







































 Humanities and Social Science Research; Vol. 8, No. 1; 2025 

ISSN 2576-3024   E-ISSN 2576-3032 

https://doi.org/10.30560/hssr.v8n1p110 

 110 Published by IDEAS SPREAD 

 

Current Situation and Countermeasures of Education Support for 

Junior High School Students in Single-Parent Families 

WULIJIJIRIGELA1 

1 Mengyiling Art School, China 

Correspondence: WULIJIJIRIGELA, Mengyiling Art School, Hohhot, 010010, China. E-mail: jirigela88

gmail.com 

 

Received: January 22, 2025; Accepted: February 23, 2025; Published: February 26, 2025 

 

Abstract 

This paper aims to analyze the current situation of education support for junior high school students in single-

parent families in China, discuss the existing problems, and put forward corresponding countermeasures and 

suggestions. First of all, the current situation of education support for junior high school students in single-parent 

families is analyzed from the aspects of family education resource allocation, school education support, social care 

and policy support. Secondly, through the investigation and analysis, it is found that the junior high school students 

in single-parent families have obvious problems in the parent-child relationship, psychological status, academic 

performance and other aspects. In view of these problems, this paper proposes the following countermeasures: 

improve the policy system of family education support, increase the investment of family education, and carry out 

the family education training and guidance activities; optimize the school education support system, establish and 

improve the psychological counseling and counseling mechanism, enrich the diversified education activities; 

strengthen social care and policy support, encourage social organizations to participate, and the government to 

purchase services. Through the joint efforts of family, school and society, we will create a good growth 

environment for junior high school students from single-parent families and promote their all-round development. 

Keywords: single-parent family, junior high school students, education support, current situation analysis, 

countermeasures and suggestions 

1. Introduction 

With the development of society and the change of family structure, the proportion of single-parent families in 

China is increasing year by year. Among them, the number of junior high school students from single-parent 

families has increased significantly. In this context, the education problems faced by junior high school students 

in single-parent families are more and more widely concerned by the society. Junior high school students in single-

parent families often suffer from the imbalance of family education resources, lack of school support, significant 

psychological problems and academic challenges. If not solved in time, it will profoundly hinder their healthy 

growth and future prospects. This study aims to analyze and explore the current situation and existing problems of 

educational support for junior high school students in single-parent families, and put forward corresponding 

countermeasures and suggestions to provide reference for policy makers and educators. Through the in-depth study 

of the education problems of junior high school students in single-parent families, it will help us to better 

understand the educational needs of this special group, and provide a more fair and loving environment for their 

growth, so as to promote their all-round development. 

2. Current Situation of Education Support for Junior High School Students in Single-Parent Families 

2.1 Uneven Distribution of Family Education Resources 

The uneven distribution of family education resources is one of the educational problems faced by junior high 

school students in single-parent families. In China, the lack of family education resources is widespread in single-

parent families. The primary problem is the economic pressure, single-parent families often cannot afford their 

children's education expenses, resulting in the lack of family education resources. Secondly, the lack of educational 

knowledge and methods makes it difficult for single parents to effectively guide their children's studies, thus 

affecting the quality of education. Moreover, children from single-parent families also experience inequality in 

their access to educational resources, such as high school fees and after-school tutoring fees, which often make 

them hesitate. 



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In order to improve this situation, the government and the society should increase the educational support for 

single-parent families. The government needs to improve policies to ensure the equitable education rights of 

children of single-parent families, including tuition cuts and grants. At the same time, the government and society 

should strengthen the education and training of parents in single-parent families to improve their educational ability 

and help their children's academic growth. In addition, volunteers and social organizations should be encouraged 

to actively provide more diversified educational assistance to children from single-parent families. 

2.2 Insufficient School Education Support 

School education plays an important role in the education of junior high school students in single-parent families, 

but there is a shortage of school education support. First of all, the connection between family education and school 

education is not close enough. Because single-parent parents may be busy making a living, it is difficult to maintain 

effective communication with school teachers, resulting in the school is unable to timely understand the students' 

family situation, and thus unable to provide targeted educational support [1]. Secondly, the distribution of school 

education resources is uneven. In some schools, students from single-parent families may enjoy less educational 

resources, such as extracurricular activities, tutoring courses, etc. This puts them at a disadvantage in their 

academic and comprehensive quality, further aggravating the educational inequality. In addition, teachers' 

professional quality needs to be improved. Students from single-parent families may be faced with psychological 

and behavioral problems, which puts forward higher requirements for teachers' education and teaching ability and 

psychological counseling ability. However, at present, some teachers lack professional knowledge and experience 

when dealing with students from single-parent families, which makes it difficult to help these students effectively. 

