54 J. Asian Dev. Stud, Vol. 2, Issue 1, (March 2013). ISSN 2304-375X Single Parenting and its Impact on Emotional and Academic Development of Adolescents Sarwat Sultan 1 and Frasat Kanwal 2 Abstract This longitudinal study is best to understand the adolescents’ emotional and academic development when are raised by one parent. Mothers and fathers have different parenting strengths and offer different emotional and academic resources. A sample of 260 adolescents (evenly taken from mother/father-led homes) across 7 years was tested every two years since the adolescents were age 13. A booklet containing 5 scales to measure Perception of Parents, Emotional Intelligence, Mental Well-Being, Current Thoughts, and Peer Relations was administered to adolescents at age 13, 15, 17, and 19. Over the years, it was found that the emotional health and academic success was differently developed in both samples from mother-led homes and father-led homes. Contradictory to assumption that mothers are usually considered more sensitive and nurturer parent equipped emotionally to handle raising children alone, present research suggested that adolescents living with their fathers had greater emotional intelligence, mental well-being, self-esteem, and academic achievement than adolescents living with their mothers because single fathers tend to have higher incomes so could have access to better housing, schools, and child-care options. In addition, adolescents in mother-led homes generally have stronger peer relationship than adolescents in father-led homes. Because it was found that mothers when are perceived more involved, and provide greater warmth, can develop the social skills in adolescents. Fathers, however, contributed to their adolescents’ emotional development by providing autonomy. The study is helpful for teachers to comprehend the problems of students and to redesign schools to meet needs of students raised in floundering families. Key words: Single Parenting, Emotional Intelligence, Well being, Self-esteem, Academic Achievement Introduction A family headed by one adult, either a mother or a father is a mark able question for researchers. Particularly, it is significant for pedagogs to understand that several students in their classrooms belong to single-parent ménage as a result of separation or divorce. It is to a greater extent arrogated that the findings from this study will be helpful in understanding the barriers that impede a child's emotional and academic development when raised by a single parent (Hilton & Desrochers, 2002). It has been usually assumed that mothers parenting is always more fostering, flourishing, and nurturing. Mothers are considered as more sensitive parent and are viewed as more suitable for the fosterage and upbringing of children. Nevertheless some researches (Farrell, 2001) presented the contradictory notions that single fathers can also promote positive aspects of personality in their children. The fact that the separated families are on the increase in the world, call in various questions. For instance, a child who is under single parenting how will be emotionally stable and 1 Chairperson, Department of Applied Psychology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan 2 Department of Applied Psychology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan