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What is Single Fatherhood and Why is it Deviant?

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What is Single Fatherhood and Why is it Deviant?

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The general definition of a single father appears to be one male that provides the primary caregiving in a parental role who does not have a spouse living with them (Coles 2015). This definition can be complicated. As an article from Marquette University states, "who qualifies as a single father may vary from one study to the next," especially in regards to single fathers who cohabit but are not married (Coles 2015).

Single fatherhood is considered deviant because more women are single parents than men (Duffin 2023). In fact, according to Census data on Statista.com, "In 2022, there were about 15.78 million children living with a single mother in the United States, and about 3.44 million children living with a single father" (Duffin 2023). Additionally, as will be explained later, others see moral issues with certain household arrangements containing single fathers, cohabitation being among these (Schmugge 2023).

Single fathers are important to study because they are sometimes misrepresented and mistreated in society (Jones et al. 2022). Due to this, it is important that this method of parenting, and its reactions to it, be studied so that we as a society are better equipped to support single fathers in their wishes to parent their children.

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ABC's: Single fatherhood falls under the 'B,' or Behavioral, category in Adler and Adler's ABC's of defining deviance. This is because single fatherhood is a way of living and not a permanent condition, nor an opinion (McCown 2021).

3 S's: Single fatherhood also belongs to the Selection category of the 3 S's, as the single fathers are deciding to raise their child(ren) without a spouse present in the household (McCown 2021). However, one could also label it as Sin depending on the relationship or household status of the single father. For example, cohabitation tends to be frowned upon as evidenced by the views of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston (Shmugge 2023).

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Single Fatherhood as Seen Through Sociological Theories

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Single Fatherhood as Seen Through Sociological Theories

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Goffman and Types of Stigma: Single fatherhood falls under one of Goffman's three types of stigma: blemishes of individual character. This is because people may assume or infer things about the single father that are discrediting (McCown 2019). For example, one might assume that a single father cannot complete domestic tasks like cooking and cleaning effectively (Ishak 2022).

Goffman and Discreditable Stigma: Single fatherhood is primarily discreditable as one cannot look at a single father out in public or at work and be able to immediately tell that he is a single father (McCown 2019).

Goffman and the Virtual Identity: The general public puts a virtual identity ("assumptions as to what the individual before us ought to be") on its members (Goffman 1963:2). According to an article titled Solo Fathers and Mothers: An Exploration of Well-Being, Social Support and Social Approval, "The fathers had also been exposed to negative representations of their family type in the media, in addition to being the target of questioning by others," indicating that they do not fit the virtual identity of the typical family (Jones et al. 2022).

Goffman and the Actual Identity and Stigma: Obviously, single fathers do not live up to the above expectations. Them being a single father constitutes their actual identity ("attributes he could in fact be proved to possess") (Goffman 1963:2). The disconnect between expectation and reality causes people to stigmatize single fathers (McCown 2019).

Normative/Positivist: The normative conceptualization, otherwise known as the positivist conceptualization, states that there is a set of rules in society that we all follow, and that to break one of these rules is to be deviant (McCown 2021). Using the same logic as explained in the section about virtual identity regarding the 'normative family,' it can be seen that this conceptualization fits the phenomenon of single fatherhood (Goffman 1963:2).

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Single Fatherhood from the Perspective of Single Fathers

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Single Fatherhood from the Perspective of Single Fathers

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Single fathers see single fatherhood as a way of life or parenting (not necessarily a deviant one) with all its pitfalls and successes. Given how fathers referenced in the article "Solo Fathers and Mothers: An Exploration of Well-Being, Social Support and Social Approval," they seem to see their parenting as fairly normal and are surprised occasionally when others don't see it that way (Jones et al. 2022).

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Fathers: According to a blog called Modern Fatherhood, single fathers can struggle with the pressures of being a parent, feeling a sense of disconnection as they "are very unlikely to know other dads in their situation" (Davey 2013). This makes it harder for them to get parenting advice from people who understand their problems. Additionally, they have to deal with the stigma of not representing a 'normal' family, potential worries about custody issues, and balancing various responsibilities (Zapata 2020).

Children: While the children of single fathers tend to be successful, they also tend to receive more hands-off parenting (Coles 2015). This has a correlation to the statistics that show that "the children of single fathers appear to be more likely to participate in externalizing behavior and substance use" (Coles 2015). This indicates that while single fathers should not necessarily be considered 'bad parents,' it might be beneficial for governments to provide more resources that are readily available to single fathers who struggle with finding connections (Jones et al. 2022).

Society's Perspective: Society tends to be very welcoming towards single dads, although they can sometimes be a little too welcoming, claiming how exotic a behavior single fatherhood is (Jones et al. 2022). However, there are still the lingering judgments of society, the media, and governmental institutions that have historically been built to support and represent single mothers in the domestic role (Jones et al. 2022).