Blackburn 1

Jeremiah Blackburn
Professor Malcolm Campbell
English 1103
February 12, 2015
Topic Proposal: Effects of being raised by a single parent of the opposite sex
Introduction/Overview
For my Extended Inquiry Project I am choosing to write on the topic of children who
have been raised in a single parent household with the parent being of the opposite sex.
According to the 1991 census approximately one quarter of all households in America with
children under the age of eighteen are headed by single parents. The vast majority of those
households were headed by the mother due to the tender year doctrine which underscored the
importance of the mother-child bond and the dependency of the child, boy or girl.
This topic holds great importance and interest in my mind due to the fact that I was
raised by a single parent of the opposite sex. Through self-reflection and years of thinking of my

Commented [1]: Good use in connecting with your

topic

own experiences of being raised by solely my mother, I have and still am coming to conclusions
on why I am the way I am. The constant struggle between thinking with my emotions which I
inherently learned from being raised my mother and thinking more logically which is what my
natural instinct tells me to do.
By studying the effects of living in a single parent household with the parent being of the
opposite sex it will give me a greater lens to look through when evaluating my own life, and may
give me an understanding of the issue so that I may help others who have the same questions I
have now.

Commented [2]: maybe add an example on how you

think emotionally and logically
Commented [3]: and add a "by" after the word "raised"

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Initial Inquiry Question(s)

My main inquiry is in how many ways does being raised by the opposite sex affect the
child being raised? This initial question leads to many more sub-questions such as what are the
psychological and emotional differences between a son being raised by both the mother and
father and a son raised just by his mother and vice versa with daughters? Does a daughter have
greater affinity towards athletics if raised by her father or is it all situational depending upon the
manner in which the father treats the daughter? Does a son raised by his mother only seeing his
afather twice a month if at all become more effeminate or less aggressive as a male?

My Interest in this Topic

This topic holds great importance and interest in my mind due to the fact that I was raised
by a single parent of the opposite sex. Through self-reflection and years of thinking of my own
experiences of being raised by solely my mother, I have and still am coming to conclusions on
why I am the way I am. The constant struggle between thinking with my emotions which I
inherently learned from being raised my mother and thinking more logically which is what my
natural instinct tells me to do.
Through further research I hope to find results others have come to conclude from studies
on individuals such as me who have been raised by a single parent of the opposite sex. By
finding more information and other experiences of others who may have been raised in the same
situation but for one reason or another looked at it through a different lens I can draw more
conclusions of my own. Therefore, giving me a greater understanding of myself and giving me a
larger capacity to help others who will go through the same line of questioning themselves in the
future.

Commented [4]: I would re-word this, you said the

same thing twice. Which is okay however it just needs
to be reworded

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Next Steps
In order to further my search for information and research on my topic I will go to the
library to make use of the free tools presented to all students including the free advice and help
given by the research librarians if needed. If I have trouble narrowing down what question I
intend to write on extensively I will also use the guidance offered by Professor Campbell through
email first then if necessary by visiting him during his office hours.
Furthermore, I will also use articles that are given by way of jstor or other scholarly
databases such as: Google Scholar, UNCC Library resources, National Council of Family
Relations and etc. These databases should provide me with all the information needed to create a
detailed research project on my topic.

Commented [5]: add the .org or in capital letters so it

does not look like a mistake/ confuse the readers