Shared Living, Shared Strength: Housing and Single Parenthood

<p><b>The number of single parent families in New Zealand is increasing. This household type is forecasted to represent twenty percent of all families in the country by 2021. Despite the growing concern over these families, the majority of New Zealand’s existing housing stock fails to address their housing needs.</b></p> <p>Single parent families often hold the following housing needs as important – affordability, accessibility to services, a sense of community, safety and security, and a positive image. The research investigates how housing in New Zealand can be designed to fit more closely to these needs.</p> <p>A review of architectural literature and leading practice is conducted to find the relevant architectural ideas that can help to address these needs. Ideas include alternative housing strategies (i.e. work-live arrangements, cohousing, mixed-use and integrated living), concepts for the creation of social space, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), guidelines for designing safer homes for children, methods of creating barrier-free design and approaches to reducing operating costs in housing.Through a reinterpretation of these ideas, a new housing exemplar is designed within the context of Wellington City. The research acknowledges that the design in this thesis is only supported in theory. An actual construction of a design with similar parameters is required in order to test and consolidate the ideas further. Nevertheless this thesis demonstrates how housing design can begin to service single parent families in New Zealand.</p>

Shared Living, Shared Strength: Housing and Single Parenthood

<p><b>The number of single parent families in New Zealand is increasing. This household type is forecasted to represent twenty percent of all families in the country by 2021. Despite the growing concern over these families, the majority of New Zealand’s existing housing stock fails to address their housing needs.</b></p> <p>Single parent families often hold the following housing needs as important – affordability, accessibility to services, a sense of community, safety and security, and a positive image. The research investigates how housing in New Zealand can be designed to fit more closely to these needs.</p> <p>A review of architectural literature and leading practice is conducted to find the relevant architectural ideas that can help to address these needs. Ideas include alternative housing strategies (i.e. work-live arrangements, cohousing, mixed-use and integrated living), concepts for the creation of social space, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), guidelines for designing safer homes for children, methods of creating barrier-free design and approaches to reducing operating costs in housing.Through a reinterpretation of these ideas, a new housing exemplar is designed within the context of Wellington City. The research acknowledges that the design in this thesis is only supported in theory. An actual construction of a design with similar parameters is required in order to test and consolidate the ideas further. Nevertheless this thesis demonstrates how housing design can begin to service single parent families in New Zealand.</p>

Double Disadvantage in a Nordic Welfare State: A Demographic Analysis of the Single Parent Employment Gap in Finland, 1987–2018

This study demonstrates how an evolving negative educational gradient of single parenthood can interact with changing labour market conditions to shape labour market inequalities between partnered and single parents. We analysed trends in employment rates among Finnish partnered and single mothers and fathers from 1987 to 2018. In the late 1980s’ Finland, single mothers’ employment was internationally high and on par with that of partnered mothers, and single fathers’ employment rate was just below that of partnered fathers. The gaps between single and partnered parents emerged and increased during the 1990s recession, and after the 2008 economic crisis, it widened further. In 2018, the employment rates of single parents were 11–12 percentage points lower than those of partnered parents. We ask how much of this single parent employment gap could be explained by compositional factors, and the widening educational gradient of single parenthood in particular. We use Chevan and Sutherland’s decomposition technique on register data, which allows us to decompose the single parent employment gap into the composition and rate effects by each category of the background variables. The findings point to an increasing double disadvantage of single parents: the gradually evolving disadvantage in educational backgrounds together with large differences in employment rates between single and partnered parents with low education explain the widening employment gap. Socio-demographic changes in interaction with changes in the labour market can produce inequalities by family structure in a Nordic society known for its extensive support for combining childcare and employment for all parents.

Single-parenthood and health conditions among children receiving public assistance in Japan: a cohort study

Background Children’s healthy development is important. While governmental public assistance benefits financially troubled families, it cannot compensate for a lack of social support. Single-parenthood is a health risk factor for children owing to low-income-associated food insecurity and stress. No study has investigated the association between single-parenthood and health status in children from families receiving public assistance. This study aimed to examine the association between single-parent households and children’s health among public assistance recipients in Japan by using linkage data of two municipal public assistance databases and administrative medical assistance data. Methods We performed a retrospective cohort study. Public assistance for households below the poverty line ensures income security and medical care. The study population included all children aged 15 or younger availing public assistance in January 2016. We extracted recipients’ sociodemographic factors from January 2016 and identified the incidence of childhood diseases’ diagnosis until December 2016 as the outcome, including 1) acute upper respiratory infections; 2) influenza and pneumonia; 3) injuries, including fractures; 4) intestinal infectious diseases; 5) conjunctivitis; 6) asthma; 7) allergic rhinitis; 8) dermatitis and eczema, including atopic dermatitis; and 9) diseases of the oral cavities, salivary glands, and jaws, such as tooth decay or dental caries. Results Among the 573 children, 383 (66.8%) lived in single-parent households. A multivariable Poisson regression, with a robust standard error estimator, showed that single-parenthood is associated with a higher prevalence of asthma (incidence ratio [IR] = 1.62; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.16–2.26), allergic rhinitis (IR = 1.41; 95% CI, 1.07–1.86), dermatitis and eczema (IR = 1.81; 95% CI, 1.21–2.70), and dental diseases (IR = 1.79; 95% CI, 1.33–2.42) compared to non-single parent households, whereas little association was found between single-parenthood and children’s acute health conditions. Conclusions Among public assistance recipients, living in single-parent households may be a risk factor for children’s chronic diseases. The Japanese public assistance system should provide additional social care for single-parent households. Further investigations are necessary using more detailed longitudinal data, including environmental factors, the severity of children’s health conditions, contents of medical treatments, and broader socioeconomic factors.

