The financial hardships of single mothers: A review of two decades

Abstract

Globally, the proportion of single-parent households is increasing, with women comprising the majority. Economic uncertainty has a particularly negative impact on the livelihood of single mothers. As a result, the purpose of this paper is to determine how economic difficulties affect single mothers and the coping strategies they use. The literature review process involved the retrieval of scholastic articles from a variety of databases and publications, including Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, and Google Scholar. The systematic search, which focuses specifically on single mothers in English and the fields of sociology and psychology, examines articles published in scholarly journals over the past two decades, from 2004 to 2023, and the reviews are derived from these articles. There is a correlation between the poverty of single mothers and a greater incidence of depressive symptoms, and the rate of psychological stress is significantly greater for single mothers than for mothers with partners due to financial crises. However, religion plays a crucial role in enhancing social functioning. Hence, it is critical to adopt a comprehensive strategy that incorporates modifications to policies, backing from the community, and a transformation of societal viewpoints.