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Children living with a lone parent are as happy as those with 2

Children living with a step-parent or a lone parent are as happy as those living with two biological parents, the British Sociological Association’s annual conference in Leeds heard today [Thursday 24 April].

In a major UK study on wellbeing, researchers from NatCen Social Research analysed data from the Millennium Cohort Study on 12,877 children aged seven in 2008 and found no significant difference in happiness.

Whether the children lived with two biological parents, a step-parent and biological parent, or in a single parent family, made no difference to how they rated their happiness: 64% said they were happy ‘sometimes or never’, and 36% said they were ‘happy all the time’.

Even when the researchers statistically removed the effects of other factors such as parental social class so that the effects of family type were isolated, the results showed no significant differences.

Jenny Chanfreau, Senior Researcher at NatCen, told the conference that, in contrast, relationships with parents and other children were strongly linked with how likely the seven-year-olds were to be happy. For instance, factors such as getting on well with siblings and not being bullied at school were associated with being happy all the time.

Ms Chanfreau said they found a similar result when analysing another set of survey data on 2,679 children aged 11 to 15 in the UK – this also showed no significant statistical difference in the level of wellbeing among children in the three types of family when the effects of family type were studied in isolation.

Ms Chanfreau told the conference: “We found that the family type had no significant effect on the happiness of the seven-year-olds or the 11-15 year olds.

“It’s the quality of the relationships in the home that matters – not the family composition. Getting on well with siblings, having fun with the family at weekends, and having a parent who reported rarely or never shouting when the child was naughty, were all linked with a higher likelihood of being happy all the time among seven-year olds.

“Pupil relations at school are also important – being bullied at school or being ‘horrible’ to others was strongly associated with lower happiness in the seven-year-olds, for instance.”

Ms Chanfreau worked with Cheryl Lloyd, Christos Byron, Caireen Roberts, Rachel Craig and Sally McManus of NatCen Research on the analysis and report, and Danielle De Feo of the Department of Health also contributed.

Results summary:

In the Millennium Cohort Study survey, data were gathered in 2008 on 12,877 children aged seven, and their parents.

Of those children living with two biological (or adoptive) parents: 64% said they were ‘sometimes or never’ happy and 36% said they were happy ‘all the time’. The exact same percentages were found for those living with one step-parent and one biological parent, and for those living with a lone parent.

The researchers then statistically controlled for other factors, such as their parents’ class and the level of the deprivation in the area where the home was, so that the influence of the family type on the seven-year-olds could be studied in isolation.

After doing this they found that those in living with a step-parent and a biological parent, and those living with a lone parent, were marginally less likely to be in the ‘happy all the time’ category, but this result was negligible and not statistically significant, and so was discounted.

Instead, factors such as relationships with others were found to be both important and statistically valid, including getting on with their siblings, having friends, having fun with the family or not being bullied at school.

A fourth family type – those not living with either a natural or adoptive parent – was linked with reduced happiness, but there were so few children in this category (forming only 0.3% of the total) that no further statistical analysis could be carried out.

The researchers also used data from the Understanding Society Study survey, gathered from 2009-2011 on 2,679 people aged 11 to 15. After removing other factors to isolate the effect of family type, the researchers found that those living with one step-parent and one biological parent were slightly more likely to be happier than those living with two biological (or adoptive) parents, and that those living with a lone parent were slightly less likely to be as happy as those living with two biological parents; however neither result was statistically significant and both were discounted. In effect, the family type had no effect on the 11-15 year-olds’ happiness.




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84 thoughts on “Children living with a lone parent are as happy as those with 2”

  1. It actually depends on the type of parent a child live with because there are parents who can really play both roles of being a mother and a father.I totally disagree with that childrens living with lone parents tends to do more chores than that living with both parents because even if one of the parent is gone there are relatives who can help with the child.A fully responsible parent can not abuse his or her child with lot of work just because his or her spouse has passed away but that can happen to any child even those that are living with both parents

  2. I disagree with this article to a certain extent while I also agree a little. It all depends on why this child is living alone with a single parent or a step parent. I lost my father when I was 15 and I am definitely not happy living with a lone parent. Surely some kids are better off with one parent, but I personally know I am not which makes me more unhappy than I am happy. Ofcourse it is a whole different story when someone has lost a parent or having an abusive parents and therefore living with only one parent. I therefore feel that this article is generalizing and not taking all situations into account. I know there are millions of unhappy kids too.

