The rise of single-parent homes

The number of child

Child

Biologically, a child is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty. Some vernacular definitions of a child include the fetus, as being an unborn child. The legal definition of "child" generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority...

ren living in single-parent households has increased dramatically since the 1960s. Approximately 9% of children under 18 lived with a single parent in 1960; by 2007 this rate increased to nearly 32%. The largest growth occurred between 1970 and 1985, when the growth of single-mother families leveled off.
This shift is attributed to a variety of widely recognized social changes that occurred in American society in the 1960s and 1970s: changing sexual morals increased the prevalence of sexual activity outside of marriage and decreased the stigma surrounding out-of-wedlock births; American attitudes about marriage

Marriage

Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 and divorce

Divorce

Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...

 changed; and women made economic gains that increased their independence and ability to leave unhappy marriages.
While the social science community of the 1960s and 1970s initially regarded single-mother households as “just another alternative family form,” evidence began to surface in the late 1970s demonstrating that children raised in households where the father was absent were disadvantaged relative to other children.

In 2008 in the United States there were an estimated 24 million children growing up in households without fathers.

The rise of the responsible fatherhood movement in the U.S.

Along with the changes in family formation in the latter part of the 20th century, the issue of healthy, responsible father

Father

A father, Pop, Dad, or Papa, is defined as a male parent of any type of offspring. The adjective "paternal" refers to father, parallel to "maternal" for mother...

hood also began to gain attention. In 1975, Dr. James A. Levine published Who Will Raise the Children? New Options for Fathers (and Mothers). In this report, "Levine suggested that the long-term goal of equal opportunity for women in American society would never be achieved without serious and meaningful recognition of the significance, interest, and responsibility of fathers in children's lives. Levine called for changes in major social institutions, changes in how families raise boys and girls, and changes in the mutual expectations of men and women as they form families."

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, a national responsible fatherhood movement began to take form in the United States. "Within this 'movement,' one may discern a range of groups with competing masculinities and contesting claims and grievances....[T]he Fatherhood Responsibility Movement seeks to overcome barriers of income, race and politics."

As the responsible fatherhood movement has matured, educational and social service programs have grown to meet the needs of fathers across the country. For example, in 1981, the Ford Foundation infused the first large-scale U.S. funding for responsible fatherhood programming through The Fatherhood Project, initially at Bank Street College of Education in New York and expanding across the nation at various other sites. In 1985, the National Urban League began its Male Responsibility Project, focusing on fatherhood among teen parents. By 1988 the U.S. federal Family Support Act included a provision that allowed states to use Welfare-to-Work funds, intended to help single mothers on welfare, to increase contact between noncustodial fathers and their children. In 1991, the nation's first fathers' resource center was launched in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The number of services and supports for fathers continues to expand.

In the first years of the 21st century, there has been a growing awareness about the importance of healthy father-child relationships. "Among these benefits are higher levels of school performance and increases in healthy behaviors... For example, children raised with significant positive father involvement display greater empathy, higher self-esteem, increased curiosity, higher verbal skills, and higher scores of cognitive competence." Increasingly, the responsible fatherhood movement has defined itself by focusing on the development of healthy father-child relationships. A separate branch of the men's movement has been that related to Fathers' rights movement. The responsible fatherhood movement embraces healthy motherhood and seeks to encourage stronger supports for mothers and fathers to grow as healthy parents.

The rise of the responsible fatherhood movement in Singapore

In 2009, the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports

Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports

The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports is a ministry of the Government of Singapore tasked with, from the government's point of view, building a "cohesive and resilient" society in Singapore.The MCYS often pursues vigorous social engineering campaigns of varying effectiveness and...

in Singapore commissioned a survey on the perception of fatherhood. It polled 2,220 Singaporeans and permanent residents aged 18 and above. The findings:


Fathers can be more involved in children's lives

• 99% think that both parents should be involved in their children's upbringing.
• 97% think fathers have an important parenting role
• 83% agree that fathers are involved in their children's lives
• 77% think fathers are as good as mothers in caring for children.

Fathers still seen primarily as breadwinners
What do you think are a father's roles and responsibilities? Respondents were asked to give up to three answers.


Top five answers:

• Be a breadwinner (46%)
• Be loving and provide emotional support towards children and family (36%)
• Help children with learning and school (18%)
• Be a role model for children (18%)
• Provide moral or spiritual guidance (17%)

Bottom five answers:

• Be involved in general upbringing of child (3%)
• Play with child (3%)
• Be the decision-maker or the "man" in the household (2%)
• Provide security or protection (1%)
• Be familiar with child's friends and social life (1%)