DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 412 479 CG 028 142

AUTHOR Thiessen, Sarah

TITLE Effects of Single Parenting on Adolescent Academic
Achievement: Establishing a Risk and Protective Factor
Framework.
PUB DATE 1997-05-00
NOTE 17p.
PUB TYPE Information Analyses (070) Reports Descriptive (141)
EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
DESCRIPTORS *Academic Achievement; Adolescents; Divorce; Elementary
Secondary Education; Family Problems; *One Parent Family;
*Parent Influence; *Parent Student Relationship; Risk;
Student Needs
IDENTIFIERS *Protective Factors; Risk Assessment; Single Parents

ABSTRACT
The effects of single parenting are explored in this paper.
Single parenting is viewed in the overall framework of the risk and
protective factor model, in which single parenting is viewed as one risk
factor that can lead to unsuccessful adolescent academic outcomes. A
historical perspective of single parenting is offered, with a focus on how
such parenting affects academic achievement. The risk and protective factor
model is then outlined such that it is possible to bolster protective factors
and diminish risk factors. Some of the risk factors described here include
the cumulative nature of risk, parental influences, and intelligence.
Adolescent academic achievement and single parenting is highlighted, along
with an analysis of how these two factors can be intertwined. Some of the
implications of studies connecting single parenting and academic risk, along
with certain flaws in some of these studies, are detailed. It is suggested
that use of the risk and protective factor framework would avoid targeting
single parenting as a definite risk, but would not fail to recognize that
such parenting could have effects. Contains 15 references. (RJM)

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'OP

Single Parents 1

Running head: EFFECTS OF SINGLE PARENTING ON ADOLESCENTS

Effects of Single Parenting on Adolescent Academic Achievement;

Establishing a Risk and Protective Factor Framework

Sarah Thiessen, Ed. S.

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

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 Single Parents 2

Effects of Single Parenting on Adolescent Academic Achievement;

Establishing a Risk and Protective Factor Framework

With the rising numbers of parental divorce and children born out of wedlock, increasing

numbers of children will experience living in a single-parent household (Watts & Watts, 1991).

Estimates indicate that over 60% of children born after 1984 will spend at least some time raised

by a single parent (Compas & Williams, 1990). Averages find that most children living with

single parents remain in this situation for about five years (Compas & Williams, 1990). As of

1986, over six million female headed households with children existed (Watts & Watts, 1991).

Estimates indicate that these numbers have increased throughout the nineties and will continue to

increase into the next century.

The result of this social phenomenon is the need for research on how single parenting

affects children and adolescents. Researchers have hypothesized that single parenting might

provide for social deficits in children's adjustment and achievement due to the lack of an additional

parent and the discord associated with divorce (Marsh, 1990). Recent research has explored the

effects on the children, as well as the stresses and problems it creates for the actual single parent

(Compas & Williams, 1990; Kurdek, 1991; Watts & Watts, 1991). This information would help

practitioners know what areas of intervention are needed to help serve this population.

Early research into the effects of single parenting focused on a "family deficit model"

(Marsh, 1990). This model assumed that single parenting would cause deficits in children's

cognitive, emotional, and behavioral development. Since then, more recent research has

approached the issue with a more open perspective, considering single parenting as one option for

family structure along the continuum of family configurations (Marsh, 1990). Differences in

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family structure, according to this approach, might not be detrimental to children's development.

Single parenting, then, can be viewed in the overall framework of the risk and protective factor

model. Rather than being defined as the cause of problems in development, single parenting can

be identified as one risk factor that can lead to unsuccessful outcomes.

Practitioners can then design effective interventions with knowledge of which protective

factors ameliorate this risk. Single parents can strive to enhance these protective factors, should

single parenting prove to be one risk factor in the development of children. Single parenting can

be viewed as one of a number of variables affecting the development of children's academic

achievement.

Single Parenting Defined; A Historical Perspective

When researchers began to address the phenomenon of single parenting, they tended to

view it through a "deficit family model" (Marsh, 1990). This model proposes that family

configurations other than the nuclear family will produce unsuccessful outcomes for children. The

earlier research was based on hypotheses that single parented children will not perform as well in

school as children of intact families, nor will they have as high levels of adjustment. A negative

effect of single parenting was assumed, and often found in the research results (Marsh, 1990).

Additionally, if the research did not support the hypotheses, researchers would still argue that

effects were so complicated that the design did not reveal them. Researchers did not suggest that

perhaps single parenting did not have severe effects on the development of children (Marsh,

1990). This reflects the opinion at the time that the nuclear family was the only acceptable family

structure for optimal child development (Marsh, 1990).

