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Support groups for single mothers in college.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

Research pertaining to single parents attending colleges and universities is sparse but demonstrates that these students, who are mostly women, endure greater educational challenges than "traditional" students. A support group was organized for single mothers attending a large university in the south-central United States with the purpose of offering students who are single mothers the opportunity to form a network with others like themselves. The group had positive implications for the mothers. The need for such groups on other college campuses will be established.

Introduction and Background

The United States is increasingly becoming a fatherless society. Today, a child can reasonably expect not to grow up with his/her father. In 1970, the percentage of children being raised by single mothers was eleven percent. According to the United States Census Bureau, that percentage rose to twenty-three percent in 2002, which amounts to over sixteen million children. Along racial and ethnic lines, twenty-five percent of Latino/a children, thirteen percent of Asian children, forty-eight percent of African American children, and sixteen percent of non-Latino/a children live in single parent families (U.S. Census, 2003). Single parents are exceedingly likely to be poor; the rate of poverty among single parents in 2002 was thirty-eight percent (U.S. Census Bureau, 2003). Furthermore, as of 1991, single mothers represented fifty-two percent of all poor families (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1992). Poverty among single mothers is likely to lead to a vicious cycle of hopelessness and anguish, which is detrimental to both mother and child. Embedded deeply in the impediment of poverty is the lack of an education; twenty-five percent of single mothers have not completed high school (U.S. Census Bureau, 1997). Nationwide, sixteen percent of all adults ages twenty-five and older have not completed high school (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000)

Graduating from college is a difficult task for anyone. However, if the student is a single parent, that task becomes so problematic, difficult and complicated that it keeps many would-be students out of college. Of the five different types of non-traditional undergraduate students (those who are dependent on parental support; part-time students; students older than twenty-four years of age; those without high school diplomas; and single parents), it is the single parent student who undoubtedly has the greatest burdens. One of the most important things a single mother can do for herself is to attend college. Nearly fifteen years ago, Johnson, Sum, and Weills (1988) reported that almost ninety percent of families headed by single mothers who lacked a high school diploma were living in poverty; for children living with mothers with a college degree, the poverty rate was sixteen percent.

The Importance of a College Degree for Single Mothers...

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