Reality Check Nation Radio Show

The struggles of a single parent Regardless of family structure, the quality of parenting is one of the best forecasters of children's emotional and social well-being. Many single parents, however, find it difficult to function effectively as parents. Compared with continuously married parents, they tend to be less emotionally supportive of their children, have fewer rules, dispense harsher discipline, are more inconsistent in bestowing discipline, provide less supervision, and engage in more conflict with their children. Many of these shortfalls in parenting presumably result from struggling to make ends meet with limited financial resources and trying to raise children without the help of the other biological parent. Many studies link incompetent parenting by single parents with a variety of negative outcomes among children, including poor academic achievement, emotional problems, behavior problems, low self-esteem, and problems forming and maintaining social relationships. **Today, one-third of American