In response of these problems, schools need to strengthen the connection between home and school, improve the 

file system of students from single-parent families, accurately grasp their family backgrounds and needs, and 

provide customized educational support. At the same time, we will ensure that educational resources are equally 

distributed and that students from single-parent families enjoy the same treatment. In addition, it is crucial to 

strengthen teacher training and improve their ability to deal with the problems of students from single-parent 

families. Through these measures, school education support will be optimized to better help junior high school 

students from single-parent families grow up healthily [2]. 

2.3 Status Quo of Social Care and Policy Support 

Social care and policy support are crucial to the growth of junior high school students from single-parent families. 

At present, China has made some progress in this field. 

Government attaches great importance to the single-parent family junior high school education problem, not only 

formulated a series of policy documents, such as "opinions on strengthening the protection of minors", also 

introduced special funding policy for single-parent families, such as single-parent family children in college can 

obtain state subsidies, and can apply for low, rent breaks, etc., to ensure that the family minors get the necessary 

care and education security. These policy documents define the responsibilities and tasks of governments, 

departments and social organizations at all levels in the education of junior high school students from single-parent 

families, providing policy guarantee for junior high school students from single-parent families. Secondly, the care 

from all walks of life for single-parent family junior high school students is also strengthening. Many public 

welfare organizations, enterprises and institutions and caring people actively participate in the activities of caring 

for junior high school students in single-parent families, helping junior middle school students in single-parent 

families to solve their life, learning and psychological difficulties through financial support, psychological 

counseling, education and training [3]. However, although we have made initial achievements in caring for junior 

high school students from single-parent families, we still face many problems to be solved in the construction of 

social care system and policy support. For example, the relevant policy system is not perfect, and the policies in 

some regions; the social care force is scattered, and lacks effective organization and coordination; and the channels 

and resources for junior high school students from single parent families to receive education are still limited. 

In order to better care for and support the junior high school students in single-parent families, it is necessary to 

further improve the policy system and improve the policy implementation. At the same time, strengthen the 

construction and synergy of social organizations, to create a strong atmosphere for the whole society to participate 

in and care for junior high school students in single-parent families. In addition, it is necessary to actively expand 

the channels and resources for junior high school students from single-parent families to receive education, so as 

to ensure that they can enjoy educational opportunities equally and fairly and achieve all-round development. Only 

in this way can we really create a good environment for the growth of junior high school students in single-parent 

families. 

 



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3. Analysis of Education Problems for Junior High School Students in Single-Parent Families 

3.1 Parent-Child Relationship Tension 

In single-parent families, the parent-child relationship often becomes strained due to changes in family structure. 

This tension is mainly manifested in the following aspects of [4]. 

First of all, due to the absence of one parent, the child may miss and rely on the other party, thus becoming resistant 

to the custodial parents. This emotion is easy to cause conflicts between children and custodial parents, thus 

weakening the quality and effectiveness of family education. Moreover, parents in single-parent families need to 

shoulder greater family responsibilities and pressure, which often leads them to the extreme in educating their 

children, either too strict or too doting. Strict education is easy to make children fear and depression, while doting 

makes children lack of self-discipline and sense of responsibility. Finally, children from single-parent families are 

more likely to suffer from discrimination and misunderstanding by their peers in school. This experience makes 

them feel lonely and helpless, and then have a strong resistance to school and family. This emotion may further 

affect their relationship with their parents. 

The tension of parent-child relationship in single-parent families is a complex problem, which needs to be analyzed 

and solved from multiple angles. This requires us to strengthen the education support for single-parent families, 

including providing psychological counseling services, conducting family education and training, and encouraging 

the participation of social organizations. Through these measures, we can help children from single-parent families 

to better adapt to family and school life, thus promoting their healthy growth [5]. 

3.2 Outstanding Psychological Problems 

In the process of growth, single-parent students often face more psychological pressure and challenges due to the 

change of family structure. Due to the lack of father's care and guidance, some junior high school students in 

single-parent families may have emotional dependence, parent-child tension and other problems. In addition, social 

prejudice and discrimination against single-parent families may also lead to negative emotions such as low self-

esteem and anxiety among these students. On the other hand, the psychological problems of junior high school 

students in single-parent families are often ignored. In the heavy task of school education, teachers often 

unconsciously focus on students' academic performance, but quietly ignore those mental health problems hidden 

behind the report card and urgently need to be cared for. In this case, these students may feel lonely, helpless, and 

even develop serious psychological problems such as depression. 

