OVERVIEW

Who we are and where we come from has a major influence on our health, wellbeing, competence and ability to relate to others and cope with the world around us. Disadvantaged families include:

• low-income families
• single-parent families
• families in which the parents have a low level of education, poor parenting skills or a history of psychiatric disorder
• families that lack social supports or community connections
• children and families in the developing world

Children raised in such families are at greater risk of behavioural and emotional problems, depression and other mental health problems, lower achievement in math and literacy, and higher mortality and morbidity.

A particular focus of our work at the Offord Centre for Child Studies is the study of single-mother families.

One in five Canadian children lives in a single-parent family. Lone mothers make up more than 83% of single parents, and their children are more likely than children of two-parent families to have increased rates of psychosocial problems, including psychiatric disorder, social problems and academic difficulties.

We are working to better understand how single-mother family status and other risk factors, such as low income, influence childhood problems. Our goal is to develop strategies that will improve the psychosocial health of these children and ensure they have an equal chance at becoming well-adjusted and productive adults.