  3. It all depends on the number of children the lone parent has,the number of siblings the child has,most children are affected by the children they are following or they are followed. In reality a single mom cannot take care of a maximum number of three children ,i mean in reality. and again,the happiness of that parent does matter as well, for all the children to be happy, so for the children’s sake, the mothers should just leave all the stress off their home.

  4. I disagree that children that are living with one parent and a step father/mother are happy as those who lives with both biological parents. The way your parents treat you and the love they give is different from a step father/mother. There is more love that comes from your biological parents than step father/mother.

  5. It is true that children who live with a single parent are as happy as those who live with two. All that a child needs is tender, loving and care and if a single parent can provide that then i don’t see any problem reason why the child would be unhappy. I am proud to say that I was raised by a single parent and i lead a very happy life and at times i felt no different to those that were raised by both parents. It is in the mindsets of those who disagree with the article, saying that a child can never be happy if raised by one parent

  6. I disagree that children living with a step-parent or a lone parent are as happy as those living with two biological parents since a child can only get maximum love from his or her biological parents and no one else. Naturally all mothers can only give their maximum love to their own children not to someone else’s child. This makes it difficult to children who have their mothers passed away because they will not experience the love mothers and in this way those children can not be compared to those with their both parents. Children with single parents turn to have many responsibilities than those with both biological parent for an example a children with a single parent turn to do more thing with were supposed to be done by a dead parent by so doing it brings more pressure to that child unlike children with both parents.

  7. I totally disagree with the article. Everyone has a different rating of their happiness. I feel this is total absurdity doing a survey on children aged group 11-15, they barely know what is happiness. Their definition if happiness was getting along with their siblings and not being bullied at school, which is independent of their parents. The reality is Children living with a lone parent are NOT as happy as those living with two biological parents, I’m not sure who is more happy. The survey should have been done on a much older group of children that need the support of their parents.

  8. After reading this article, I still strongly believe that children who live with both parents are very privileged. There is nothing as important as receiving unconditional love from both your parents.

    Living with a lone parent may sometimes leave you asking yourself certain questions like “How would have life turned out if my dad/mom was still around?”.Even though I’ve never been in that kind of a situation, I’m sure that no child would like to go on for days or weeks wondering, wondering what would have happened if their parent was still alive.

    To those who still have both parents around, be thankful and appreciate every single thing they provide you with because a lot of children out there would kill to bring back their parents.

  9. In my opinion, children that come from single parent homes will not be able to have the same amount of happiness as those with both their parents around. Single parents inevitably are expected to work harder in order to earn enough income to provide for their children, this results in less time being spent with their children. This lack of time being spent with their children may result in social issues. Children brought up by single parents may also struggle to form proper relationships as they have not witnessed a true relationship between their parents as they only have one. Growing up with both parents will result in the child having more time being nurtured and cared for, where as growing up with a single parent, the child is forced to become independent even when their brain is not yet ready.

  10. I feel that this article is not reliable in that the surveys done on which the entire argument is based on cannot be reliable according to me. Firstly the survey was initially done on 7 year old children who are young and naive and have no real idea of what happiness really is. I have done research and have found that children in the UK have been recorded as being the most unhappy when compared to all the other developed countries. Therefore the results obtained from the UK cannot be reliable or viable as the UK is an extreme in terms of child happiness. The survey should be carried out in a country that follows the norm in terms of child happiness or perhaps an average value of the same survey done for various countries can be obtained.

    I feel that having two parents it better than just one as you are able to receive twice the love and affection. Along with that said another factor to be considered it the sense of fulfillment. Children with one biological parent often feel as though something in their life is missing and that feeling prevents them from living their life to the fullest, thus preventing them from having true happiness.

    These are my views on the topic at hand.

  11. This article just goes to prove what I’ve always believed which is that when it comes to parents, quality is more important than quantity. Meaning, what defines a child’s happiness is not whether both parents are in the picture but rather the quality of the relationship that child has with the parents. I grew up with just my mum and was as happy as my friends who had both parents around. There were also children I attended school with who had both parents around but weren’t happy because of the type of relationships they had with their parents.

