A Study Of The Lone-parent Family In The Second Half Of20th Century Britain

Since the second half of the20th century, the Western World would entry intothe transitional period. British society has undergone tremendous changes. First,the demographic characteristics have changed after the World War II. The divorcerate and the cohabitation have been increasing. Meanwhile, the marriage rate andthe mortality have been decreasing. Second, the women’s economic status hasbeen rising in Britain since the post-war. Third，because of the second FeministMovement and the Sexual Revolution, the British social morality has beenliberated since the1960s.As a result, the family as a social cell accordingly presents new situation inthe second half of the20thcentury Britain. The rapid development of lone-parentfamilies is an outstanding performance, in which lone-mother families grow morequickly. Moreover, the divorced and unmarried lone-parent families increasinglybecome the mainstream. Compared with the tow-parent families, the lone-parentfamilies face more severe problems such as low income, housing shortage,employment difficulties, mental stress and the social exclusion. In order to dealwith them, the British government has constantly improved social policies.Consequently, the living standards of these families have been improved greatly.However, it is very difficult to solve the mental distresses. Thus, the Britishsociety and government still need more efforts to make.