Staden & Toit (2009) Singles parent families' also known as lone families or one parent families are families with children under 18 years headed by a single parent either a mother or a father who is widowed, divorced or never married. United States bureau of statistics (2014), statistically under global view one quarter to one third of all families are headed by mothers. United States of America has the highest percentage of single parent families with 34% among the developed countries followed by Canada with 22%. Approximately 83% of these families are headed by mothers and 17% are headed by fathers. Among these divorced or separated mothers are 58%,never married mothers are 24% and widow mothers are 7%,divorced or separated fathers are 8.4%,never married are 1.5% and widowers are 0.9%. Chidimma mbanefo etal (2014) African view statistically, the proportion of children living with single parents differs depending on the country with South Africa having the highest percentage of 34.4%,Namibia 26.3% and Uganda having 16.9% which is among the lowest percentage.it can be further argued that there is limited research on single parent families in Africa as a whole. A number of disadvantages are experienced by single parent families today. Problems such families have to face range from poverty, poor education and juvenile delinquency for the children, emotional stress for both parents and children. This paper seeks to provide an overview on single parent families, background information, global and African view and the disadvantages of single parent families.
Discussion.
Disadvantages of Single Parent Families.
Poverty.
United States Bureau of labour statistics (2009), single mothers are more than twice as likely to face unemployment and poverty leading to deeper struggle on behalf of children who are thought to be at an increased risk of poverty and dropping out of school. Single parents are more likely to be poor because of their lower earning capacity.