Raising a child as a head of a single-parent family is associated with various challenges. Firstly, a single-parent family may be struggling to afford even the basic needs, leading to hardships and possible socioeconomic status-based discrimination. Secondly, the burden of responsibility may be too heavy for single parents; as a result, they may experience work-life balance problems and emotional burnout. Finally, a parent may become overwhelmed with worry, anxiety, and sadness due to perceived failure in family life and career. This situation is emotionally difficult both for males and females; however, single mothers are more susceptible to such a severe mental condition as depression. According to a survey by Kim et al. (2018), 97 out of 195 (49,7%) single mothers had depressive symptoms. On the other hand, only 46 out of 357 (12,7%) married mothers had signs of developing depression (Kim et al., 2018). Given those numbers, it is important to examine how parental stressors and possible depression of a single parent may affect a child’s emotional development and what intervention may be implemented to alleviate the problem.
Family Introduction
The family, which case is presented in a study, is single-parent, headed by the mother of a child. Sarah J. (name changed for privacy reasons) is 27 years old, and she acts as the primary caregiver of her four-year-old daughter. She became a single parent about one year ago after a divorce. Her ex-husband pays the alimony authorized by the law but does not provide much financial assistance beyond that mandatory impact. Due to this fact, Sarah keeps working full-time as a sales associate at one of the local clothing outlets. As a result, Sarah’s family stays above the poverty threshold, but at the price of her life balance heavily shifted towards work. She has a busy schedule of four 10-hour shifts per week; in addition, she has to take her daughter to a public kindergarten in the morning and take her home in the evening. Sarah’s day-offs are usually full of housework — cooking, cleaning, and taking care of her daughter. She barely has any time to rest since day-offs replace her official full-time job with never-ending family duty. Sometimes, Sarah’s mother helps her in looking after the child; however, this is not possible all of the time. Overall, Sarah feels emotionally exhausted, even depressed, at times and admits that her stress may be affecting her daughter’s emotional development.
Specification of Study Focus
This interview-based case study had several underlying goals in design. Most importantly, the study was aimed at revealing stressors that may be affecting a single parent. Hypothetically, two major stressors were expected to emerge — financial problems and emotional burnout. Additionally, the interview was focused on understanding a child’s current emotional development status, especially at discovering the existing issues in detail. Such issues included but were not limited to the child’s anxiety, shyness, reclusiveness, and tendency to become upset. After that, the focus shifted to connecting the impact of studied family factors — parental stresses and depression, to the current status of a child’s emotional development. Finally, the study focused on designing interventions, which may solve or alleviate the issues revealed during the interview stage. This part was intended to provide practical suggestions relevant for helping single-parent families, especially in regard to parent’s mental health condition. A single parent may become overwhelmed and require help before their state of mind affects a child’s development negatively — as such, they need to know where to get that help.
Child’s Emotional Developmental Status
A special set of questions was prepared in order to evaluate Sarah’s daughter’s status of emotional development. As a prerequisite, it was necessary to determine whether a single mother is affected by severe stressors and depressive symptoms and how they influence the emotional connection between her and her child. The set of family factor questions allowed to determine that single mother is experiencing the harmful influence of multiple stressors — financial pressure, psychological burden, emotional exhaustion, and sense of isolation (see Appendix A). The following set of questions on a child’s emotional development allowed to reveal several worrisome signs in this department.
Reclusiveness
Sarah admitted that her daughter is growing into a reclusive girl. She said: “I’m afraid she is becoming quite reclusive indeed. It’s probably because of my attitude — when I pick her up after work, I barely notice anything around me. Just mindlessly do my evening routine: get home, cook dinner, eat, and go to bed” (see Appendix B). Due to the mother’s intense working schedule and work-related stress, she does not show visible interest in her child’s daily activities. As a result, a child does not see a point in telling stories and sharing interesting moments of her day, which leads to reclusive behavior.
Shyness
After being asked, “Is your child shy?” Sarah spent several seconds thinking and answered positively. She added: “Again, it’s probably my fault as a mother. When she tried to talk to me in the past, I sometimes was outright abrasive. I said things like: “Not now, dear, mom is tired and wants to rest.” When she cried in public places, like in the mall, I told her, “Calm down! Good girls don’t act like this! You’re putting me to shame!” No wonder she is becoming shy, and it’s my fault as a parent again” (see Appendix B). In this case, the child saw herself as an inconvenience, an obstacle for her mother. Such an experience can explain shyness in a child’s behavior since a child does not want to become a supposed cause of unpleasant emotions again.
