A study conducted in Sweden in 2002, presented a disturbing picture of the struggle facing single parents.
The study — released in a medical journal called The Lancet in January 2003 — reported children in single parent families were:
- Twice as likely to have “psychiatric disease”
- Twice as likely to attempt or commit suicide
- Up to Four times as likely to abuse alcohol and drugs (boys four times, girls three times)
The study compared the medical and death records of 65,000 children from single parent families with 920,000 children from two-parent families between 1985 and 1990.
The problems associated with single parent families have long been blamed on poverty. However, the Swedish analysis for the most part rules this out. Sweden has a very generous social program and only 10% of the single parent families in this study were considered impoverished.
Consequently, the study concluded that single-parenting was the root of the problem and not necessarily the lack of finances. This is significant as 1999 statistics show that by the time they are 17, 25% of Scandinavians had experienced the divorce of their parents.
The authors of the report coined the phrase “time poverty” to describe the problems working single parents face. They simply do not have the time to manger their homes and their children.
“If everyday life is characterized by psychosocial stress and loss of control, this will surely have an injurious effect on children’s well being,” the report stated.
A Canadian child health expert added that the feelings of abandonment and loss that children experience when parents divorce would certainly be another contributing factor.
The study which focused on the short-term consequences on the children ominously warned there could be severe long-term consequences as well.
One of the study’s findings revealed that girls from single parent families attempted or committed suicide at a rate of 304 per 100,000 compared to a rate of only 122 per 100,000 for girls from two parent families. For the boys it was 244 per 100,000 for single parent families and 77 per 100,000 for two parent families.
When God instituted marriage and family, it was obvious from the beginning raising a family was intended as a two-person job:
Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” (Genesis 2:18 NASV)
When families breakdown, it is vital the church community step in to fill the “time” void.
Source:
National Post, January 24, 2003
Related:
OpentheWord.org 
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