In order to solve the psychological problems of junior high school students in single-parent families, we need to 

start from many aspects. The first thing, parents should pay close attention to the children's psychological 

fluctuations, do their best to create a haven full of love and warmth for their children, so that they can thrive in 

care. Moreover, the school should start to build a set of perfect psychological counseling and counseling system, 

regularly hold mental health education activities, like a beacon, illuminate the inner confusion of these students, 

guide them to establish a positive self-cognition, forge a tough psychological defense line. In addition, the society 

should also eliminate prejudice and discrimination against single-parent families and provide more care and 

support for these students [6]. 

3.3 Academic Difficulties 

Junior high school students from single-parent families face many difficulties in their studies. First, because of the 

unstable family environment and the lack of parental or maternal educational guidance, these students may lack 

sufficient attention and guidance academically. Secondly, children from single-parent families often suffer dual 

pressure from family and society, which may lead to insufficient motivation and decline in grades. In addition, 

children from single-parent families may face financial difficulties and lack access to quality educational resources, 

such as after-school remedial classes or quality educational books, which also affect their academic performance. 

In addition, junior middle school students from single-parent families may face social difficulties, which may 

affect their learning. They may be discriminated against or excluded in school because of their family background, 

making them unable to fully participate in classroom discussions and social activities. This feeling of loneliness 

and rejection may further affect their learning motivation and academic achievement [7]. 

For these issues, we have the following suggestions. First, schools should establish a more complete tutoring 

mechanism to provide additional academic support for students from single-parent families. This includes offering 

free tutoring courses, as well as organizing dedicated academic mentoring activities. Secondly, schools should 

establish a psychological counseling mechanism to help students from single-parent families cope with 

psychological pressure and improve their learning motivation and self-confidence. In addition, all sectors of 

society should also pay attention to the education of children from single-parent families and provide them with 



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more educational resources and economic support, such as educational public welfare activities organized by social 

organizations or scholarship programs provided by the government. 

4. Countermeasures and Suggestions 

4.1 Improve the Policies to Support Family Education 

4.1.1 Increase the Investment for Family Education 

The increase of family education investment, combined with the support of school and society, is one of the 

important means to improve the education situation of junior middle school students from single-parent families. 

In China, the education of junior high school students in single-parent families has attracted wide attention from 

all walks of life. In order to improve this situation, the government and society should increase the investment in 

family education funds to ensure that junior high school students in single-parent families can obtain the same 

educational resources as other students [8]. 

First of all, the government should incorporate family education funds into the fiscal budget to ensure that the 

funds are used exclusively. The government should set up an education fund for single-parent families to support 

the education of junior high school students in single-parent families, and encourage enterprises, social 

organizations and individuals to donate actively, so as to jointly help the education and growth of junior high 

school students in single-parent families. Second, the increased funding for family education should be focused 

on improving the quality of education, such as raising teachers&#039; salaries to attract and retain talent, 

improving school facilities to create a good learning environment, and developing special education programs for 

junior high school students from single-parent families to meet their unique needs. In addition, the government 

should also strengthen the supervision and management of the use of family education funds to ensure the 

efficiency of the use of funds. The government should establish a strict supervision mechanism for the use of 

family education funds, carry out regular audit and evaluation, and ensure the precise allocation of funds to 

maximize the benefits. 

In short, increasing the investment in family education is an important measure to improve the education situation 

of junior high school students in single-parent families. The government and society should share the responsibility 

to ensure that junior high school students from single-parent families can get a good education and lay a solid 

foundation for their life development. In China, the education of junior high school students in single-parent 

families has attracted wide attention from all walks of life. According to the latest survey report, children from 

single-parent families show withdrawn, introverted and capricious weaknesses in personality characteristics, 

psychology and emotions, and the education level of guardians is generally low, leading to these children facing 

many challenges in education. In order to improve this situation, the government and society should increase the 

investment in family education funds to ensure that junior high school students in single-parent families can obtain 

the same educational resources as other students [9]. 

4.1.2 Carry out Family Education, Training and Guidance 

Family education training and guidance are an important means to improve the education quality of junior high 

school students in single-parent families. In order to enable the parents of single-parent families to better perform 

the duties of family education, the government and relevant departments should actively carry out family education 

training and guidance work [10]. 

