CAUSES, EFFECTS, CHALLENGES AND PROBLEMS FACED BY SINGLE PARENT FAMILIES - A STUDY W.R.T. BENGALURU URBAN

Abstract

Single parent family headed by female faces multiple number of problems than male headed family mainly due to financial constraints. In Bengaluru single parent family is not a new concept but it is universal. Single parent female and males are looked equally either at schools or community level or any other social and economic programmes. Innumerable factors are responsible for its existence though there exist cultural and regional differences. In Bengaluru single parent family symbolises the changes in the society. Divorce and separation causes upset among the children either sociologically or psychologically. But still in India many people is opting divorce or separation rather than living unhappily in the family. Bengaluru is becoming “divorce capital of India” with about 300 in every 1000 married couples seeking separation from their partners. While 11 out of 1000 Indian marriages end in divorce compared to the highest figures of 400 out of 1000 in US. About 40 divorce cases are filed in family court at Bengaluru every day. (Ramachandrappa, 2012)

The UN women report puts the figure of lone mother households in India at 13 million. Another 32 million are estimated to be living in extended houses. The poverty rate of lone mother is 38% in comparison to 22.6% for dual parent households (Ambika Pandit, 2019). A child living life with single parenting loses their childhood and decency due to parental, work force commitment and social isolation (Nasir Ahmed Bhat et al., 2019). According to Shalini Bharath (1986) the large scale changes in the social and economic spheres over a few decades back in both the industrialised west and third world countries have rise of family life styles that differ from traditional type of two parent females. The study is conducted based on the primary and secondary data and survey method with male single parents and female single parents from Bengaluru Urban with convenient sampling technique. The demographic characteristic shows significant and with degree of relationship. The study also confines that female single parent arises out of many causes like divorce, separation, death of parent, unwed mother, etc., Single parent families drastically affect the children and reflect in the form of drug and alcohol addiction, involvement on crimes, learning difficulties and poor academic performance etc. Innumerable challenges are faced by single parent families and they include caste and religion, kinship, family, inheritance, rearing children and their schooling etc. The study also reveals problems faced by single parent families.