Low Emotional Resilience
The low emotional resilience of a child usually manifests itself in a child becoming upset and crying over various reasons. Sarah said that her daughter indeed cries quite often: “This happens quite a lot, especially if I refuse to play with her after a long day at work or can’t afford a toy. I can’t openly say: “Sorry, we can’t afford it right now. You have to wait.” So, I just tell her: “No, but I’ll buy you something nice later.” Then my girl becomes upset, sometimes she cries, and I have to calm her down, which I’m just not good at” (see Appendix B). In this case, the mother’s answers stemming from the vulnerable financial situation of the family and emotional burnout contribute to the low emotional resilience of a child.
The Impact of Studied Factor on Child’s Development
Overall, single mother in the studied case seemed to be significantly affected by multiple parental stressors. Her answers revealed the presence of a difficult financial situation, mental pressure caused by single-parents responsibilities, emotional burnout from full-time work, and social isolation. On the other hand, the mother was concerned with emerging trends in her daughter’s emotional development: reclusiveness, shyness, and low emotional resilience. One cannot call Sarah an irresponsible parent — she cares about her daughter and works hard to make ends meet. However, it is evident that the current situation slowly damages Sarah’s mental health, which in turn leads to complications in her daughter’s emotional development.
First of all, financial pressure contributes to a child’s low emotional resilience. Sarah often cannot afford new toys, clothes, or tasty food for her daughter, as her single-parent family barely balances above the poverty line. As a result, she has to reject her daughter’s requests, upsetting her in the process. Those rejections may have severe repercussions for the child’s emotional resilience since she constantly faces upsets and disappointment. Moreover, the child may start comparing herself with other children whose families may have a better financial situation. Such comparisons may potentially undermine Sarah’s daughter’s resilience and confidence even further.
Secondly, the mental pressure from single-parent’s responsibilities and work stress disrupt Sarah’s communication with her daughter. As she admitted, her daughter is already becoming shy and reclusive. Mother is often busy, and when she is not, she often lacks the energy to communicate with her daughter actively. Given the circumstances, Sarah’s behavior may be understandable; however, it does not become less harmful for her daughter’s emotional development. In the end, a child feels like a nuisance, an inconvenient object for the parent. It is hard to explain to a four-year-old girl that her mother still loves her and behaves as she does only because of stress and mental pressure.
Finally, Sarah expressed the feeling of isolation from her peers and the lack of socialization and understanding. Those feelings may further contribute to stress and depression, as a single mother cannot share her burden with anyone else and, as such, is forced to carry it alone. In Sarah’s words: “I’m not broken yet, but I’m definitely miserable at times and feel like I’m cracking” (see Appendix B). Overall, the information gathered from the interview allowed to identify several parental stressors and associate them with evident problems in a child’s emotional development.
Potential Risks, Difficulties, and Protector Factors
The data obtained via an interview with Sarah allowed to conclude that the family’s current status is worrying but not catastrophic. After all, the single parent is doing her best to contribute to the child’s upbringing, so no signs of deliberate negligence were discovered. However, the situation creates several potential risks and difficulties for the family status and child’s emotional development in the future.
Most importantly, Sarah’s mental condition may deteriorate and develop into a severe case of depression. After that, she may become unable to function in society for a long time. As a result, single-parent’s possible mental health conditions must be attended to before they become too severe. Otherwise, the family may lose the most significant source of income, and even worse — the mother-child connection may be severed altogether.
In addition, it may become difficult for Sarah to find peer support, so necessary and valuable in her position. She has expressed a lack of understanding from other people, which made her reluctant to share her feelings with anyone else (see Appendix B). As such, her reclusiveness may grow and leave an additional negative impact on her child’s emotional development. These possible negative consequences can be mitigated through the following protector factors: family and community support, teacher involvement, and therapist assistance.
Intervention Design
A well-rounded, carefully designed intervention has a significant chance of improving the situation in a single-parent family. For example, such protective factors as peer relationships, teacher-student relationships, and community relationships led to 71% mediation of family structure impact on child’s social competence (Wang et al., 2019). In addition, protective factors mediated 50% of family structure’s impact on a child’s resilience (Wang et al., 2019). Therefore, a complex intervention from the teachers, family, peers and medical personnel should rectify worrisome trends in Sarah’s family.