    Even though the majority of children who grow up with single or step-parents are as happy as those who grew up with both parents, there are some factors that could prevent the child from being happy and I believe that it is these factors that add to this misconception about single parents raising unhappy children. These factors include if the child is treated badly or differently by their step parent. Also, children do tend to feel a void when they are raised by a parent of the opposite sex. A parent leaving when the child is old enough to understand a lot of things also proves to be a problem, as children are often left blaming themselves.

    I feel this is a very well written article that could work towards removing the stereotypes people sometimes have about children that were raised by single parents.

  12. I find this article very surprising. Surprizing, not because of the family setup and the connections between the happiness, but the importance of school and friends to children. As the article states: “factors such as getting on well with siblings and not being bullied at school were associated with being happy all the time.” You could be a perfect family, whether single parent, adopted or biological and you could have an unhappy child because of bullies at school. What intrigues me about this article is how basic children’s needs are, being loved, not being shouted at and getting along with everyone. Very interesting!

  13. Personally I think it would be far better to have a child removed from an unhealthy upbringing. Living with the most suitable parent/family member can only be more settling for the young child, thus ensuring a sense of stability which I think is very important in making him/her a successful and independent young adult.

  14. I respect the result of the research but I don’t agree with this article. I think the child who lives with single parent can get lots of love and never get shouted because that child is the only one who his/her single parent can give agape love.but they can’t have much information about true love between boys and girls. For example, most children know about relationship because they have learnt it from their house by looking at their parents but single parents’ children would not know about the love between man and girl because those children only get love from their single parent but have never seen the love between parents.
    Mostly, parents love their children but there’s a difference between single parent and both parents – single parent can be good when he/she has the same gender with his/her child because then parent knows what his/her child should need and can teach but when they have different gender, then parent cannot give the right lesson because boys and girls grow in a different way. I had a friend who was grown up from a single parent. He only had his mother, and sometimes he acted like a girl. It was a big complex for him, and he was blaming his mother. Maybe the happiness from his family could be the same, or even better than I but I don’t think it’s going to be the same in a social life. In a social life, we should try to understand everybody but someone who can’t understand about opposite gender, because they could’ve have question about opposite gender but there was no-one who can teach it, will have a little less understanding to the other people than child who was grown up from both parents.

  15. Actually leaving with lone parent is very nice.When i was young i thought it is for me to live with my mom only but then now i see that nothing was unfair the thing i was just a child.I have released how much i love my mom since i have living with her alone.

  16. I think it doesn’t matter if the child is living with a biological parent, whether it is only one or both, or a step parent, as long as the child is in a healthy environment, being raised by a loving family. The one raising the child doesn’t necessarily have to be the biological- or step parent. It is not uncommon to hear of a child being raised by the child’s grandparents, distant family, or someone who has no familial relation to the child whatsoever. The point being made here that the relation of the one raising the child makes no difference in the child’s overall happiness. If the child grows up in a home where the child is neglected, abused or made to feel less worthy, then the child won’t be “happy all the time”, as mentioned in the article above. If the child grows up in a healthy environment, is given the needed attention and love, the child will grow up to be happier than the child mentioned in the previous example. Therefore it can be concluded that the child’s happiness is not dependent on the number of parents or the familial relation between the child and the one raising the child, but rather the way in which the child is being raised.

  17. I also thought that living with both Biological parents is much better than living with one but that is not true.I actually grew up with a single parent and i thought it was unfair but than now i see i wasn’t because iam like other kids who grew up with both.Even my mom had to work very hard to fill both spaces

  18. I also thought that living with both Biological parents is much better than living with one but that is not true.I actually grew up with a single parent and i thought it was unfair but than now i see i wasn’t because iam like other kids who grew up with both.

  19. I had always believed that having both biological parents is better than having one parent or step-parents. This is a very common stereotype, but it is clear now that it is really the quality of the relationship that has an effect on the child. Single parents thought tend to work harder as to fill in the gap of the missing parent, but when one considers the children’s age, it is still quite young and they tend to care less about social issues.

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