Single Parent Families:

Abstract

Major changes are taking place in American and Cana- dian families exerting dramatic influences on family life and the pro- fessional of nursing. This was a recently completed project involving a multidisciplinary team of scholars from across North America that brought together the latest information available on a wide variety of single parent families. The purpose of this chapter is to present a syn- thesis of the demographic, theoretical and research literature that resulted from this project. Following a brief introduction, the authors summarize the changing demographics of single parent families, and present a synthesis of the research literature on the following topics pertinent to single parent families: economics, poverty, homelessness; legal dimensions; single custodial/noncustodial mother/fatherhood fol- lowing divorce; never married teen single parenthood (fathers and mothers); single parenting by grandparents, adoptive parents; widows/ widowers; and finally single parents in families of disabled children. In conclusion, a synthesis of major themes across all these different single parent family structures is given as well as implications for re- search, practice, education, and social policy.