Health of school beginners from single parent families

Background. The proportion of single parent families in Germany has been growing for decades. Nearly every fifth child lives in a single parent family and in nine out of ten cases with the mother. Children of single parent families show elevated risks regarding economical and health situations compared to dual parent families. Furthermore, developmental problems related to socio-emotional and cognitive well-being have been identified, which often extend until adulthood. An identification of children in need as early as possible seems to be desirable in order to provide preventive care offers. Material and methods. In cooperation with the public health department of the district of Rhein-Kreis Neuss, a compulsory medical and developmental screening for school beginners was used to compare health and developmental data from children of single parent families with those of dual parent families. Results. Preventive pediatric check-ups were utilized less by single parent families. Conspicuous diagnostic findings occurred more frequently in domains such as speech development, neuromotor function and behavior. Furthermore, single parent children showed increased media consumption and less participation in sports and swimming clubs. Discussion. The precarious situation of single parent families has an influence on the children. Therefore, urgent interventions in social and health policies are required. Both financial improvements and specialized preventive interventions are needed, e. g. in the context of proactive institutional organized help from social workers. Screening for special psychological and social demands during preventive pediatric or school beginner examinations would be helpful in order to be able to offer supportive preventive care programs like "wir2" (www.wir2bindungstraining.de)) at an early stage.