial parent; Single parenthood

Introduction

The number of households in the United States led by single parents has significantly increased over the last 50 years (US Census 2000). In the 1950s it was common to be raised in a traditional nuclear, two-parent household, with almost 80% of children being raised by both parents (US Census 2000). Today, millions of children live in single-parent households. In fact, 50–60% of all children are expected to spend some time being raised in a single-parent household (Hornberger et al. 2010).

Divorce or separation is the most common factor in the increase of single-parent families (Hanson and Sporakowski 1986), although single-parent families can also occur from the death of a parent, incarceration, or parents who are single by choice (Mitchell and Ponzetti 2003). In comparison to traditional two-parent families, single-parent families face a variety of challenges, such as lower...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Biblarz, T. J., & Stacey, J. (2010). How does the gender of the parents matter? Journal of Marriage and Family, 72(1), 3–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Braver, S. L., Ellman, I. M., Votruba, A. M., & Fabricius, W. V. (2011). Lay judgments about child custody after divorce. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 17(2), 212–240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brody, G. H., Dorsey, S., Forehand, R., & Armistead, L. (2002). Unique and protective contributions of parenting and classroom processes to the adjustment of African American children living in single-parent families. Child Development, 73(1), 274–286.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • DeLeire, T., & Kalil, A. (2002). Good things come in threes: Single-parent multigenerational family structure and adolescent adjustment. Demography, 39(2), 393–413.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dufur, M. J., Howell, N. C., Downey, D. B., Ainsworth, J. W., & Lapray, A. J. (2010). Sex differences in parenting behaviors in single-mother and single-father households. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72(5), 1092–1106. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00752.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanson, S. H., & Sporakowski, M. J. (1986). Single parent families. Family Relations, 35(1), 7–132.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hilton, J., & Devall, E. (1998). Comparison of parenting and children’s behavior in single-mother, single-father, and intact families. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 29(3), 23–54. doi:10.1300/j087v29n03_02.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hilton, J., Desrochers, S., & Devall, E. (2001). Comparison of role demands, relationships, and child functioning in single-mother, single-father, and intact families. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 35(1), 29–56. doi:10.1300/j087v35n01_02.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hilton, J. M., & Kopera-Frye, K. (2007). Differences in resources provided by grandparents in single and married parent families. Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, 47, 33–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hornberger, L. B., Zabriskie, R. B., & Freeman, P. (2010). Contributions of family leisure to family functioning among single-parent families. Leisure Sciences, 32(2), 143–161. doi:10.1080/01490400903547153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krueger, P. M., Jutte, D. P., Franzini, L., Elo, I., & Hayward, M. D. (2015). Family structure and multiple domains of child well-being in the United States: A cross-sectional study. Population Health Metrics, 13(1), 1–11. doi:10.1186/s12963-015-0038-0.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacCallum, F., & Golombok, S. (2004). Children raised in fatherless families from infancy: A follow-up of children of lesbian and single heterosexual mothers at early adolescence. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 45(8), 1407–1419. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00847.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, B. A., & Ponzetti, J. J. (2003). International encyclopedia of marriage and family. New York: Macmillan Reference USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • US Census Bureau. (2000). Families and living arrangements. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/hhes/families/data/cps.html.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Natalie Johnson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Section Editor information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

About this entry

Cite this entry

Johnson, N., Eddy, B., Aamar, R., Soloski, K.L. (2016). Single Parent Families. In: Lebow, J., Chambers, A., Breunlin, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_489-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_489-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-15877-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-15877-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Single Parent Families
    Published:
    20 October 2017

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_489-2

  2. Original

    Single Parent Families
    Published:
    28 December 2016

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_489-1