Eng:1011 Composition I
Takendra Culp
Research Assignment: Single Parents in College
Single parents have it hard balancing everyday life, to handling a full-time job, balancing financial needs, making sure their children are taking care of which are just the basic needs that a single parent does. Many single parents take that leap of going back to school to better and secure their future for their family. However, single parents that make the choice of going to back to school to better themselves go through a lot of issues or self-neglect. Because of the self-neglect and the overbearing weight of handling everyday life and college life, researchers have found out that between "finances, family, and relationship difficulties disproportionally affected single parents, who reported nearly twice as many suicide attempts as their counterparts."(Shenony.2016) Many people would think that might not be as hard but being a single parent in college comes with a lot of challenges due to trying to juggle many hats at once such as financial issues, balancing a stable home life for their dependents, and staying on top of class assignments, these situations can be tough to manage but can eventually cause long term mental and physical challenges in the future while focusing on building a better future. During this time of our economic status the rate of mental and physical stress of single parents in college could possible double within the next year.
Most people would think
There is a plethora of reasons as to why single-parent households are toxic to a child’s future. Single parenthood has problematic consequences for children’s school performance at all levels in their educational career. Children who grew up with only one biological parent are twice as likely
The college drop-out and failure rate in North America is unacceptably high and it’s becoming a huge problem. In fact, US News reports that “30% of college freshmen drop out after their first year of college” (Bowler 2). There are quite a few reasons students drop out of College. Whether it’s having a child or working two jobs, it’s hard for most students to balance college and life. Some of the main causes of dropping out include nontraditional situations, mental issues such as stress or anxiety, and lack of self-knowledge.
Going back to college after you have been out of school for quite a few years, had three children, been married, and divorced is a lot harder than I ever imagined. It takes hard work, dedication, and missing out on the little things previously taken for granted. I miss taking naps the most. I believe if you can tough it out through the worst days, you can finish school and provide a better life for your children and yourself. You need a lot of willpower and a large sense of humor.
Coming from a 2013 study, published in Anxiety, Coping and Stress stated, “Those with greater financial strain perceived more stress, had more symptoms of depression, anxiety, and ill health.” There are many existing highly stressful situations that cause college students to drop out. Students that depend on themselves, with no help from their families are more likely to drop out due to financial issues. A survey conducted by Public Agenda reported by New York Times reveals that students who are receiving financial help from their families have sixty three percent graduation rate, exceeding the forty two percent of those who graduate and pay for college on their own. This proves
The cost of college tuition can affect the student's life in a way that one would not think like in their future. College stresses students in high school because they have to worry about if their grades are up to par and do they meet the college or university requirements. But more of students stress comes in the future. Fact is proving that most of college students go back home and live with their parents because they are not financially stable to afford their own home because they are still paying off loans. A percent of 85 this year’s graduating class of this year will be forced to move back home in order to help cope with student loan debt.Only 57% of people between 25 and 44 own a home today, a 4% decrease since 1980, ("15 Surprising Side Effects of Rising College Costs"). Another way is that college graduates put off having children because of them not being financially stable online universities recently did a survey on how many college students have children the results shows that debt, largely from college, was causing 20% of young adults to delay having children,even if they wanted them. Kids can be a little expensive , and college debt may mean that many young couples that are wanting to start family have to hold off on adding to their family until they can get loan debt under control. ("15 Surprising Side Effects of Rising College Costs"). Also, it
However, by rising to these challenges, custodial single parents develop significant strengths. The positive benefits of being a single parent are that the child receives a lesson in independence. The child sees how strong the one parent is at providing them with everything they need without having to depend on someone else. The parents are showing their children that it is possible to live on their own, have an enjoyable life and take care of others while doing so. The children will know that they are a priority to the parent. When there is a second parent around the house, it can be easy to put responsibility off on them, but when the children see how hard the parent is working for them, they will understand how important they are to their parent. (Dowd, 1997)
In 2002, number of children living with their single parent was 16.5 million (Davidson). The most important thing is that each single-parent family is different from the other. Children who live with a widowed mother will definitely be living a different home life from children with divorced parents or the one whose parents were never married. Children of the parents who were divorced will always have some kind of relationship with parents and parents’ partners. But it is obvious that children from single-parent families face tougher times economically as well as