First of all, the government needs to increase financial support for family education training and guidance to ensure 

that family education has sufficient resources. Family education fund can be used for family education training, 

family education guidance and family education research and other aspects, so as to provide a strong economic 

guarantee for family education. Secondly, the government should strengthen the family education training and 

guide the construction of teachers. A group of experts and teachers who are familiar with family education theory 

and have rich practical experience are selected to form a family education training and guidance team to provide 

professional training and guidance for parents of single-parent families. 

Moreover, family education training and guidance should take diversified forms to meet the actual needs of all 

kinds of families. Family education lectures, family education seminars, family education training courses and 

other activities can be held to provide guidance and targeted training for parents. At the same time, the network 

platform can also be used to carry out online family education training and guidance, so that parents can learn 

flexibly study according to their own schedule. Family education training and guidance should fully cover key 

areas such as parent-child communication, family education strategies and mental health. Through training and 

guidance, we can help parents of single-parent families to improve their family education ability, establish a good 

family education environment, and lay a foundation for the healthy growth of their children [11]. Finally, the 



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government, schools and the society should pay common attention to the education problems of junior high school 

students in single-parent families, and form a good atmosphere of collaborative education. With the help of family 

education training and guidance, the educational quality of parents should be improved, and the educational quality 

of junior middle school students in single-parent families should be enhanced to ensure their healthy growth in a 

fair and relaxed environment. 

4.2 Optimization of the School Education Support System 

4.2.1 Establish a Psychological Counseling and Counseling Mechanism 

In the optimization of school education support system, it is an important measure to establish psychological 

counseling and counseling mechanism. Due to the particularity of the family environment, junior high school 

students in single-parent families often face greater psychological pressure and need to get more care and support. 

Therefore, schools should establish and improve the psychological counseling and counseling mechanism to meet 

the psychological needs of this group. 

Schools should set up professional psychological counseling rooms to provide psychological counseling services 

for junior high school students from single-parent families. Psychological counseling room should be equipped 

with professional qualified psychological counselors, they can listen to students' inner troubles, provide 

psychological counseling, help them adjust their mentality, and face the challenges in life [12]. Secondly, schools 

should regularly carry out mental health education activities to improve students' psychological quality. By holding 

mental health lectures, psychological salons, psychological film appreciation and other activities, let the students 

understand the importance of mental health, learn the method of self-adjustment, and enhance the psychological 

resilience. In addition, schools should also establish a complete set of psychological crisis intervention mechanism. 

For the students with psychological problems, the school should find timely and intervene in time to avoid the 

deterioration of psychological problems. For students with severe psychological disorders, the school should 

communicate with their families and seek professional psychotherapy together to ensure their physical and mental 

health. 

4.2.2 Carry out Diversified Educational Activities 

In the education support of junior high school students in single-parent families, the optimization of school 

education support system is an important aspect. The implementation of diversified education activities aims to 

help junior high school students from single-parent families overcome the difficulties of growth, comprehensively 

improve their comprehensive quality, and lay a solid foundation for their future road. 

First of all, schools can carry out mental health education according to the characteristics of junior high school 

students in single-parent families. With the help of psychological counseling and counseling, to resolve their inner 

contradictions and confusion, and then improve their psychological quality, enhance their psychological resilience. 

At the same time, mental health lectures and activities can also be held to improve the understanding of parents 

and students, and form a good atmosphere of paying attention to the mental health of junior high school students 

in single-parent families [13]. Secondly, schools should pay attention to the academic guidance of junior high 

school students in single-parent families. Due to the influence of the family environment, they may have some 

difficulties in learning. Schools can reasonably arrange tutoring courses to solve their problems encountered in the 

learning process and improve their academic performance. At the same time, we advocate excellent students and 

junior high school students in single-parent families to help, learn together and make progress hand in hand. In 

addition, the school should actively carry out a variety of extracurricular activities, so that junior high school 

students from single-parent families can fully show their talents and enhance teamwork and social skills. We can 

organize all kinds of interest groups, hold sports and sports competitions, speech competitions and other activities, 

to provide a platform for them to show themselves. At the same time, encourage them to participate in social 

practice activities, understand the society, exercise their ability. In addition, schools should strengthen the 

communication mechanism with parents, hold regular parents' meetings, deeply understand the family background 

of junior high school students in single-parent families, and provide professional family education guidance for 

parents, so as to build a harmonious environment for home-school co-education. At the same time, the school can 

also actively cooperate with all sectors of society to strive for social resources, and provide more development 

opportunities and space for junior high school students in single-parent families [14]. 

