Effects Absent Parents have on Children & Their Developmental Growth

Article #5 - Consequences of Single Parenting on Child Development

This research suggests that single parenting negatively affects the healthy development of a child. This exert highlights the psychopathological influences single parenting has on a child, very similar to the psychopathological manifestations of children that face parental abandonment. This suggests that single-parenting and parental abandonment have similar psychological effects on a child.

Artifact #6 - Mean Outcomes for Infants and Children, by Pregnancy Intentions

This table shows that mean outcomes of unwanted children differ negatively from those of intended, not determined, and mistimed children. This suggests that unwanted pregnancies that lead to births, causes decreased levels of academic ability and similar behavioral problems to mistimed children. In addition to this, this research suggests that the unwanted babies are born with lower average birthweight, and are less likely to be breast-fed. 

Artifact #7 -  Developmental and Neurological Manifestations of Absent Parent During a Child's Sensitive Period.

This research was conducted in an orphanage in Romania and suggests that the children that entered orphanage institution with no exposure to parental guidance or without contact with a foster family developed less after 42 months than the kids that were never institutionalized, or the kids that were exposed to a foster family before they reached 2 years old. This research suggests that parental presence is key for proper child development, even if the parents are not biological.

Artifact #8 - Case Study of Child of Divorced Parents 

This case study provides crucial evidence, as it shows the psychological, emotional, and developmental manifestations parentlessness has on a child. Emilie (5 years old) grew up in a household where her dad had left her at 3 years old, and where her mother left her two years later. This case study brings to light the importance of having present parents and the lasting effect absent parenting has on a child and their psychopathology and emotional development. 

Artifact #9 - Causal Model of Parental Divorce, Mediating Variables, and Offspring Divorce 

This table suggests that children of divorced couples are at higher risk of ending up divorcing their future partners. This supports other research suggesting that patterns of behaviors are passed down intergenerationally. This means that in 5-10 years, victims of absent parenting have higher probabilities of repeating similar behavior towards their offspring.