Letter to the editor: single parents of children with chronic illness: an understudied phenomenon.

摘要

We commend the authors of "Single Parents of Children with Chronic Illness: An Understudied Phenomenon" from the May 2008 issue of Journal of Pediatric Psychology for addressing the gap in extant research concerning pediatric outcomes and stressors of single parents raising children with chronic illnesses. As noted by the study authors, the percentage of two-parent families has declined to 69% with a corresponding increase of single-parent families in the US. However, Brown et al. (2008) neglect to mention the simultaneous increase in the percentage of blended families in the US. According to latest available census data, the proportion of children raised in blended families has increased to 10% (US Census Bureau, 2004). While blended families are overlooked in this article, Brown et al. (2008) report on the need for literature to examine "other family constellations" that may account for relatively smaller percentages of the population, such as same-sex partners and cohabitating, unmarried parents.