Divorce and single parenting have grown exponentially over the past few years. The percent of households with single parents in them is 31% as of 2016 compared to 12% in 1960 (U.S Census Bureau, 2016). How does this effect the kids internal and external behavior? How does divorce effect children? One reason children in single households might have behavior problems might be that the one parent has more stress than if there are two parents in the house. Children that are victims of divorce tend to have more behavioral issues than other children (Schmuck, 2013).

Divorce is such a devastating catastrophe that is continuously happening in the U.S. and is continuing to rise. When a mother cuddles, cradles, and caress' their child that kid will have a bigger and better brain than normal (Berger, 2016). If the parents divorce after having a baby and the mother isn't there to give it the care, it needs the child's brain might not develop completely. It has been shown that kids that go through a divorce have more behavioral issues, so as divorce increases so does this issue. If we don't do something to fix this problem, it will only get worse. It was shown that the closer the parents are after the divorce the less behavioral issues the child will have (Schmuck, 2013). So, if parents that divorce stay close for the kids the less behavioral problems the kid will have.

Divorce isn't the only thing that causes behavioral issues, simply being a single parent can cause behavioral problems. External behavioral issues are associated with the absence of emotional control (Schmuck, 2013). These can appear in many different things such as destroying property, being aggressive, acting out, and more. Hilton and Devall (1998) conducted a survey with 30 single mothers, 30 single fathers, and 30 dual-parent families. Single parents reported more cheating, lying, bragging, and property destruction problems with their children than married parents did about their children. Compared to single parenting, no negative effects of dual parenting have been reported (Schmuck, 2013). In addition to external behavior there is also internal behavior issues.

Internal behavior is a big issue if kids don't know how to be deal with their emotions that can lead to kids that leads to things such as anxiety, depression, and withdrawals. It was found that children that were raised in households with single parents had more of these internal issues than those in dual parent households (Schmuck, 2013). Their skills such as self esteem, social relationship competency, extracurricular activity, and health scales have no difference in them. These are just a few examples for why someone should try to raise their kids with someone and not alone.