CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1    Background to the study

Single-parent families can be defined as families where a parent lives with dependent children, either alone or in a large household, without a Spouse or partner Popenoe (1997). According to Adams (1998), there was rapid increase in the number of single-parent families in the latter half of the twentieth century. This change has been used by some to argue, that there is breakdown of the family values (defined as a married couple residing with their dependent offspring) with negative effects on children, families and the larger society in general. Singh (1999), and Talib (2000), suggest that single-parent families have been present in all societies over time and should not be viewed as deviant or problematic rather, as an alternative family form. Regardless of how family diversity is viewed, the increase in and prevalence of families headed by one parent (father only or mother only) has a major influence on the social, economic moral and political context of family life.

The expression “single-parenting” actually connotes a one-parent household Cox and Martins (2001). The expression single-parenting, was first formulated in 1970s. There is a general assumption that having one parent only in a household must be deficient and therefore, by definition, bad.

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