Belkin, Lisa. "Married vs Single Moms." The New York Times. 21 May 2009.

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This article was written by Lisa Belkin in the New York Times. In 2008, 40% of births
were to single moms. In a babytalk poll, 77% of people who parent by themselves
say it is harder than being a married parent. This article weighs the pros and cons of
both sides. While some say it would be easier to have someone else to help and to
get a break from the child when it is needed. The other side says it is not always
great because it is just something else that you have to keep in line as to worrying
about a marriage.
The author's purpose to writing this article is to explain both sides of the situation.
The audience for this particular article I think is geared toward single moms. It gives
them examples of why they should feel as if they are in the right regarding their
children. It is not all negative and gives single moms a little glimmer of hope.
The writer is Lisa Belkin. She is a published writer in the New York Times. I believe
she is credible because the New York Times is known nationwide.
The relevance of this article to me would be when I want to compare and contrast
ideas of a single parent home. This article lets me know that not everything of a
single home is bad.

Blackstone-Ford, Jann; Jupe, Sharyl. Edition: 1st ed. Chicago : Independent

Publishers Group. 2004. EBook Pages 48-53. Print

This book was written by Jann Blackstone-Ford and Sharyl Jope. This book in the
introduction gives a real life story. It lets you know facts first hand from a story of
experience. This book explains that sometimes the arguments between parents
makes the child feel worse like it is them against the parents. The children tend to
develop anxiety and other health issues because of the parents constant arguing.
The authors of this book created a non-profit organization called Bonus Families to
help make peace between divorced families. The way the parents interact with each
other after divorce depends a lot on the child's emotional health. The child may
retaliate to the single parent if a bad separation has taken place affecting their
behavior.
The writers purpose for writing this book is to give a real life experience on this
subject. The audience for this piece is for single parents who are finding it difficult to
interact with the other parent. I think that since the authors both have a blended
family, the information was a little biased towards the separated family.

The writers are Jann Blackstone-Ford and Sharly Jope. This book is credible because I
found it through the Sinclair Library database. Articles and books I find through
Sinclair are always credible. The author is known and their life experiences are told.
The book is relevant to me because another part is introduced. With being a single
parent, the other parent is still involved. This book explains to me a side of blended
families.

Deal, Ron L. Marriage, Family, & Stepfamily Statistics. April 2014. Web.

This article written by Ron L. Deal was published in April 2014, called Marriage,
Family & Stepfamily Statistics. In this article it says the more parental partnerships
that the child experiences, the lower emotional, psychological and academic well
being. Children who come from both biological parent household do better in school,
they tend to be more stable and take on leadership roles. They are less likely to
contribute in sexual intercourse. These children do not experience the effects of
poverty as often. They also have less behavior problems.
The writers purpose of this article is to put facts on the table. This article is nothing
but statistics of many types of blended families. The audience for this piece is
people who are looking for rough facts rather than experience. This was written in
2014 so not much has changed since then. Since it was published not long ago, the
effects are not much different now.
The writer is Ron L. Deal. I know this author is credible because there is references
of where the information came from after every fact. There is a "Contact Us" at the
bottom of the webpage. There is also a reference section outlining where the
information came from. The information is adequate when it is listed in two different
places where it came from.
I will use this in my paper to back my claim. The more statistics that I can compile,
the stronger my case will be. Statistics help me to better explain my stance rather
than personal experience of a family. With statistics, the poll of people studied is
broader and can make my claim stronger.

DePaulo, Bella. Times Misleading Cover Story on Marriage. Psychology

Today. 4 July 2009.

In this article written by Bella DePaulo in Psychology Today, she explains Times
Magazine misleading story on marriage. The story from Time Magazine was written
by Caitlin Flanagan. She says if parents are not married then they do not want to be
bothered with each other. Time Magazine says that children who come from a two
parent household out perform children from single parent household. DePaulo does
not agree. She did several studies to support her answer. She concludes from her
stiudy that the children did not suffer in school or have a hard time adapting to
social life. What the children were more so affected by was the arguing of parents.
She says if the children do have problems, it is likely they had those problems way
before the parent separation. Children coming from single parent homes are more
likely to develop substance abuse but not by much. When comparing single parent
households to two parent households around the world, there is not much difference
among the children.
The purpose of this article is to put the Time Magazine to shame. Another purpose is
to explain to people that there is not much difference in the child's performance and
outcome based on their household. The audience for this piece would be Time
Magazines reporters and any type of parent , divorced or married. I believe this
because this was written a few years ago, the affects are still the same.
The writer is Bella DePaulo. I know this author is credible because she has a Ph.D.
This author has adequate information to write this article because she does her own
studies. Also, I think she has adequate information because she sites all her sources
in the reference section.
I will use this information to argue that two parent household is not always better.
This will be against what I actually believe in but it is always better to be able to see
both sides. She uses a lot of statistics and percentages in this article that I think will
better help my case.

