Society's View on Family Composition
Society views family as a composition of mother, father, and children. For family to exist, couples must get together to produce children they both care for. Actually, the traditional and cultural practice of family understands its completeness in the presence of father and mother and children. However, the current situation and world trends allow families with single parents. According to Encyclopedia, developing countries lead in single families due to the common divorce cases. America for example, has 34%, Canada 22%, and Australia 20% of single parents. Worse enough, women form the majority of single parents, as they become the heads of their family households as soon as they divorce or separate. This paper therefore shall examine the cultural perspectives on single parent families and the effects the issue has on the society.
Cultural View of Single Parent Families
Primarily, it is appropriate to understand the historical aspect of culture. Although morality is a virtue that most cultures conform to, the African heritage underscores strong cultural moral preservation as compared to the American set up. In the African culture, across the various communities, society condemns single parent families as it associates it to immorality. In the case of death, the left partner would be encouraged to remarry in order to avoid single parenthood. In fact, society would stigmatize the single parents, a situation, that would discourage them from being single. On the other hand, the cultural practice in America recognizes single parenthood as either caused by divorce and separation of parents or death. These causes are acceptable and common in the American society as opposed to the African set up where they are minimum and unacceptable. The gap is created by strong cultural values that monitored morality among teenagers and unmarried people in order to curtail the current rampant teenage and unmarried mothers. In the African culture for instance, sex before marriage was highly condemned and could lead to death, expulsion from the community and imposition of heavy fines on the culprits. Again, societies heavily rewarded virginity of girls thus prompting most parents to protect their daughters from early sexual engagements. According to Arnett (92), it was a strong cultural norm to practice sex when married and only with your spouse. It is therefore true and understandable how the African culture preserved morality. Child rearing for example was an activity designated to married couples alone. Furthermore, most cultures did not allow separation or divorce of couples. In African society for instance, elders and parents intervened to resolve marital conflicts of their children in order to prevent divorce and separation that could in turn results into the single parent families.
The Role of Social Media and Changing Cultural Dynamics
Nevertheless, it is sad to report the erosion of this strong cultural preservation of morality especially in America, which records high single parenthood. In examining this, it is in order to ponder over the role of social media. Most children get early sexual exposure from the media that influences them into sexual intercourse that in most cases results into unwanted pregnancies and single motherhood as most fathers normally vanish from their responsibilities. Arnett (174) further asserts that most teenage relationships do not lead to marriage. This adversely results into single parenthood, especially in the case whereby the relationship resulted into the birth of a child. The situation worsens as the society still stigmatizes single mothers and many men might not want to marry them with their children (Marshall). Actually, you may not believe that the stigma consequently, forces the young mothers to remain single throughout their lives. According to Arnett (240), early relationships and sexual exposure is the most cause of single parent families in Africa considering the strong cultural values governing marriage, and parenthood that the society, is not willing to bend in order to cope with the current norm. Differently, the American culture understands the norm and many men do not see a problem in marrying a single mother.
Divorce and Legal Factors
On the other hand, divorce is the most cause of single families in the United States as the law gives mothers priority over fathers in child custody. The encyclopedia classifies other factors such as increased employment opportunities for women, non-marital childbearing, and the reduced employment chances for men especially the African-American men (Encyclopedia). In addition, the united States allow welfare aids that empower women to start up their own families. These factors highly influence the single parent families in the United States. According to Rubin (2), these new factors are a deviation from the cultural understanding of parenting. In most communities in Africa and Asia for instance, women are dependent on men, which limits them from sustaining their own families. Such cultures as this thus reduce the rate of single parenthood.
Other Factors Contributing to Single Parent Families
Apart from teenage sexuality and childbearing, other factors that contribute to single parent families outside marriage involve single women who choose to live alone but want children. These women end up adopting children or undertaking artificial insemination without actually engaging in sexual intercourse. Many single women take this route in order to have children without having sexual partners (Edwards 83). While the American culture accepts transgender, heterosexual, and lesbianism as part of society, the African culture still condemns the group and does not recognize their parenthood. Culturally, this mode of childbearing and parenting is associated with immorality. The traditional societal set up in most cultures does not recognize transgenderism, lesbianism, or heterosexuality. As a result, the society views them as emerging issues that need religious intervention, as they seem extraordinary and controversial. Single parent families caused by these factors consequently become stigmatized by society, as most people still do not believe that they can exist.
The Challenges of Single Parenthood
On the contrary, even fathers become single parents. According to the Encyclopedia, mothers become single parents in the case of death, separation, divorce, and never married whereas, men become single parents due to death, abandonment by mother, and mother’s refusal of child custody. Nevertheless, culture tends to castigate single parent families caused by other factors other than death. The stigma that such parents face poses and escalates the challenges they experience as they undertake the parenting role. In the United States for instance, father single parent families is more common among the whites 16% as compared to the African American men 8% (Encyclopedia). This data reveals the cultural aspects of the people with the African heritage. In Africa, single parenthood has not been as common as it is in the developed countries. Actually, until the modern social changes, it remained a taboo in most African communities for one to be a single parent especially due to divorce, separation, or personal decision.
The Perceived Difficulties of Single Parenthood
Culture also views single parenthood as problematic. Society associates it with various challenges facing such parents. For instance, it leads to additional responsibilities that may be overwhelming to one parent. According to Arnett (94), parenting is culturally an activity for two people, both mother and father. In this respect, society views single parenthood as challenging and difficult to cope with. In the traditional set up, society stipulated gender roles, which required women to purely nurse children and care for the family. On the other hand, fathers provide financial support as well as protecting the family. With one parent, especially the mother, performing these roles become challenging. A single mother for instance has to work and provide financial needs to the family alongside other roles. In return, single parenthood becomes a challenge to many parents due to the overlapping of roles. Most single parents report difficulty in making decisions and offering general care to the children single-handedly (Edwards 112). Moreover, the challenges may force the single parent, mother, or father, to seek help and support from the society around. Contrary, the society culturally expects a family to be an autonomous unit that should take responsibility for its circumstances without seeking help. Seeking help from family and relatives therefore results in stigma and lowered family integrity especially in the American culture.
Conclusion
Single parenthood results in different views in both the African and American set-up. While the American culture incorporates its laws to conform to the issue, the African heritage is still strong on its moral values. Comparatively, single parenthood is more rampant in America and other developed countries than Africa. Nonetheless, single parenthood caused not by death seems to be immoral and needs religious intervention. Divorce and separation should be discouraged in order to mitigate single parenthood. In addition, society should inculcate morality and provide sex education to adolescents in order to curb the problem.
Works Cited
Arnett, Jeffrey Jensen. Adolescence and emerging adulthood. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2014: 92-240
Edwards, Rosalind, and Simon Duncan. Single Mothers in International Context: Mothers or Workers?. Routledge, 2013:80-114
Encyclopedia. Single-parent families. 2013. 14 November 2018 .
Marshall, Hillary. Single parents: The truth behind cultural stigma. 2018. 14 Novemeber 2018 .
Rubin, Kenneth H., and Ock Boon Chung. Parenting beliefs, behaviors, and parent-child relations: A cross-cultural perspective. Psychology Press, 2013: 1-32
