lone parents & childbearing

• What % of families in the UK are lone parent

  15%
• Why has the number of lone parent families increased


  - Greater economic independence of women

  - Improved contraception, fewer "shotgun weddings"

  - Improved reproductive tech (surrogacy, IVF)

  - Changing social attitudes
• Why are 49% of children living in lone parent families in poverty?

  - Only 1 income

  - Benefits from Gov are inadequate

  - Cost of children v high

  - Gender inequality in employment
• What does Susan Harkness say about children in lone parent families?

  - more likely to underachieve at school

  - not due to poor parenting but due to financial pressures & material deprivation
• What does the New Right argue about lone parent families

  "lone parent families are responsible for many social issues"

  - There is a perverse incentive to be a single mother as you can claim benefits
• The New Right believe that if a child is brought up in a lone parent family they are more likely to:

  - Grow up in poorer housing

  - Have behavioural problems

  - Perform less well in school and gain fewer qualifications

  - Need more medical treatment

  - Leave school or home early

  - Become sexually active= pregnant

  - Report depressive symptoms
• How does Mooney et al criticise the New Right

  Parental conflict is more detrimental than parental separation
• How does Ford & Miller criticise the New Right?

  - There is no "perverse incentive"

  - Not a choice to be a low income single mother

  - Survey found that single mothers attempted to protect their children by spending less money on themselves
• What are the changing patterns of childbearing?

  - families getting smaller

  - More people having children outside of marriage

  - Women having children at older age

  - More women choosing to not have children at all
• Why are patterns of childbearing changing?

  - Changing role of women

  - Rising cost of raising a family

  - Individualisation (Beck-Gernsheim: freedom to make the choice)

  - Reduction in social stigma: children outside marriage