This research dates back earlier than 1973, when single parenting was referred to as

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"father absence." Herzog and Sudia (1973) reviewed the literature associated with studying the

effects of father absence on children's academic achievement and adjustment. The results from

these studies indicate that single parenting had very little effect on academic achievement,

especially when socioeconomic status and cultural background were controlled for in a control

group. However, the authors still concluded that father absence had wide and far-reaching effects

on children that were probably difficult to ascertain through the designs of these research studies.

The authors did not accept the research results at face value, but instead interpreted them based

on the family deficit model (Marsh, 1990).

In another review, Emery, Hetherington, & Dilalla (1984) found that children of single

parents earned poorer grades than children of intact families. The studies in the review often

reported that the results could be confounded by socioeconomic status, but did not address this

issue in the statistical results. The results again were accepted within the "family deficit model."

Another review by Shinn (1978) attempted to include only those studies that met minimally

stringent characteristics. For example, the studies had to include longitudinal data to determine if

academic achievement problems could have preceded the beginning of the single parenting

situation (Marsh, 1990). Of those that met the criteria, 16 of 28 studies found some unsuccessful

outcomes for children of single parents. These sixteen had small, yet significant differences

between academic performance and test scores of the single parented and intact parented

adolescents. In this review, however, three studies found some positive results associated with

single parenting, such as single parents spending more time talking with their children, presumably

due to the lack of time intact parents spend with their spouse. These previous studies and

literature reviews reflect the focus on the "family deficit model" (Marsh, 1990).

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 Single Parents 5

More recently, researchers have begun to view family structure as a continuum of

alternatives, each with their own strengths and weaknesses associated with the structure. Authors

propose that all families have strengths and weaknesses, regardless of their structure. It is these

strengths and weaknesses, they propose, that lead to differing outcomes in children's adjustment

(Marsh, 1990). This focus is similar to a risk and protective factor model proposed by researchers

studying the adjustment of children. In this model, family structure is seen as only one possible

risk factor for children that can be ameliorated by other protective factors, or worsened with

certain risk factors.

Risk and Protective Factor Model

Researchers have long been interested in identifying which factors promote risk in children

for the development of adjustment problems, low academic achievement, and behavior problems.

More recently, research has revealed the importance of knowing which protective factors seem to

ameliorate some of the risk. Practitioners can design interventions to enhance the protective

factors as well as decrease the number of risk factors. The development of the risk and protective

factor model provides a framework to interpret the results found in studies of single parenting and

their children (Seifer, Sameroff, Baldwin, & Baldwin, 1992).

According to the model, risk factors do not have great specificity; rather their effects are

multiplicative. Some research considering risk factors focuses on specificity, addressing risk in a

linear nature. For example, researchers would ask if criminal behavior in a parent causes criminal

behavior in their children? Although some effects of risk factors are linear, the far greater number

are not (Seifer et al., 1992). In other words, the child of a criminal is at a much greater risk for

other adjustment difficulties, in addition to a slightly higher risk for criminal behaviors. Risk

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factors, therefore, are not generally linear, but multiplicative; they do not occur separately, but

simultaneously.

Seifer et al. (1992) also propose that risk factors are cumulative; in other words, more risk

factors are related to a worse outcome in adjustment. The number of risk factors are important,

rather than which risk factors. Researchers, then, should focus on studying the multiplicative

effects of risk, rather than the specific effects on one risk factor. According to this model, single

parenting would be better defined as one risk factor among many that affect child development.

Studying single parenting in combination with other risk factors could be more important than

considering the effects of single parenting alone. Without this framework, confounding variables

are not explored.

Several risk factors have been identified by the research into this model as affecting

children's adjustment, achievement, and behavior. Examples include mental illness in a parent,

high anxiety in a parent, low educational status of parent, low occupational status of parent, father

absence, rigid parenting values, inadequate interaction style of parent, negative life events for

child, minority racial status, and large family size. Risk is generally calculated by adding the

number of risk factors a child experiences. Single parenting has been identified as one risk factor

through the terminology of father absence.

When researching risk factors, inevitably researchers found many individuals who did not

fit the model. In attempts to explain why some individuals with a great number of risk factors do

not experience the negative outcomes, researchers explored protective factors. Research has

revealed many possible protective factors that children experience, helping to ameliorate the

effects of risk. Three main categories of factors have been defined: personality factors, social

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support availability, and family cohesion. Personality factors such as an internal locus of control,

temperament, and cognitive style have been proposed as protective from risk. The importance of

social support has also been identified as helpful in combating risk. Family variables, such as

communication and interaction styles, also seem related to the protection against risk factors

(Sameroff, Seifer, Baldwin & Baldwin, 1993). Protective factors are also multiplicative,

according to the model. The number of protective factors should be related to the decrease in

effect related to the number of risk factors.

