Is it Possible for Single Parents to Successfully Raise Children? Multilevel Analysis of Attitudes Toward Single Parents in 22 Welfare States

Abstract

Drawing from the 2012 International Social Survey Programme’s data for 22 countries, this article analyses the variation in attitudes toward single parents and the determinants of those attitudes from a cross-national perspective. Findings indicated that the most positive attitudes toward single parents were in Nordic countries, except Finland. The attitudes were the most negative in Eastern European countries. At the individual level, women, younger people, people voting on the political left, Protestants, and people with low religiosity evidenced more approval than their counterparts. At the country level, attitudes were more positive toward single parents in countries where the proportion of single parents were high or where egalitarianism (regarding gender roles) was more evident.