The number of one-parent families has been growing in Japan. One-parent families occur for different reasons. Some people are unmarried and are raising a family on their own, or they are separated or widowed.Many of these people suffer from social prejudice. The purpose of this research was focused on what variables are affecting university students’ opinions of one-parent families and to find out what their image is of single, separated or widowed parents with children.There are a number of variables: society’s opinion of single-parents; opinions on people with children who remarry; opinions on gender roles; experience of taking classes on gender studies; one-parent families as reflected by the mass media; opinions on the students’ future with regard to marriage and having children and how these affected students’ opinions of single-parents and opinions on gender roles.There are four images of single parents with children. They are as follows: that children in one –parent families might be more independent; that the parents and children might be less dependent on each other; that there might be less communication between parents and children; that parents and children might be more co-dependent. In Japan, the most positive image is represented by the latter.
