To think this is a bit off?

[BogglesGoggles]

I’m not sure how to feel about this. So I saw an inforgraphic for men’s health week. It had the expected stuff like 1 in 3 die of cancer, 3 in 4 suicides are men etc. All mostly health related but also so socioeconomic stuff. At the bottom was a statistic about 1 in 5 boys growing up in a single parent household and it just made me feel really weird. A bit like it’s very offensive to single parents or just outright incorrect. I know that living in a single parent household can come with certain disadvantages surrounding limited resources etc but at the same time it’s a massive generalisation. My father grew up in a single parent household, his childhood was far better (emotionally, financially etc) than my mother whose parents were married. WIBU if I wrote to the organisation that produced it? I think I may be overreacting.

I would interpret it as 1 in 5 boys live in a single parent household because of a father being absent due to death/illness/being an arsehole.

I wouldn’t be offended by it, but maybe I’m not understanding it properly?

This is the info graphic

I expect it’s intended to be a point about lack of male role models, since most single parents are women, rather than a criticism of single parents per se. I agree it’s not very nuanced though.

@bliebliered I don’t know. I didn’t assume that they lived with their mother but maybe? I put the info graphic above. I read it as a list of shit things that happen to males.

I'd probably read it the same way initially, then realise that it's to punch home the point that your child could be raised in a one parent household, unless you deal with your health

Wondering why it only mentions boys though.....

I didn’t assume that they lived with their mother but maybe?

90% of single parents are women (according to Gingerbread).

On average, children who experience single parenthood during their childhood have poorer cognitive outcomes than those that grow up in families that remain “intact”. However, research shows that family structure in itself has little effect on children’s cognitive and emotional outcomes once other factors such as parental education are taken into account (ii).

This pattern is confirmed by more recent analysis of the Millenium Cohort Study, focusing on health, cognitive and behavioural outcomes at ages 5, 7 and 11 (iii).

Recent research focusing on life satisfaction, relationships with peers and feelings about family life found these to be more positive for those children who were, or had been, part of a single parent family (iv).

There is no robust estimation on the cost of ‘relationship breakdown’; the only existing attempts to estimate this are strongly limited – in particular, they do not confine costs to the causal impact of separation and associated costs are largely without an evidence base. (v)

www.gingerbread.org.uk/what-we-do/media-centre/single-parents-facts-figures/

Well, the title is National Men's Health Report Card so it's understandable that it's based on statistics for men/boys. I'm wondering if there is such a report card for women?

Not sure what they are trying to say with this, and how it relates to men's health specifically - are there less girls living in single parent families? Fathers more likely to leave if they have boys?

Absence of a father/positive male role model can have a detrimental effect on growing boys. Having been a single parent, I have first hand experience of it.

@antigon thank you that was very informative. I read it as them using ‘lone parent’ as shorthand for the kinds of disadvantage you described but it just seemed so odd? I don’t know. I don’t know many people living in this situation but I’ve never met anyone who was badly effected by having a single parent so I don’t whether I’m missing something.

I must be a pedant as mainly my eye was drawn to 3 in 4 deaths in road road accidents being men

I assume that the statistic is the same for girls too (as 50% of kids are girls)

I'm a single parent and am not insulted. I assume it means lack of male role model. Some of those boys in single parent households will have contact with their other parent so not al if them are necessarily blowing out. There are obviously boys whose parents are together but should be apart too.

Ha @wheresmymojo me too

I think any campaign which uses odd data to highlight its message does its cause a disservice.
93 % of workplace deaths are men, hardly surprising but how is it connected to health week?

@BogglesGoggles The infographic is a snapshot of the overall AMHF men's health report thing they have released. (Australian Men's Health Forum, for everyone asking why they only mention men - because they are a mens health organisation).

There is a section which explains that 19% of Australian families have a lone parent, majority being lone mothers, and how having more involved fathers can lead to better health outcomes overall for everyone. They specifically say "we hope their inclusion in this report will help start a conversation about the health and social benefits of involved fatherhood". I don't interpret it to be insulting towards single parent families, but trying to find ways to engage fathers in more involved co-parenting mainly.

I would say it's a bald statistic. Correlation is not causation, etc.
Generally, outcomes for children in one parent families are poorer than those in more stable two parent families.

The statistic highlights that one in five boys (presumably the same for girls) is disadvantaged in this way.

That doesn't mean that the children in your family are disadvantaged in comparison to the children next door with two parents. You could be a far better parent, with an extended support network, while next door are isolated alcoholics.

Statistics are big picture, and say little about individuals.

I am missing something? I am a single mum of a boy and I don't take offense to the leaflet. It doesn't carry a judgement but is a statement of fact. If it had said that 1 in 5 boys live in a single parent family and this is why x, y and z then yes it is offensive.

Wasn't it Disraeli: "there are lies, damned lies and there are statistics"?

Well it’s offensive to
Me as my boy lives in a solo parent household due to his father passing away. Even if it’s to drum home the health aspect it’s still offensive as my husbands condition there was nothing he could have done to prevent it.

I don’t even understand why they’ve put that statistic on there? I get the rest about highlighting illnesses, life expectancy etc, but the 1 in 5 but is just a statistic and not really highlighting anything. It’s lije they had a bit of space left and thought ‘hmmm what can we fill this with’