A study of children's intelligence illustrates the use of this model in studying the

development of children (Sameroff et al., 1993). In order to assess risk, risk factors were defined

and added together to gain a risk score. Risk factors included mother's behavior, mother's

developmental beliefs about children, mother's anxiety level, mother's mental health, mother's

educational attainment, family social support, father absence, family size, major stressful life

events, occupation of head of household, and whether the child was of a minority disadvantaged

status. The number of risk factors explained between thirty and fifty percent of the variance in

intelligence score between the first and second assessment at ages four and thirteen. The authors

proposed that results indicating that socioeconomic status and maternal education level were the

most important indicators fail to explore what about these indicators is important. In their study,

they controlled for IQ of mother, socioeconomic status, and race. Even after these variables were

partialed out, the multiple risk score explained a large amount of the variance in intelligence score

(Sameroff et al., 1993).

According to this model, single parenting is one risk factor that in combination with others

could have multiplicative effects on the development of children, especially of cognitive and

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 Single Parents 8

emotional development. Arguably, protective factors must exist that ameliorate these effects.

The strengths of each family, then, are more important than the actual configuration of family

members. Additionally, the other risk factors present, such as low maternal education level and

low socioeconomic status, are more important to study in combination with single parenting.

Adolescent Academic Achievement and Single Parenting

The academic achievement of adolescents has been explored in an effort to understand

how single parenting affects achievement (Astone & McLanahan, 1991; Blum, Boyle & Offord,

1988; Marsh, 1990; Watts & Watts, 1991; Zimiles & Lee, 1991). These more recent studies are

not framed in the "family deficit model." Instead, many variables are considered when attempting

to explain cognitive development and academic achievement. The results of the research are

inconsistent; some research indicates that single parenting provides for a slight risk in affecting

academic achievement. Other studies find that controlling for economic hardship and certain

other variables diminishes the effect single parenting appears to have on school performance.

Certain studies find a slight risk, regardless of controlling for financial status. However, these

latter studies tend to define socioeconomic status poorly (Blum, Boyle, & Offord, 1988).

Children of single parent families, when compared to children of two-parent households,

have a slightly significant increased risk for poor academic performance (Blum, Boyle, & Offord,

1988; Zimiles & Lee, 1991). These studies found that children of single parents were more likely

to have lower test scores, lower grades, and increased drop out behavior than children from intact

families. Zimiles and Lee (1991) found the differences in test scores between the single parented

children and the children of intact families to remain consistent over two years. From the

sophomore year in high school to subsequent testing during the senior year, the children of single

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 Single Parents 9

parents performed more poorly with slightly significant results. However, the authors pointed out

that the differences, while significant, were so small that they did not exceed the differences

between male and female test scores. Larger differences were found between single parented

children and children of intact families for drop out behavior. Children in single parent families

were three times more likely to drop out or high school before graduation that children from

intact families. These results were the same after the authors controlled for ability level (Zimiles

& Lee, 1991). The authors suggested that other factors influence the drop out behavior in

children of single parents because the grades and scores of the drop outs are consistent with their

counterparts who remain in school. On the other hand, drop outs from intact families have lower

scores and grades than their counterparts who remain in school (Zimiles & Lee, 1991). The

authors suggested that some other factor in relation to single parenting causes the drop out

behavior.

A recent study has attempted to explain the differences in achievement found between

single parent and intact families. Astone and McLanahan (1991) found that single parents spent

less time helping their children with their schoolwork, presumably due to their increased

responsibilities as a single parent. The authors also found that children of single parents received

less encouragement for their work than the children of intact families. Additionally, single parents

tended to have lower educational expectations for their children than the intact parents did. The

authors suggest that children of single parents experience less consistent discipline and parental

control, possibly leading to lower academic achievement. The single parented children in their

sample did have lower achievement than the children of intact families (Astone & McLanahan,

1991).

