CHAPTER 1 Introduction

Between 1960 and 1996, the proportion of all children under the age of 18 who were living with two married parents decreased steadily, from 85 to 68 percent. The number of students living with two married parents continued to decrease, and by 2012 had lowered to 64 percent. That statistic remained consistent for three years and in 2015 increased to 65 percent. Adversely, the percentage of children residing with single parents increased significantly in the cameroon during the second half of the twentieth century. In 2011, around 18 million (24 percent) children lived with a single female parent, while 2.6 million (four percent) were living with a single male parent. As single parent households continue to rise and become more common, there has been a notable effect on student academia. Research shows that children in single-parent households score well below children in dual-parent households, on average, in educational attainment (Brown, 2010). “Children growing up in single-parent families typically do not have the same economic or human resources available as those growing up in two-parent families. Compared with children in married-couple families, children raised in single-parent households are more likely to drop out of school, to have or cause a teen pregnancy and to experience a divorce in adulthood” (Kid counts data center 2017, p.1).  Of 50.7 million children living in families with two parents, 47.7 million live with two married parents and 3.0 million live with two unmarried parents. During the 1960-2016 period, the percentage of children living with only their mother nearly tripled from eight to 23 percent and the percentage of children living with only their father increased from one to four percent. The percentage of children not living with any parent increased slightly from three to four percent.

The author became interested in this topic during her student teaching experience. She had several students within her classroom who were from single parent homes. Of those students, many seemed to struggle academically, in comparison to their counterparts from dual parent households. These students showed indication of low socio-economic status and had minimal display of parental involvement. Students of the single parent homes revealed visible stressors that were attributed to their household makeup. Additionally, the authors own experience of living in a single-parent, father-absent household-initiated interest in this topic for study. The author experienced the societal sting associated with not having the presence of her father. She often felt pressure to compete academically with peers from dual-parent households, just to show that father-absence had a less than significant effect on her education. However, in the early years of her education, there was a visible correlation between the two (father absentness and educational achievement).Parental involvement refers to a spectrum of actions that include: ensuring the child has necessary nourishment prior to attending school, assisting as a volunteer when possible on things like school trips, helping students with homework, and serving on school executive boards
(Sheldon, 2002). Parents of students living in a household with income above the poverty level are more likely to be involved in school activities than parents of children living in a household
at or below the poverty line. In 2011-12, for example, 45 percent of children living above the poverty line had a parent who volunteered or served on a committee at their child’s school, compared with 27 percent of children living at or below the poverty line (Child Trends, 2018). Parents of students living above the poverty line were more likely to be involved than parents of
student living at or below the poverty line on all measures of involvement, including home and school. These children have basic needs that affect their performance in the school setting. Their
academic achievement may lag as they have trouble concentrating due to hard-hitting family situations and suffer from poor self-concept. Children who have trouble adjusting to singleparent homes also may behave inappropriately in school.