Hmmmm...

What are the current arguments for and against single parent households? What if any are values that a child can learn coming up in a single parent household?


My Primary sources will be scholarly articles that have done research on this specific topic while my secondary sources will be interviewing those who have grown up in a single parent household.

Questions?

Problem-Solving Detective or Critical Analyst.

• What if any are values that a child can learn coming up in a single parent household?

Reviewer of a Controversy

• What are the current arguments for and against single parent households?

Progress Report

• I have learned a lot so far given I am continuing my synthesis paper. I have noticed that their are both pro's and con's to growing up in a single parent households and that the research for each side has a tendency to have tunnel vision. Those who believe in the con's tend to look towards social problems (i.e. smoking, getting into trouble) while those who believe in the pro's tend to look at things in the actual household (i.e. independence, more responsibilities).

• I will be looking froward to doing deeper research and actually looking at comparing different scholarly articles to see if their really is a problem of tunnel vision when it comes to researching this topic. Also I am eager to see what different viewpoints or kinds of research I can dig up using a search of library data bases.

Sources

Growing Up with a Single Parent: What Hurts, what Helps


Redefining Single-Parent Families: Cohabitation and Changing Family Reality

http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&se=gglsc&d=96504278

Duh

Purpose: First off I would like to inform the readers about the research done on growing up in a single parent household. I will then use interviews/my personal experience to show that their truly are positives to coming up in a single parent household while the cons are not certain.

Audience: Psychology as a scholarly audience but for a more generalized audience it would be single parents, and children of single parents.

Questions. Anyone? Anyone?

What are some social dysfunctions are attributed to single parenthood?

Which is a better environment for a child to grow up in? A single parent household or a household with parents who no longer love each other but stay together for the family?

Can adolescent misbehavior be attributed to growing up in a single parent household?

Research

Exploring Your Research Topic

If you are feeling confident in your choice of a particular topic, you may only need to write about that topic. If you are unsure, explore two or three topics by responding to the following questions:

Part I: Exploration
1. Identify the issue or problem that you plan to focus on in your research project.
The issues of single parent households and the views people have about the effects it has on the children.

2. What is your personal connection to and interest in this topic?
I lived in a single parent household for the majority of my life so I have my own views and opinions about the issue.

3. What opinions do you already hold about this topic?
I do not believe that there are definite adverse effects from living with only one parent.
4. What knowledge do you already have about this topic?
From doing my synthesis paper on this topic I now have knowledge on the contrasting views of single parent families as well as some of the research done on this topic.

5. What are your main questions about this topic? What are you most curious about?
What are the negatives attributed to children to coming up in a single parent household? Positives?

6. Within what scholarly discipline (such as history, biology, and psychology) do you expect to do most of your research? How does this discipline approach or study this topic?
I expect to do most of my research with a mix of history/psychology. That seems to be what I ran into during my synthesis paper. Many people look at the historical aspect of the change in family structure while others look into the psychological aspect of the child.
7. How could you research this topic outside the library (for example, through interviews?
And/or observations)?
My own life experiences could be used. I could also interview others whose parents were divorced, or widowed which caused them to grow up in a single parent household.

Part II: Focusing
Write an initial claim, or an open-ended question, to guide your research on this topic. Make it specific but exploratory. Remember that a good claim opens up an area of inquiry about a topic; a claim should invite evidence, support, and debate.

Single parent households are becoming more and more common. It seems almost taboo if your family consists of two parents in this day and age. More and more children are being brought up in this environment and face challenges that most children do not face when coming up in a house with both their parents. Is this a bad thing though? Can a child actually learn life lessons and rewarding experience by growing up in a single parent household?

Citations

http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/recordDetail?accno=EJ220410

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/demography/v039/39.2deleire.pdf

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0197-6664(198601)35%3A1%3C125%3AHSPF%3E2.0.CO%3B2-S

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0009-3920(198504)56%3A2%3C326%3ASPEHAT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-J


The first scholarly article is entitled "Growing Up a Little Faster: The Experience of Growing Up in a Single-Parent Household"

They discuss the idea that a child actually is closer with their parents when exposed to single parent house-holds. There is not the traditional hierarchy that one can find in a two-parent household. These children are generally given more responsibilities which in turn helps them mature quicker and form closer and stronger relationships with their parents on different levels.