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 Single Parents 10

However, Blum, Boyle, and Offord (1988) found that single parented children were more

likely to live below the poverty line than children of two-parent families. Consequently, when

controlling for financial status, the single parenting effects they found on school performance were

no longer significant for most of the single parented children. Controlling for welfare status and

maternal education also had an impact on the effects of single parenting. Not being on welfare

and a higher maternal education provided some protective factors for the children. However, for

three subpopulations, the single parenting risk still existed. Rural children, girls, and older boys

still have slight, but significant effects for single parenting on their school performance. Blum,

Boyle, and Offord (1988) suggest that children in rural areas are more isolated and have less

opportunity. Girls are more often asked to perform household chores that could interfere with

schoolwork. They suggested that risk increased for older boys because more time exists in their

life for school failure to occur. These hypotheses need further study to validate, but do offer

possible explanations for why these three subgroups have lower school performance than two

parent families when economic status is controlled for.

Other studies have supported their results that financial status and other variables better

explain the differences than does family structure (Astone & McLanahan, 1991; Cashion, 1982;

Watts & Watts, 1991). Cashion (1982) found that single parented children had equivalent

intellectual development as children of intact families when controlling for socioeconomic status.

Watts and Watts (1991) also found that controlling for other variables better explained the

differences found between the children of single parents and the children of intact families. Race,

ability, and educational aspirations explained the differences between the children's academic

performance. However, only the direct effects of these variables were studied. The authors did
 Single Parents 11

not explore what factors shaped educational aspirations and ability (Watts & Watts, 1991). While

Astone and McLanahan (1991) found that single parents were less involved in their children's

schoolwork, they also found that these differences in parental behavior had little impact on future

educational attainment. The educational aspirations and later achievement of single parented and

intact parented children were not influenced by the family structure. Astone and McLanahan

(1991) also suggested that family income influenced achievement. Their results indicated that

somewhere between 30 and 50 percent of the differences in drop out behavior between single

parented adolescents and adolescents of intact families is explained by differences in income and

precariousness of income.

However, many studies indicate that single parenting causes risk for low school

performance even when financial status is controlled for (Dornbusch, Carlsmith, Bushwall, Ritter,

Liederman, Hastorf, & Gross, 1985; Wadsworth et al., 1984; Zimiles & Lee, 1991). Children of

single parents were more likely to perform poorly in school achievement and drop out of school

regardless of economic status. However, some have suggested that these studies often use

unclear or overinclusive definitions of poverty (Blum, Boyle, & Offord, 1988). However, Zimiles

and Lee (1991) argued that in their study, although the differences decreased slightly when they

controlled for income, the pattern still remained, indicating that family structure does impact

school achievement. Additionally, their results on drop out behavior did not change at all when

they controlled for economic status. These results indicate that economic status does not better

explain drop out behavior than family structure.

These more recent studies address single parenting as one option among family

configurations that could have effects on children's development. Most of the research indicates

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 Single Parents 12

that effects are slight when other variables, such as socioeconomic status and welfare status, are

also considered. However, slight differences do exist in certain studies that are worthy of note

when studying how single parenting affects adolescents.

Implications

The previous results from the more recent studies, in combination with those of the

"family deficit model," indicate that slightly significant effects exist for single parenting on the

academic achievement of adolescents. The results suggest that single parenting might be one risk

factor when attempting to explain differences in adolescent academic achievement and drop out

behavior. However, the literature also suggests that many other variables exist that better explain

these differences. For example, socioeconomic status, race, welfare status, maternal educational

level, ability of the adolescent, and educational aspiration of the adolescent better explain the

differences in school performance among adolescents. Therefore, effects related to family

structure are much less pervasive than earlier hypotheses suggested.

However, two main criticisms exist for the existing body of research studying adolescent

academic achievement and single parenting. First, for research purposes, authors have tended to

lump many family configurations into the category of single parent households. They have

defined single parenting as one parent with one or more children in one household. Discrepancies

are not often made between children whose parents have divorced and children whose parents

were never married. Only a few studies address the changes associated with an incoming

stepparent or with joint custody arrangements where children have wide access to two adults.

Consequently, the research lacks strength without addressing these differences among family

structure. Arguably, differences in development could exist based on whether the child

13
 Single Parents 13

experienced a conflictual divorce versus never knowing one of his or her parents. Similarly,

differences could exist based on the length of living with a single parent. These variations in

single parenting are generally not addressed in the literature.

Second, of the existing studies of this phenomenon, over three fourths utilize the same

database in their analyses. In essence, then, the results all come from the same sample of the

population, weakening their additive impact on the literature. Most of the studies derive their

data from the 1986 High School and Beyond Study by the National Center for Educational

Statistics. While this is a large, national sample, the data was collected through self-report. The

adolescents described their family configuration based on the choices provided for them on the

answer sheet. The researchers were not able to access any other information about family

structure. Thus, the data does not reveal how long parents were divorced, if they were ever

married, and if the adolescent saw both parents regularly.

