SOCIETY: Single mothers kinder to children

Single mothers may endure the pressures of living with low incomes, poor housing and lack of social support, but they do not resort to physically punishing or abusing their children as much as two parent families, according to research funded by the Department of Health.

The researchers suggest it may be the presence of the father which makes it more difficult for the mother to control the children. The study, carried out at the Thomas Coran Research Unit at the University of East London, comes in the wake of reports that the children of single mothers are more at risk from severe punishment, and that they also have more behavioural problems than children of two parents families.