Growing up in a single-parent family affects children's mental health

Psychologists from Canada, after a series of experiments, were able to prove the importance of raising a child in a complete family. A complete family in which a child grows up plays a very important role for his future mental health. At the moment, this theory is confirmed only by studies conducted on laboratory mice.

At the Toronto Health Center, which is located at the University of Toronto, specialists studied the behavior of two groups of rodents. The first group was given the conventional name of complete, in which the young were raised by both parents, the second group was defective, in which only the mother was engaged in raising the offspring. Scientists found that rodents from the defective group had poor abilities to establish social connections, in addition, they showed more aggressive behavior towards other rodents, in comparison with rodents from the complete group, which were raised by both parents. Scientists also found that females who grew up without paternal participation were more sensitive to such a psychostimulant as amphetamine, and males had disturbances in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which is responsible for cognitive activity and behavior in society.

The study's lead author, Gabriela Gobi, noted that the results obtained by their group are identical to those obtained after observing children raised in single-parent families. In particular, this refers to the tendency toward substance abuse in girls from single-parent families. In this area, specialists have already conducted several observations of children whose upbringing was handled solely by their mother. Even earlier, scientists noted the fact that girls from such families often had substance abuse. As Gabriela Gobi stated, this once again confirms the fact that mice are an excellent model for studying various mental disorders in humans.

Previously, scientists have identified a link between bad behavior in boys and fathers who are overworked. The results of the observation showed that fathers who are constantly busy at work have sons who have behavioral problems. They observed approximately 3 thousand children born between 1989 and 1991. The results of the observations were recorded when the children were 5, 8 and 10 years old. About 18% of fathers out of the total number spent more than 55 hours a week at work. If a father who was overworked had a son, the child's behavior became worse over time, compared to children with more free parents. By bad behavior in children, scientists meant aggression towards peers, inability to control their own emotions, refusal to obey parents. Moreover, scientists noted the fact that mothers' workload did not affect the behavior of boys in any way, just as the long absence of a father did not affect the behavior of a daughter. Experts suggest that this is most likely due to the fact that women work less than men. Scientists also do not rule out the possibility that in girls the effect of frequent father absence may manifest itself in a different form or at a later age.

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