However, the results of the literature are consistent with an application of the risk and

protective model framework. This framework can explain why small, but significant effects still

exist in some studies for single parents after researchers control for socioeconomic status. In this

model, risk factors are added together to determine the amount of risk a child has for poor

achievement and adjustment (Sameroff et al., 1993). Rather than considering the actual risk

factor as important, this model views the number of risk factors as the reason for risk. In this

model, having a single parent might be one risk factor among many others that influence academic

achievement.

When researchers partition out the effects of low socioeconomic status, welfare status,

and other risk factors, the slight differences that still exist could be related to the multiplicative
 Single Parents 14

nature of risk factors. That is, single parenting in combination with several other risk factors

provides more risk than those risk factors alone. Without incorporating the other variables into

the research design, the researcher would fail to access the true effects of single parenting on

academic achievement.

Future research of the effects of single parenting would benefit from use of this risk and

protective factor framework. The overriding framework would provide a model to use to design

the research. Research is always more powerful and impacting when designed with a theory or

framework in mind. Additionally, the framework would discourage a "family deficit model" by

viewing single parenting as one possible risk factor among many others that influence children's

development. This framework would avoid seeing single parenting as a definite risk, but would

not fail to recognize that it could have effects. This framework also encourages the identification

of protective factors. The effects that are or are not revealed of single parenting on adolescent

academic achievement could be ameliorated if protective factors were identified. This knowledge

would help single parents intervene to avoid negative effects on achievement. Lastly, by using

this model, researchers will identify the other risk factors, that in combination with single

parenting, affect children. These risk factors then can be decreased to provide for more successful

outcomes for children.

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 Single Parents 15

References

Astone, N. M., & McLanahan, S. S. (1991). Family structure, parental practices, and high

school completion. American Sociological Review, 56, 309-320.

Blum, H. M., Boyle, M. H., & Offord, D. R. (1988). Single parent families: Child

psychiatric disorder and school performance. Journal of American Academy of Child and

Adolescent Psychiatry, 27, 214-219.

Cashion, B. G. (1982). Female headed families: Effects on children and clinical

implications. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 8, 77-85.

Compas, B. E., & Williams, R. A. (1990). Stress, coping, and adjustment in mothers and

adolescents in single- and two-parent families. American Journal of Community Psychology, 18,

525-545.

Dornbusch, S. M., Carlsmith, J. M., Bushwall, S. J., Ritter, H. L., Liederman, H., Hastorf,

A. H., & Gross, R. T. (1985). Single parents, extended households, and the control of

adolescents. Child Development, 56. 326-341.

Emery, R. E., Hetherington, E. M., & Dilalla, L. F. (1984). Divorce, children, and social

policy. In H. W. Stevenson & A. E. Siegel (Eds.). Child Development Research and Social

Policy. (pp. 189-266). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Herzog, E., & Sudia, C. E. (1973). Children in fatherless families. In B. M. Cadwell & N.

H. Riccuti (Eds.). Review of Child Development Research (pp. 141-232). Chicago: University of

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 Single Parents 16

Chicago Press.
children's adjustment by married mothers
Kurdek, L. A. (1991). Differences in ratings of
experiencing high marital conflict, and
experiencing low marital conflict, married mothers
12,
Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology,
divorced single mothers: A nationwide study.

289-305.
and single-parent families: Changes in
Marsh, H. W. (1990). Two-parent, stepparent,
the last two years of high school. Journal of
achievement, attitudes, and behaviors during

Educational Psychology, 82, 327-340.

C. (1993). Stability of intelligence
Sameroff, A. J., Seifer, R., Baldwin, A., & Baldwin,
of social and family risk factors. Child
from preschool to adolescence: The influence

Development, 64, 80-97.

Baldwin, A. (1992). Child and family factors
Seifer, R., Sameroff, A. J., Baldwin, C. P., &
of age. Journal of American Academy of
that ameliorate risk between four and thirteen years

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 31, 893-903.

cognitive development. Psychological
Shinn, M. (1978). Father absence and children's

Bulletin, 85, 295-324.

five years.
Wadsworth, J. et al. (1984). Teenage mothering: Child development at

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 24, 305-313.

impact of female headed single families on
Watts, D. S., & Watts, K. M. (1992). The
Remarriage, 17, 97-115.
academic achievement. Journal of Divorce and
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Zimiles, H., & Lee, V. E. (1991). Adolescent

Developmental Psychology, 27, 314-320.

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