SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CHALLENGES OF SINGLE PARENT FAMILY
ABSTRACT
The study investigated the social, economic and psychological challenges of single parent family in Ijebu-Ode Local Government Area of Ogun State. The study cross analyzed the degree of these challenges among the respondents in the study area.
The descriptive approach was adopted for the purpose data gathering. One hundred and forty seven was the sample that responded to a questionnaire. The data gathered was analysed with the statistical tool of Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Mean and Standard Deviation.
The study revealed that single parent families are vulnerable to social abuses such as being looked down upon, approached by any man, not being fit to appear at social gathering, not socially approved and do not wear a cheerful look. Again the study showed that raising up children alone could be burdensome, they could be economically unstable, face financial crises; though they tend to attract more benevolence. Findings two also showed that only a handful of them live in ghettos.
The researcher however recommended that parent should ensure that their children don’t always bear the brunt when there is separation. Single parent should not be looked down upon as they are part and parcel of the society. Laws and policies should be made and formulated forbidding any man approach women rudely.
CHAPTER ONE
1.1 Background to the Study
In May 1992, Vice President Dan Quayle suggested that a breakdown of the nuclear family was among the causes of recent riots in Los Angeles in which over fifty people had died. “I believe the lawless social anarchy which we saw is directly related to the breakdown of family structure, personal responsibility and social order in too many areas of our society,” Quayle remarked. He went on to criticize society’s increasingly permissive attitude toward out-of-wedlock childbearing, pointing specifically to the treatment of the issue in the television sitcom Murphy Brown. “It doesn’t help matters when prime time TV has Murphy Brown—a character who supposedly epitomizes today’s intelligent, highly paid, professional woman—mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone and calling it just another ‘lifestyle choice.’”
Quayle’s speech, especially his reference to Murphy Brown, provoked an outpouring of commentary. Numerous Americans agreed with Quayle, expressing concern that the “traditional family” and “family values” were being undermined by a public morality that too readily condoned unwed motherhood and divorce. Many also agreed with Quayle’s argument that the media and popular culture were to blame for promoting loose sexual values and immoral lifestyles.
