HOW CHILDREN OF ONE PARENT HOMES STRUGGLE

Researchers have found that when there is only one parent in the home the children have a tendency to smoke or drink alcohol.  The study examined 11,000 children and found that when they were under the age of 7 when the parent left, they were at risk before the teenage years.  The children find it difficult to cope with the family issues and turn to drinking, smoking, or both to cope with the situation.  They found that it didn’t matter how the parent left the family – divorce, death, or just left.  It didn’t matter either if it was the mother or the father that was the one that was gone.  The study found that most of the behaviors that will direct the children late in life happen before they are in their teens.