Parental Responsibilities and Social Mobility

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Parental Responsibilities and Social Mobility

Response Summaries

• In the first reading, the author argues that the development of children living together with single mothers has arisen into a prevalent and significant issue for both the wellness of the children and mainly, intergenerational mobility.
• In the second reading, the author claims that parents together with peers possess an array of different functions for their adolescents in terms of involvement. The aim of the article involved investigating the popular notion that a converse relationship is evidenced between peer and parent involvement among adolescents and as such, the conflict that arises between the teenagers and their parents occurs as an outcome of peer orientation.
• In the last reading, the author argues that the main factors, which account for disparities among families, comprise money and time. This argument is in accordance with the hypothetical presumption that a relationship exists between the wellbeing of a child and family transitions.

Reflection

The connection between single parents and poverty is a rather recursive factor in the contemporary society. Apparently, single parenthood has been linked to income disparities considerably. Hence, with income being the main basis for assessing social mobility, then single parenthood has also been associated with lower mobility particularly among children who occupy the respective settings. With the implications on income among single parents, the obvious assertion is that this particular aspect is closely related to poverty. Since the children from these settings are at a disadvantage on an income-oriented basis, they are prevented from accessing basic amenities squarely or satisfactorily, especially education. In this case, comparisons with their counterparts raised in households that comprise both parents illustrate that the wellbeing in the latter’s setting advance rapidly than those raised by single parents. However, the findings associated with the connection between single parenthood and mobility raises a certain question: can marriage solve this predicament? Rather, is marriage a viable solution for ensuring that the wellbeing of children (in terms of social mobility) is facilitated and safeguarded? Such concerns in research question the extent to which studies consistently place single parenthood as obviously related to repressed social mobility among children from the respective households. Hence, even if marriage is viable in ensuring wellbeing, it does not necessarily eradicate poverty. The focus on single parenthood, poverty, and social mobility shifts towards the relationship between family transitions and wellbeing. Consequently, time and money have been set as the main factors responsible for establishing the differences that exist among many families. Even though marriage is not particularly the answer towards the eradication of poverty especially among single-parent families, it certainly stands above cohabitation, which has been established as an unviable strategy for addressing the prevailing issues in this context. Accordingly, children who grow up in environments whereby the single mother shares a context with her cohabiting partner end up illustrating the worst results due to poorer parenting and economic conditions. Interestingly, this is in comparison to children living in single parenthood situations or those living in conditions whereby a married stepparent is involved. Contrary to this, instability in family structures, especially after divorce, is said to illustrate better outcomes among children who have already adjusted to the new settings. Such findings further raise the question regarding whether marriage is solely responsible for alleviating poverty among single parenthood families. Lastly, questions concerning marriage as the sole viable solution for social mobility among children are refuted by the argument, which asserts that shared and interesting activities can lead to increased association between parents and their adolescents irrespective of the parenthood settings.