First of all, the intervention should be focused on helping both child and parent. In regard to the child, the intervention from the kindergarten personnel should alleviate her shyness, reclusiveness, and low resilience stemming from the impact of parental stressors. Meanwhile, Sarah should undergo mental health therapy with additional moral support from her mother. These measures would hopefully resolve the issues caused by stressors, which directly affect the emotional development of Sarah’s daughter.
In terms of service delivery, the child would receive extra support from the kindergarten teachers for a period necessary for Sarah’s recovery. The teachers would provide Sarah’s daughter with love, care, and attention, which she is currently lacking due to her mother’s condition. At the same time, Sarah would reach to community mental help services and mental health professionals, who would listen to her troubles. The support from Sarah’s mother, one of her few peers in life, would help immensely during this stage. This intervention would last until Sarah’s mental health recovers to the point when she becomes able to contribute to her daughter’s emotional development instead of undermining it. In the end, the intervention would facilitate in overcoming both the reason of brewing trouble in the family — parental stresses, and the negative consequences in child’s emotional development: shyness, reclusiveness, and low emotional resilience.
References
Kim, G. E., Choi, H. Y., & Kim, E. J. (2018). Impact of economic problems on depression in single mothers: A comparative study with married women. PloS One, 13(8), e0203004. Web.
Wang, M., Victor, B. G., Wu, S., & Perron, B. E. (2019). Associations between family structure and social-emotional development among school-aged children in mainland China. Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work and Development, 29(4), 249-263. Web.
Appendix A. List of Interview Questions
Set 1. Family Background Questions
- How old are you?
- How many children do you have?
- How old is your child?
- Do you currently have a job?
- What is your working schedule?
- How goes your typical day?
- Does anyone help you in raising your child?
- Do you experience any particular stresses as a head of a single-parent family?
Set 2. Child’s Emotional Development
- Do you notice signs of regression in your child’s emotional development?
- Is your child reclusive?
- Is your child shy?
- Does your child have a low mental resilience (is he/she easy to upset)?
- Does he/she cry often?
- What do you do to comfort your child?
- May your child’s emotional development result from your stresses?
- Do you feel worried about your child’s emotional development?
Set 3. Parental Stresses
- Does your family experience financial strain?
- Do you socialize often enough or have sufficient mental support?
- What are your feelings about your current job?
- Do you feel extra responsibility for being a single parent?
- Do you often feel mentally exhausted/burned out?
- Do you feel anxiety when thinking about the future?
- Do you actively seek help in dealing with your stresses?
Appendix B. Interview Transcript (Selected Questions)
Q: Is your child reclusive?
A: I’m afraid she is becoming quite reclusive indeed. It’s probably because of my attitude — when I pick her up after work, I barely notice anything around me. Just mindlessly do my evening routine: get home, cook dinner, eat, and go to bed. Later, I feel guilty for not being caring enough. But at the same time, exhaustion just takes over me. I can’t do anything until I rest well enough and somewhat recharge my batteries. And then, the routine just starts all over again.
Q: Is your child shy?
A: I’d say — yes. Again, it’s probably my fault as a mother. When she tried to talk to me in the past, I sometimes was outright abrasive. I said things like: “Not now, dear, mom is tired and wants to rest.” When she cried in public places, like in the mall, I told her, “Calm down! Good girls don’t act like this! You’re putting me to shame!” No wonder she is becoming shy, and it’s my fault as a parent again. I really blame myself for acting like that.
Q: Does your child have a low mental resilience (is he/she easy to upset)?
A: This happens quite a lot, especially if I refuse to play with her after a long day at work or can’t afford a toy. I can’t openly say: “Sorry, we can’t afford it right now. You have to wait.” So, I just tell her: “No, but I’ll buy you something nice later.” Then my girl becomes upset, sometimes she cries, and I have to calm her down, which I’m just not good at”.
Q: Do you socialize often enough or have sufficient mental support?
A: I barely meet anyone. I “socialize” only with my coworkers, my mother, kindergarten teachers, and my daughter. To be honest, only the duty before my baby keeps me going day after day. I’m not broken yet, but I’m definitely miserable at times and feel like I’m cracking. People at work are alright, but I don’t want to bother them with my problems. Besides, I tried once, but got advice like: “Take it easy!”, very helpful. They mean well but just don’t quite understand my situation.