How are "single parent families" 'broken' exactly? Why is a home 'broken' automatically when there is only one parent living in it?
Families can function much better with only one parent, especially where the second is unfit (or unwilling) to be a parent. Some families lose a parent through no conscious act - is a home in which one parent has died 'broken'? If a wife dies and the husband is left to bring up the children, are his efforts in vain because they're 'broken'?Yeah, but it said "Percent Of Adolescents Who Have Had Sex, Before The Age Of Sixteen", not "Percent Of Adolescents Who Have Willing Had Sex With A Sexual Partner of their Choice, Before The Age Of Sixteen"
That's true if the Father is abusive and clueless about how to rear children, but I haven't been able to find any material that relates to this particular comparison you ask for as it takes time to gather this info. I'd imagine that a violent father would make a child worse, whilst a non-engaging firm but fair one would be able to 'Man the Fort' at least. The term 'broken' could be debateable, but it seems to imply that the home is missing a parent because it didn't work out and is used as a social stigma when a child doesn't stay on the straight and narrow. However I doubt it wouldn't be used if a child lost a parent that resulted in a poor outcome for the child. It would be unfair to use if a child ends up doing well, or better (the breakup actually acts as a stimulus); you only have to hear of some success stories, although they seem to be the exception to the rule.
I'm not a prude by any means, but you seriously have to question why there is so much promiscuity amongst teenagers based on these figures. What's wrong with saving it until they have much more self awareness? Some things are savoured more if people have to wait and earn these things.
As for adolescents having sex before sixteen, I'd say it's a cultural thing now given these numbers and the level of intimate sex education in schools based on this:
Percent Of Adolescents Who Have Had Sex, Before The Age Of Sixteen
[16]
Year
Boys
Girls
1964
14%
5%
1974
31%
12%
1991
28%
19%
2001
30%
26%
2008
34%
38%
I did come across this from the Journal of Family and Marriage, where they speculate that the children of widows do fair better than children from divorced couples, but because of their social position:
“Compared with children raised in single-mother families created by the death of the father, children raised in divorced single-mother families have significantly lower levels of education, occupational status, and happiness in adulthood. Yet divorced single mothers are not significantly different than their widowed counterparts in child rearing, gender role, and family values and in religiosity, health-related behaviors, and other dimensions of lifestyle. However, relative to widowed single mothers, divorced single mothers hold lower occupational positions, are more financially stressed, and have a higher rate of participation in the paid labor force. We speculate that the contrasting positions in the social structure of different types of single-mother families may account for observed differences in child outcomes.”
And here's an interesting study from Journal of Family Issues about both Fathers and Mothers as single parents compared to two-parent families:
"Very little is known about the academic performance of children from single-father families. How do they achieve in school relative to children from single-mother and two-parent families? Do the same processes posited to explain the school performance of children from single-mother households account for the educational performance of children in single-father homes? These questions are addressed using a nationally representative sample of 8th graders from the National Longitudinal Study of 1988. Eight different educational outcomes are compared for 409 children in single-father, 3,483 in single-mother, and 14,269 children in biological two-parent families. Children from single-father and single-mother families perform roughly the same in school, but both are outperformed by children from two-parent families. The intervening processes explaining school performance for children from single-father and single-mother families are somewhat different, however. Economic deprivation, or the lack of economic resources, is more useful for understanding the school difficulties of children from single-mother families, whereas interpersonal deprivation, or the lack of interpersonal parental resources, provide a more accurate description for why children from single-father families do poorly in school."
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Can you say the correlation is causative though (and therefore show that it leads to chaotic civilised society)? I'd say not.
I'd also say low discipline in schools combined with the teaching style employed in state schools today probably plays a big part as well. Group type work with a roaming teacher is surely no match for a passionate teacher who commands respect and rules with an iron fist from the front of the room? I'd like to know if kids from troubled families or whatever can be conditioned with the right schooling, to become civilised? Based on a day private school I went to once for a few years, no harsh punishment was needed - just a sense of right from wrong and combining the two together that amplifies the overall effect. The worst possible punishment was 'six of the best' with a wooden rule that resulted in a throbbing hand for ten minutes.
Then I went to a comprehensive and some kids were very amused at my manners and respect for teachers.....
). YEC is the example that keeps being brought up because it's the one that is easily seen at odds with facts that kid are often taught. My take on this is that despite the fact that you don't like it, they're not abusing their children. You have to let them teach their values to their kids (whether it's a hired hand or not).
