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Post by Tara on Jun 7, 2006 11:16:46 GMT -5
What do you guys think of the situation in which children grow up in a single parent home? I mean, psychologically-wise... do you think there are more positive or negative aspects to it? Do you think that there is a correlation between growing up with only one parent and how these children form their relationships with their significant others when they are older? Do you think it matters which parent is present during their childhood years?
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Post by teancum79 on Jun 7, 2006 17:02:12 GMT -5
I would say that there are many more negatives than positives (unless the married home is abusive). I read some stuff a few years back I think it was called the unexpected legacy of divorce. Anyhow long story short kids from single parent homes grow up without an example of how to live with another person get along etc.
I've not seen any research on the differences of having a mother or father only in the home. I would guess that is those situations the child would be exposed to one way of doing everything and tend toward some of the male or female stereotypes of their parent. That would be interesting to look into though as many things that seem logical are not true.
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Post by dianaholberg on Jun 7, 2006 18:32:26 GMT -5
I definitely believe it impacts all of the child's relationships -- not just with the future spouse.
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Post by cenk on Jun 8, 2006 12:10:41 GMT -5
I think growing up in a single parent household would be terrible. Not only would there be financial difficulties but the lack of (in most cases) a male role model will probably have serious effects on children. I dont know much about this so I cant really talk about it. I would guess that is those situations the child would be exposed to one way of doing everything and tend toward some of the male or female stereotypes of their parent. That would be interesting to look into though as many things that seem logical are not true. teancum do you mean if a girl was brought up without a mother she might like football or become a "tom boy"?
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Post by calyrelf on Jun 8, 2006 12:30:09 GMT -5
I grew up in a single parent household and never got to know my father until I was 27 years old. I regret that we had only 7 years to get to know each other before he died of cancer. My mother always had to work, and she hated my father so much that she moved away and did not let him know where we were. They divorced when I was 2.
Life was hard, and I believe that I would have been a whole lot better off living with 2 parents. This is one reason that I stayed in my first marriage for so long. We didn't love each other, but he wasn't a bad person, so I stayed. I'm not sure that wasn't a mistake.
Perhaps, in the end, the best environment for a child is 2 parents who love each other. That's what I am trying to give my children now, although my husband recently left me for another woman, and only begged me to take him back this week. But since it is the first time he was ever unfaithful, I've decided to give him another chance. He says he still loves me, and I know I still love him, so I'm hoping we can get back on track for ours and our children's sakes.
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Post by teancum79 on Jun 8, 2006 16:11:59 GMT -5
I mean that a person is influenced by their environment and if the environment is very strong in some ares and weak in others that person would likely be more like the way their environment is like then in another one everything else being equal.
If you had a family of 5 kids and the dad and mom and 4 older kids all are math wizzes odds are the 5th kid will be good in math if not an expert. This does not mean they will 100% love math and do nothing else but they are far more likely than kid growing up where everyone in the family works on cars or does English.
When a child is denied a constant role model of one gender I think they lose a great opportunity to do some compare and contrast and to find their own balance in life. This is not to say that a person can't chose to be a certain way or to go against the trend, but I think you would find in male one parent households a lot more tom-boyishness and in a female one parent household you would find behaviors and attitudes that would get labeled mommas boy or sissy. (funny we don't have a positive term for a guy who is a bit of the feminine side).
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