The single parent family : a sociological study of the socio-economic problems facing single parents in Port Elizabeth
Master Thesis
1987
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University of Cape Town
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Abstract
This study represents the first known exploratory study on the single parent family in the Port Elizabeth region. In 1986, the Human Sciences Research Council completed a study of 300 White single parents drawn from lists of children from single parent families at 13 primary schools in the Pretoria School Board District. The report investigated the needs and problems of single parent families, the existence or lack of support facilities in the local communities, and considered and listed the positive factors found in the single parent situation. The study described in this dissertation is a similar quantitative descriptive study using the survey method. .The study provided a description of a sample of 107 White single parent families in Port Elizabeth drawn from a volunteer group. The description consisted primarily of statistical data presented as frequency and percentage distributions in tables which range the Port Elizabeth data next to that of the Pretoria study. This provided an easy means of comparison as well as some indication of what the national data might look like if such were available. The investigation included the widowed, divorced, separated and unmarried / single parents, as well as , the legal adoption of children by a single (never-married) person. A questionnaire, similar to the. one used in Pretoria, was constructed using both structured categories and' explorative questions. These categories and questions were also incorporated into the interviews and interview schedules done· by the researcher and used for comparative analysis tabulations. The study was spatially confined to the magisterial district of Port Elizabeth and represents an exploratory study highlighting the socioeconomic problems facing the single parent family.
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Bibliography: pages 194-204.
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Reference:
Gatley, S. 1987. The single parent family : a sociological study of the socio-economic problems facing single parents in Port Elizabeth. University of Cape Town.