Psychosocial challenges of single parenthood students: In the case of Hosanna Primary School, Ethiopia

Parents provide emotional, physical and economic aid to their members of families. The aim of study was to examine the psychosocial challenges of single parenthood students in vision primary school. The target population of the study was 87 boys and 82 girls totally 169 students were selected as sample participants by using purposive sampling techniques. The five-point Likert questionnaires were used, descriptive statistics like frequency, table and percentage to examine the effect of psychosocial challenges of single parenthood students. The result revealed that students from single parenthood face psychosocial problems due to the absence of one parent by death or divorce that create more problems for these students. Also, students from single parent face psychological problems like low self-esteem, loneliness and high depression, negative attitudes about themselves and hopelessness about their future life. Finally, the study suggested that the concerned bodies should play a great role in teaching and counseling therapy. Keywords: Psychosocial, challenges, single parenthood, students, Ethiopia.

Message from Executive Editor

Dear reader, We are thrilled to publish Volume 11, Number 1 of the Global Journal of Guidance and Counseling: Current Perspectives. As expected, we have carefully selected top-notch articles ranging in a variety of trending issues in the field of guidance and counselling. With topics represented from North Cyprus, Morocco, Albania, Croatia and Ethiopia, Volume 11, Number 1 promises to expand your knowledge in current issues. The COVID-19 pandemic is still in full force and we are doing our best to keep you updated and informed. This particular issue presents the results of studies carried out in the following topics: Examining the relationship between the school climate and motivation of teachers who work in primary and secondary schools; Correlations of self-esteem with academic competencies and gender variations; Psychosocial challenges of single parenthood students: In the case of Hosanna Primary School, Ethiopia; Play therapy in the prevention of behavioural disorders of school-aged children; The relationship between internet addiction and psychopathological variables among students of Albania’s Universities. Our authors have once again proved themselves worthy of admiration. The quality of papers they submitted helped us to maintain our standard as a highly renowned journal and we would like to thank them specially. We commend the efforts of our professional reviewers and our publishing team as well. While you read, we hope you are motivated to submit quality papers that can add to the body of existing knowledge. Enjoy reading!! Best regards Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nur Demirbas Celik, Executive Editor Alanya Alaadin Keykubat University, Turkey

Single-parenting influence on child’s academic performances at MutareJunior School, Zimbabwe

The economic hardship that has plagued Zimbabwe has led to a shift from the traditionally intact family to a single-parenthood family. Many factors lead to single parenthood including divorce, separation of all kinds and deaths. Single parenthood negatively impacts on students’ academic development. The researcher explored influences of Single-Parenthood to Academic-Performances (AP) of Grade 6 and 7 students at Mutare Junior School in the Manical and Region of Zimbabwe. The researcher used ‘cross-sectional study design’ to collect data using criterion attainment tests, ‘the Wide Range Achievement Test Level 1 (WRAT-1)’ on 80 students under controlled situations having 40 Single-Parent-Homes (SPH)and 40Double-Parent-Homes (DPH)students. School-established examinations complemented data from theWRAT-1 outcome. Tables and ‘T-tests’ were used for analysis of data. Results revealed children from DPH performing statistically better on the criterion test than those from SPH (t = −4.928, significance value 0.05). The results also indicated males performing better than females both from SPH on the criterion test (t = −4.196, significance value 0.05). In future, research should focus on different single-parent homes to AP. Keywords: Academic performance, influence, pupils, school, single parenting.

Influence of church policies on the economic empowerment of the youth

Kenyan youths have been marginalized from mainstream economic activities since independence. This situation has had a negative impact such as slowed economic growth, a rise in crime and violence, and the spread of diseases. It is these issues that have prompted this study on the influence of church policies on the economic empowerment of youths with a specific focus on the PCEA Nyahururu Parish. The study was guided by the Positive Youth Development model. It employed the descriptive research design and targeted a population of 233respondents comprising of 220 youths and 13 leaders (2 congregation chairpersons, 1 clergy, 1 evangelist, 1 youth coordinator, and 8 youth leaders). From this population, a sample of 94respondentswas selected using the clustered random sampling method where the two congregations that make up the PCEA Nyahururu Parish formed the clusters. Quantitative data was collected from youths using structured questionnaires while qualitative data was collected from the church administrators using interview guides. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentages and means as well as inferential statistics. Qualitative data were analyzed using the thematic content analysis technique and results reported using quotes. Findings revealed that there is a low level of economic empowerment among the youths at the PCEA Nyahururu parish. Church policies on single parenthood and divorce/ separation have a statistically significant and negative contribution towards youth economic empowerment. Church policies on the use of modern technologies have a positive and statistically significant relationship with youth economic empowerment. The study recommends that churches should re-examine its policies in single parenthood and divorce/ separation.