4.3 Social Care and Policy Support were Strengthened 

4.3.1 Participation of Social Organizations 

Social organizations play a vital role in supporting the education of junior high school students in single-parent 

families. First of all, social organizations can provide learning, life and psychological assistance to junior high 



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school students from single-parent families by carrying out various public welfare activities. For example, some 

social organizations regularly recruit volunteers to provide one-to-one counseling for students from single-parent 

families to help them improve their studies, while some social organizations also hold psychological counseling 

activities to effectively relieve the psychological pressure of students from single-parent families. Secondly, social 

organizations can also improve the educational level and parenting ability of parents from single-parent families 

through training and lectures. For example, some social organizations invite education experts to provide parenting 

training for single-parent parents to understand how to better guide and cultivate their children, and some social 

organizations hold parent-child activities to promote communication and interaction between single-parent 

families and children [15]. In addition, social organizations can also raise the attention of the education of junior 

high school students from single-parent families through advocacy and publicity. For example, some social 

organizations actively use media and online platforms to extensively publish related reports and in-depth articles 

on the education of junior high school students from single-parent families, which has successfully attracted wide 

attention from the public. In addition, they also organized signature activities or launched peaceful protests, 

strongly calling on the government and all sectors of society to face up to and focus on solving the educational 

difficulties of junior high school students from single-parent families. 

4.3.2 Government Purchase of Services 

Government purchase of services refers to the government's purchase of public services from social forces through 

public bidding, competitive negotiation and other procurement methods. This approach can effectively integrate 

social resources, improve the quality and efficiency of services, and reduce the pressure on the government to 

provide services directly. 

Government purchase of services plays a positive role in supporting the education of junior middle school students 

from single-parent families. First of all, the government purchase of services can spread the responsibility of 

educational support to social forces such as social organizations and volunteers to form a diversified educational 

support system. These social forces are often more targeted and flexible enough to better meet the educational 

needs of junior high school students from single-parent families. Secondly, the government purchase of services 

can promote the balanced distribution of educational resources. By purchasing services, the government can 

introduce high-quality education resources into the education of junior high school students in single-parent 

families to make up for the uneven distribution of family education resources. In addition, the government purchase 

of services can provide more educational options. By purchasing services, the government can provide diversified 

educational services for junior high school students from single-parent families, such as psychological counseling, 

career planning, interest training, etc., so as to help them achieve better results in their academic studies and life 

development. Government purchase of services has shown significant advantages in supporting the education of 

junior high school students from single-parent families. But to ensure the effective implementation of this policy, 

a sound regulatory system must be built to ensure the quality and efficiency of services. In addition, the content 

and standards of government purchase of services should also be set scientifically to ensure the accuracy and 

effectiveness of services. 

5. Conclusion 

In today's society, junior high school students in single-parent families are faced with many educational problems, 

such as uneven distribution of family education resources, insufficient support for school education and 

psychological problems. In order to improve this situation, our government, schools and society have made some 

efforts, but there are still many areas that need to be improved. 

The improvement of family education support policy is the key to solve the education problem of junior high 

school students in single-parent families. The government should increase the investment in family education to 

carry out family education training and guidance, help parents from single-parent families improve their 

educational ability, and create a better environment for their children to grow up. At the same time, the government 

should also encourage and support social organizations to participate in family education work, and provide 

professional family education guidance and support by purchasing services. 

As the main position of education, schools should optimize the education support system, pay attention to the 

psychological needs of students from single-parent families, establish psychological counseling and counseling 

mechanism, and provide them with timely psychological intervention and care. In addition, schools should also 

carry out diversified educational activities to encourage students from single-parent families to actively participate, 

improve their self-confidence and social skills, and help them better integrate into campus life. 

Social care and policy support are also important ways to improve the education status of junior high school 

students in single-parent families. The government, schools and all sectors of society should join hands to pay 



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attention to the growth of junior high school students in single-parent families, and give them practical help through 

organizing public welfare activities, granting grants and other ways. Through the joint efforts of the whole society, 

to create a caring and warm growing environment for junior high school students in single-parent families. 

Single-parent family education support status although there are some problems, but through the policy 

improvement, school optimization education support system and social care and policy support to strengthen 

efforts, we have reason to believe that this situation will be gradually improved, for the healthy growth of junior 

high school students provide powerful guarantee. 

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