Families who have dealt with being a single parent typically see themselves being judged by other parents. For example, Jamie Rush a teen mom said "If he acts up, or if he falls over and bumps his head, I always think people are looking at me as if to say "It's because you're a teenager." (Rush 3). This shows that teen moms are trying their best and love their kids too. Schools are helping teenage single parents. Take the case of Jamie, after she gave birth to her son, she went to an alternative school with a built in daycare (Rush 1). This tells you that there is help for teens out there, but it's not always available to everyone. Socially speaking, one of the primary causes of single parents is because of one of the parent's death. Through research, we have found that the primary cause of single-parent households was because of parental death (Chamie 1). This proves that not all single-parent homes is because of teen pregnancies. As a result, there are many single parents struggling with being judged, or because of significant other's death. But there are schools, helping
School and education happens to be one of the main things affected in the lives of both African American males and females living in single parent households. Parents tend to become less involved in the childs academics and social activities in school from the stress of being a single parent and having so much responsibility on them. It seemingly gets worse by the time the child reaches high school. One survey asked high school students whether their parents helped them with their school work and supervised their social activities. Students whose parents separated between the sophomore and senior years reported a loss of involvement and supervision compared to students whose parents stayed together (Mclanahan, n.d.). This usually leads to the child performing poorly in the classroom and on assignments. The child becomes less motivated to attend school, which leads to poor attendance. Poor attendance and lack of motivation sometimes results in the child dropping out of school. If the parents live apart, the probability that their children will drop out of high school rises by 11 percentage points. And for every child who actually drops out of school, there are likely to be three or four more whose performance is affected even though they manage to graduate (Mclanahan, n.d). Children born to unmarried parents are slightly more likely to drop out of school and become teen mothers than children born to married parents who divorce. But the difference is small compared to the
Results indicate that changes in the unemployment rate have the most profound impact of the three” (2-4). If the parent is able to find employment, they may have to work for minimum wage if they do not have a college degree or some type of trade or training. Minimum wage is not enough to take care of a family. “Financial strain is one of the strongest predictors of depression in single parents. Higher levels of depression are predictive of more punitive disciplinary practices and decreased parental nurturance, support, and satisfaction with the parenting role” (McLoyd, 1994, p. 562-589). Single parents working minimum wages are at risk for becoming a part of the poverty level. Working minimum or even part-time job may help a family, but more
Are you a single mother who wants to go back to college but is worried about juggling college, work, and parenting responsibilities? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Many women dream of going back to college to complete their degree, attend college for the first time, or obtain an advanced degree.
Divorce and out-of-wedlock childbearing are now epidemic in American society. Both forms of disrupted families are harmful to children and to society. The children of single parents are more likely to do poorly in school, commit crimes, and become single parents themselves. In addition, the increase in single-parent families contributes to such social problems as poverty, crime, and a decline in the quality of public education.
Summary: Singles mother hurt themselves and children by trying to show society that they are strong and that they can survive by their own. This source show us how kids can be affected in a bad way because of their mother status. When those women decide to bring to the family a new integrant, kids get hurt with their emotional and in their academy life as shown in this quote “ The more “transitions” experienced by a child — the arrival of a stepparent, a parental boyfriend or girlfriend, or a step- or half sibling — the more children are likely to have either emotional or academic problems, or both.” (Hymowitz, 2014)
According to a recent study from CBS, the United States has the highest divorce rate of any country at 45%. Due to this high rate of divorce, many families find that there is an imbalance of family roles in these newly created single parent households. Being a single parent has its own set of challenges for the individual and creates challenges for the family such as, spending smaller amounts of time with your children, having an excessive work load and disrupting the wellbeing of the children.
Married couples make up 68% of all families with children under 18, compared to 93% in 1950 (US 2015 Census). This demonstrates that more and more children are living in households with single parents. Single parents have to deal with jobs and other sources of stress making it difficult to give their children the attention they need. Additionally, single parents are the only ones that are providing for the family so they have a lot on their plate. This can provide stress on the child because they can feel unloved or even hated. As the rate of single parents go up, so does the amount of children that are not receiving enough