These issues have become increasingly relevant in modern American society and impact the development of many American children. Even when working full time, over fifty percent of single mothers in the United States have incomes below the Federal poverty level. Divorce and legal separation have become very common in the United States and in the lives of our nation's children. Between 1960 and 980, the divorce rate tripled. Currently, the U.S. divorce rate is the highest in the world.
Children spend an average of five years in a single parent household.
Because single mothers often have low incomes and a lack of support from the absent father as well as a change in family routine, the family often becomes disorganized and minimal parenting occurs. As children react to their less than secure home lives with distress and anger, discipline may become more harsh and inconsistent as the mother tries to recapture control. Fathers who see their children only occasionally are apt to be more permissive and lenient, which often conflicts with the mother's style of parenting and makes her task of managing the children on a day to day basis more difficult. The cognitive immaturity of preschool age children often makes it hard for them to understand the reasons behind their parents' separation. They tend to blame themselves and look at marital breakup as abandonment.