Single parent

A single parent is a parent with one or more children, who is neither married, nor living together with his or her spouses. Single mothers are far more common than single fathers. The definition of single parents may vary according to local laws of nations or provinces. But in typical cases, she or he may be so after her divorce, after giving birth to a child outside marriage, or after his or her spouse died.

Some single mothers may have chosen to be so voluntarily but for some others it is the result of accidental pregnancy, while not wanting, or not having the opportunity for abortion, and not wanting, or not having the opportunity for marrying or living together. Financial problems or other social circumstances often play a role. Especially in the US, teenage single mothers have become a serious social issue (see also teenage pregnancy).

This phenomenon has become one of the serious social issues in advanced countries. A single father is less common because, after divorce, more often the woman gets custody of the children, and in the case the mother has no (longer) a relationship with the father, it is even more likely that the child will stay with the mother; the father may even be out of view. A single father is considered much less commonly a social issue and gets far less support from governments. The typical case of turning into single fathers is probably his wife died or disappeared in other ways.

Sometimes, when a woman is pregnant, she and the father of the child feel the need to marry, or to marry earlier than planned, to avoid the shame and the legal complications of being a single mother. This is sometimes referred to as a "forced marriage". It has become more common in Japan and the United States because couples over there usually feel they have little reason to get married.

Single mothers in fiction

• The Woman Who Did, a 1895 novel by Grant Allen
• Bachelor Mother, a 1939 movie
• Lonely Mom, a comic strip by Cecilia Torudd

Reference and External Links

• http://www.plannedparenthood.org/library/TEEN-PREGNANCY/Reducing
• Ito Peng, Single-Mother Families in Japan: A Conspicuous Silence (http://www.nira.go.jp/publ/review/96spring/peng)