Children raised by single mothers do not suffer

Research proves there is no difference in their mental health, compared to children from traditional families

Some experts have expressed concerns that children brought up by a single mother may not do as well because of a lack of a father figure. But a new study has found that children brought up by a single-mother-by-choice do not suffer from poor well-being in comparison to those brought up by two parents, reported Daily Mail. Children of single mothers are no more likely to show signs of behavioural disorders than their counterparts raised in traditional families, the study found.

Research assistant Mathilde Brewaeys, from the University of Amsterdam, said: “Children in both family types are doing well in terms of their well-being. Single-mothers-by-choice and their children benefit from a good social support network, and this should be emphasised in the counselling of women who want to have and raise a child without a partner.”



She added that the wrong assumption that growing up without a father is not good for children is based on research into divorced families who have experienced conflict. “However, it seems likely that any negative influence on child development depends more on a troubled parent-child relationship and not on the absence of a father,” she elucidated.

The study compared 69 single-mothers-by-choice who had knowingly chosen to raise their child alone and 59 mothers from heterosexual two-parent families with a child between the ages of one-and-a-half and six. Most women in the study were financially stable, had received a higher education and had meaningful partner relationships in the past.

The parent-child relationships, mothers' social support network and children's well-being were compared with family types. The study found there were no significant differences in emotional involvement or parental stress between family types. But single-mothers-by-choice were more likely to have a large support network made up of family, friends and neighbours.

And children of single mothers are no more likely to show signs of problem behaviour than their counterparts raised in traditional families, the study found. The researchers said that this finding indicated that children from single-parent families aren't more likely to have poor well-being than their peers.

Children growing up with single-mothers-by-choice appeared to enjoy a similar parent-child relationship as those in traditional two-parent families. The findings were presented at the 33rd Annual Meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Geneva.

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