A single parent raising children can suffer problems for the parent and children that may not exist in a two-parent home. If the parent and children are not of the same sex, the children may not have adequate role models, which can cause some differences in the children's psychological makeup. Also, joint custody or sole custody are part of the single-parent trend, including responsibilities related to the children. Sometimes it is easier if the responsibilities are shared between both parents.
Loneliness
Loneliness and isolation occur because of the loss of the partnership between the mother and father within the family, the National Institutes of Health indicates. When a person experiences divorce, it tends to cause that person to feel alone and unhappy. Sharing joys and sorrows with someone else on a regular basis does not occur, and the support within the partnership regarding parenting does not exist. This loneliness and isolation that the parent experiences can affect the children, no matter their age, because they will witness the sadness of the parent.
Role Models
While girls may have better role models with single moms and boys with single dads, both will see a different view of the world than if they had both parents living together. For example, a girl only will see her mother operating as a single person, not as part of a synergistic couple. She may see her mother date, but that does not take the place of the child seeing her mother interact with a life-partner. Boys who live with their fathers face the same psychological problem of discovering how to behave with the opposite sex.
Feeling Different
If all of a child's friends live in two-parent households, the child may feel left out and different from his friends. He may feel he misses something in everyday life that he may not exactly understand. Even if the child's friends live in single-parent homes, their experiences will feel somewhat different because of which parent takes care of his friends and each parent's different parenting style.
Child-Rearing Differences
Both parents can have disagreements about rearing the children. They may constantly battle over power and compete for the position of better parent. Counterproductively, in-laws and friends may get involved, trying to help, but ultimately causing distress for the parents and children. This psychological and negative component of single parenting may cause the child to have psychological issues later, involving trust.
