A Better Guide for Single Parent Families. 

Perhaps there is no one guide for single parent homes to follow as each family is different and each family has its own way of doing things. 

Children in single-parent homes in the U.S. are at a greater disadvantage in math and science than children in single-parent homes in other industrialized countries, according to Penn State researchers. 

The assumption in the United States is that single parents have lower economic resources than two parent homes and that single parents also have less available time to spend on getting involved with their children’s educations. 

It is suggested that children of single-parent households living in countries with stronger family policies would fare better than those in countries with weak family policies because the financial and support benefits of strong family policies would compensate both for money and time. 

Researchers looked at 9-year-old third and fourth graders who participated in the Third International Math and Science Study from 25 countries. 

From the total group, they then chose 10 industrialized countries with similar cultural traditions to the U.S. for comparison. 

These countries were Canada, Norway, Iceland, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Austria, Scotland, England and Ireland. 

For both academic subjects, math and science, the largest performance gap between children from single-parent homes and those from two-parent families is found in the U.S.

In other words, the U.S. ranks bottom among the 11 developed countries in terms of the equality of school performance between children from these two types of families as the guide for single parent homes is obviously different. 

We Have to Do Better

Data from all 25 countries suggest that two-parent households predominate, but the percentages of two-parent homes are highest in Southeast Asia and lowest in the North America and the Pacific Rim countries of Australia and New Zealand. 

Over half the countries have negative associations with single-parent families and math and science achievement, but the U.S. and New Zealand show by far the greatest effect. 

Even after adjusting for family resources and other variables, the U.S. single-parent students are still worse off than Australian, Icelandic and Dutch students in math than Austrian, Australian, Icelandic, Irish, Dutch and Norwegian students in science. 

Researchers found that in the 10 countries compared with the U.S., children of single-parents in countries with strong family policies are less negatively affected in their math and science studies than children in countries with weak policies and no guide for single parent families. 

Strong family policies include financial benefits, child or family allowances, childcare costs and paid maternity leave. 

The U.S. is obviously behind the other industrialized countries in providing financial and child care assistance to poor and single-parent households. 

At the same time, the U.S. also ranks lowestt on academic resilience of children from single-parent homes. 

Public discussions of the U.S. welfare system, especially by politicians, often suggest that family or welfare policies may reinforce undesirable behaviors and create non-traditional families. 

What are We Doing Wrong?

Researchers believe that their data do not lend support to this argument. 

Iceland, the Netherlands and Australia, for example, have more generous welfare systems than the U.S. and these countries have lower poverty rates. 

They also have lower teenage fertility rates and a lower percentage of single-parent families than do other countries. 

But by contrast, the U.S., has the least generous welfare system, and hardly any family policies and no guide for single parent families, yet its teenage fertility rates are high, and single-parent families are more prevalent than in any of the countries.