Single Parent Households and Childhood Academic Achievement

Poverty affects a child's academic achievement. The vast majority of single parents are indeed in poverty. However, some still believe that the single parent home poses a unique threat to children due to the lack of two parents, outside the menace of poverty.

Yet, many of the problems children of single parents encounter that do not at first seem to be caused by poverty are in fact caused by a lack of resources. These resources include time and money, of which the single parent has little due to their low socio-economic status (Hargreaves 1991:44).

There is no doubt that children from single parent households do in fact suffer from low academic achievement (Hargreaves 1991: 40). Children from single parent homes are much more likely to receive poor grades and eventually drop out of school (Pong 1998). Furthermore, young adults who were raised in single parent homes often gain inferior education, employment, and economic status (Mueller and Cooper 1986).

It is also clear that the negative educational effects of living in a single parent household are not caused by the absence of a second parent. Clearly, many if not all of the academic problems faced by children of single parents can be attributed to poverty (Hargreaves 1991: 40).

Numerous investigations have proven that children from single parent homes obtain lower IQ and SAT scores. Moreover, these children have lower grade point averages and complete fewer years of schooling. However, when studies of IQ, SAT scores, GPAs, and years of schooling controlled for socio-economic status, they found the difference in academic achievement to be hardly significant (Hargreaves 1991: 41-42).

This implies that children of the same income level, from both one and two parent homes, achieve at the same level in school. Therefore, the factor affecting any child's achievement is their access to educational resources through wealth (Mueller and Cooper 1986).

Children of single parents must often drop out of school in order to contribute to the household income (Hargreaves 1991: 44). Then, even if adolescents seek higher education, they may not be able to afford it. An inability to seek higher education pushes children of single parents into the workforce where they stand to make much less money due to the lack of a college degree. This only furthers the cycle of poverty (Krein and Beller 1988).

Some researchers believe that socio-economic status accounts for almost all of the detriment to a single parent's child (Hargreaves 1991: 40). Still, some claim that poverty only accounts for half of the adversity children from single parent households encounter (Dowd 1997: 26). The camp which believes that only half of these problems stem from poverty is incorrect.

All of the disadvantage experienced by children from single parent households can be attributed to poverty because the half of problems they do not accredit to poverty are in fact problems that poverty causes. For example, the stress poverty places on the mental well-being of the single parent in turn causes them to lash out at their children. Hostility from one's parent serves as a mental distraction which can eventually affect the child's ability to concentrate on their schoolwork.

The half of educational problems faced by children of single parents that do not concern income occur due to a lack of social capital (Dowd 1997: 26). Social capital refers to an accessible goal which individuals cannot reach on their own, but only in a group (http://www.public.iastate.edu/~rmazur/dictionary/s.html). In terms of the academic achievement of children from single parent households, this term refers to the guidance and supervision that parents provide to their children in order to create educated adults (Dowd 1997: 26).

One predictor of educational attainment and contributor to the social capital of a child is the amount of time input by the child's parents. In single parent households, the absence of one parent often spreads the remaining parent thin, causing them to perform many of the tasks that the second parent would normally fulfill. Some studies have shown that children of single mothers actually suffer more from maternal than paternal deprivation (Krein and Beller 1988). In one study, single mothers reported that they had less time than married mothers to talk to their children, discuss their emotional requirements, help with homework assignments, read to their children, and chaperone for school trips. (Hargreaves 1991: 45). Still, maternal deprivation is caused by the working mothers need to support her children; to keep her children above the poverty line.

Another contribution to social capital single parents must forfeit due to time constraints is involvement in their child's schooling. Single parents attend fewer parent-teacher conferences, PTA meetings, and school assemblies (Hargeaves 1991: 45). In addition, single parents have less time to spend on supervising schoolwork (Pong 1998). Single mothers report having to deny their children school supplies, lunches, and trips because the cost was simply too frivolous (Hargeaves 1991: 44).

Cutbacks in the amount of time single parents spend on their child's education are mostly caused by the need to work enough to support their children despite lacking the second income two parent households obtain. In order to spend more time with their children, single parents often sacrifice time they would otherwise spend on household chores, volunteering, and personal care (Hargreaves 1991: 45). Trying to balance such a demanding life eventually takes a toll on the stress level of the single parent. Eventually, the high stress level of the parent can be felt by the child and distract children from simply worrying about their studies (Dowd 1997: 26).

Poverty is extremely detrimental to childhood academic achievement. However, a lack of income is not the only effect poverty has on the education of a child. Single parent household also lack an important resource: time with their children. After examining the true causes behind the limited visibility of the single parent in the life of their child, we can clearly see that poverty is at the root of all harm caused to children's academic achievement.