Challenges Facing Single-mother Families and How They Manage Their Resources
Mon, Nov 18 @ 11:00 am
LSC 1100
The rising numbers of families led by single parents have reached alarming levels that require proper planning by all organizations who provide assistantships to single parents and their children. To get a better understanding of the challenges that encounter single mothers and their children, we collected data from participating single mothers through one-on-one and phone call interviews, then we used that scripts and meeting minutes to construct thematic analysis about key challenges and possible solutions to overcome the stress associated with these challenges. The main challenges that face single mothers are time-conflicts between work and family, low-income issues, lack of support from child’s father, and low levels of support provided by state and federal programs. In addition, the list of questions in the designed survey also included set of questions to enrich the discussion on the possible outcomes of obtaining a college degree.
Results showed that single mothers in Denver area are facing economic hardship, problems in raising children without the presence of the father, and time management between work and home. And at extreme cases they may face some problems associated with having a residing cohabiting boyfriend who may weakening the integration of the family, and in some situations represents a potential risk to young children.