Lansford, J. E., Ceballo, R., Abbey, A., & Stewart, A. J. (2001). Does family
structure matter? A comparison of adoptive, two-parent biological, singlemother, stepfather, and stepmother households. Journal of Marriage and
Family, 63, 840-851.
This journal called "Does Family Structure Really Matter?"was written by J.E.
Lunsford, Abbey Ceballo and A.J. Stewart. In this book many studies have been done
comparing single parent home to both biological parents. They say it is not
necessarily the family type, but more so the family structure. Children maintain the
object of marriage and what a family structure is supposed to be by observing their
parents. Children who come from a divorced family have fewer opportunities to
learn positive interaction skills. Children of divorced parents have a hard time
maintaining a relationship and are not able to deal with the stressors. These
children carry on their parents actions often leading their own marriage to divorce.

It can become harmful to the child when they are caught in between the parents
arguments.
The purpose of this article is to explain the effects of divorced families. It shows the
impact on the children as a whole and the damage that can be done. The audience
for this piece is someone wanting to know the emotional drainage a child can
experience living within a single parent home. I think the author being biased
against single parent homes made the author display a lot of negative facts.
The writer is J.E. Lunsford, Abbey Ceballo and A.J. Stewart. These authors are
credible enough to be able to write a whole book a publish it. I found this book on
the SInclair Library website. I believe this book has adequate information because
all statistics are cited.
I will use this information to back up my point of kids struggle through single parent
households. This book focuses more on the emotional impact a single parent home
can have on the child. With this book being explained differently than other sources
that I have found, I can build a stronger case.

McLanahan, Sarah, and Gary Sandefur. Growing Up with a Single Parent:

What Hurts, what Helps. Harvard University Press, 2009
In this article written by Sarah McLanahan she analyzes a single parent home. She
says the outcomes are not good and spread across many different aspects.
According to her, race and education of the parent have nothing to do with the
outcome of the child. The child suffers in school, they are less likely to graduate, or
attend college. Single parents provide little to no supervision, have less time to help
the children, and do not help the children as far as academics. These children
usually come from a poor community where the schools struggle anyway. It is hard
for the single parent to attend to the child because they are the sole provider and
filling two parents shoes.
I think the writers purpose for writing this article is to explain the effect of a single
parent household has on a child. The audience for this piece is parents who are
thinking about becoming single parents who are wanting to know the damage their
child will suffer.
The writer is Sarah McLanahan. This book is from the Harvard University Press.
Harvard University is a very credible school. This book has to be good or it would
have never made it to the Harvard University press. The author has adequate
information because she has done over decades worth of research. She also took
analyses from four national data sets.

I find this information to be very useful. I am wanting to find out what really is better
for the child and this article gives me very important reasons as to why single
parent homes suffer. Education is a big factor and this article explains that by the
lack of supervision dwindles down into education.

Musick, Kelly, and Ann Meier. ARE BOTH PARENTS ALWAYS BETTER THAN
ONE? PARENTAL CONFLICT AND YOUNG ADULT WELL-BEING . Social
science research 39.5 (2010): 814830. PMC. Web. 5 Mar. 2016.
"Are Both Parents Better than One?" Written by Kelly Musick and Ann Meier explains
which household is truly better. This article does national surveys of families. In
these surveys the parental conflict is deeper. According to the surveys, children
from single parent homes have poorer academic achievements, they are at greater
risk for substance abuse, and come from lower income. Children who grow up in a
two parent household tend to do better. The child's parents who argue tend to have
behavior problems and tend to form families at a young age and they usually are
not married. Children from single parent homes lives in higher poverty levels and do
not get a higher education. They are more likely to have a risk taking behavior and
getting involved with smoking, drinking, and drug use.
The writer's purpose for writing this article is to share the results from national
surveys among many different types of families. The audience for this piece is
people looking to compile data like myself. Most of this article is just all statistics
from information that was gathered. The surveys done in this article is what effects
the outcome of the article. The surveys is what gives the article its credibility.
The writer is Kelly Musick and Ann Meier. I believe these authors are credible
because this article is posted on a .gov website. This means that it is a government
website. I believe they are also credible because underneath their names it says
author information so that you can learn about them. I know that the information is
adequate because most of the article is about where they gathered the information.
It is adequate because it comes from national surveys and real people.
I will use this information to back up my claim. I can use this information to give
statistics to back myself. Using statistics and real situations makes the topic come
more to life. People are more willing to believe and understand a situation if the
facts are presented.