Mother-headed Families Research Articles

Rethinking the Concept of Families: A Sociological Study of Single Parenting in India

Single parent families are considered as a taboo in most of the societies especially when a family is a single parent family. Single parent families face tremendous challenges to sustain a family. They come across social, economic, psychological and several other challenges. When the challenges become grave and surrounds from all directions the achievements are overshadowed, this is what happens to a single parent. The hard work, success and achievements diminish behind the challenges posed by society and situations on a single parent. In this paper focus is put on the reasons behind increasing number of single parent families in India especially single mother headed families. The author in the paper brings forward the development of a new form of parenting in Indian society, using secondary research method and descriptive research design.

Inequality in the intergenerational economic mobility in single mother-headed households

ObjectiveThis study examines the underlying pathway of intergenerational economic mobility within single mother-headed families by considering the mediating role of young adult children’s educational attainment. MethodsThe National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 79 for Children and Young Adults (NLSY79 CY) were used to pair data from single mothers and their young adult children. A total of 3,139 single mother and young adult children pairs were chosen for analysis. Ordinary least squares and logistic regression analysis were employed to examine the mediation model. ResultsSingle mothers’ poverty status was negatively associated with both their young adult children’s educational attainment and income. The young adult children’s educational attainment was positively related to their income. Results showed a full mediation of the relationship between single mothers’ poverty status and their young adult children’s income via their young adult children’s educational attainment. DiscussionResearchers should pay more attention to single mother-headed households who may be at higher risk of the intergenerational transmission of inequity. A new framework is necessary to understand intergenerational economic mobility between single mothers and their young adult children. It is imperative to consider the role of educational attainment when examining intergenerational economic mobility between single mothers and their young adult children.

The Consumption, Income, and Well-Being of Single mother–headed Families 25 Years After Welfare Reform

We investigate how material well-being has changed over time for single mother headed families—the primary group affected by welfare reform and other policy changes of the 1990s. We focus on consumption as well as other indicators including components of consumption, measures of housing quality, and health insurance coverage. The results provide strong evidence that the material circumstances of single mothers improved in the decades following welfare reform. The consumption of the most disadvantaged single mother headed families—those with low consumption or low education—rose noticeably over time and at a faster rate than for those in comparison groups.

The Consumption, Income, and Well-Being of Single Mother Headed Families 25 Years after Welfare Reform

The Consumption, Income, and Well-Being of Single Mother Headed Families 25 Years after Welfare Reform

The Consumption, Income, and Well-Being of Single Mother Headed Families 25 Years After Welfare Reform

We investigate how material well-being has changed over time for single mother headed families—the primary group affected by welfare reform and other policy changes of the 1990s. We focus on consumption as well as other indicators including components of consumption, measures of housing quality, and health insurance coverage. The results provide strong evidence that the material circumstances of single mothers improved in the decades following welfare reform. The consumption of the most disadvantaged single mother headed families—those with low consumption or low education—rose noticeably over time and at a faster rate than for those in comparison groups. Institutional subscribers to the NBER working paper series, and residents of developing countries may download this paper without additional charge at www.nber.org.

Parenting Adolescents in an Increasingly Diverse World: Links to Adolescents’ Psychopathology

Studies in Europe and North America have shown a strong impact of a negative parenting style (such as psychological control, separation anxiety and a lack of support) on adolescents’ health. Western societies are increasingly becoming more ethnically diverse and we need more information about these links in the majority world. This overview focuses on the impact of cultural factors and parental rearing style on adolescent health including studies from all over the world. A universal finding was the strong impact of such negative parenting behaviour on depression, anxiety, and body complaints on boys and girls in diverse countries of the majority world. The impact was stronger for mothers’ parenting than for fathers’ and differed with respect to the gen-der of the child. Girls from step parent families and sons from mother-headed family were particularly sensitive to a negative parenting style. The universal findings call for joint prevention and interventions approaches.

Father-Absence in Anne Tyler’s Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant

Fathers occupy a serious role in adolescents’ development. The psychological effect of a father’s absence to his family deters development of offspring from early childhood, through adolescence and into adulthood. Thus, the present paper is concerned with one type of the disrupted families, the father-absent family. This plentiful and complicated theme, in relation to the psychological and behavioral development of children and adolescents, is central in Anne Tyler’s most legendary novel Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant (1982). Accordingly, the aim of this study is to probe the dynamics of the dysfunctional family in Tyler’s novel focusing on the psychological aftermaths of the sudden abandonment of the father and living in a mother-headed family on the development of the adolescent son, Cody. A contextual understanding of family-systems theory (FST), literature on sudden, unexpected events, father-absence and mother-headed families guided this study. Accordingly, the case study provides the opportunity to answer the following questions: To what extent father absence has any unique behavioral and psychological effects upon adolescents in this family and what are the psychological outcomes of the sudden, unexpected departure of a father on the solo mother.

Traumatic Children, Violent Single Mother Headed Family and Legal Aid

Instigation of trauma or distress begins from a quantity of grievance which could be physical or physiological. These two are intensely interrelated with each other. Since mental health controls over the body similarly abusing physically may cause cerebral illness today or later. There are many contention in the society which are apparently taken lightly though these weights heavy for the victims or sufferers. Single mothers are dreadfully defiled by the society as a result their children are also suffering tremendously in silent comportment. This paper has been articulated particularly for traumatized children of single mother headed family who are repeatedly being offended due to direct or indirect abuse by their family members or by the society. In addition, since scarcity of single mother is the key reason of abusive structure and environment of the family thus the aim of this paper is to illustrate protection of these peer of the children by ensuring a special law for single mothers in Bangladesh. Keywords: Single mother, trauma, violence, legislation, legal aid. DOI : 10.7176/JLPG/84-08 Publication date : April 30 th 2019

South Korean mothers’ parenting experiences in divorced mother-headed families

ABSTRACTThese multiple case studies show what in divorced mother-headed families of South Korea, mothers experience with regard to parenting their children aged 6 to 12 years. Data were collected from participant observations and semi-structured interviews with the participants, including mothers and their children in four divorced mother-headed families in South Korea, for a span of 11 months. Each case shows how divorced mothers’ parenting experiences are mobilized through their financial status and post-divorce coparenting patterns. The findings of this study are as follows. First, the mothers’ relationships with their children were formed by their current relationships with the ex-spouse. Secondly, mothers showed low expectations of children’s academic achievement and future career. Thirdly, mothers had ambivalent feelings towards their children due to financial difficulties and cumulative stress with the added strain of single parenting. Financial stability as well as cooperative parenting with ex-spouses after divorce helped lighten the mothers’ burdens of raising children in a divorced family and thereby reduced psychological vulnerability. Fourthly, mothers’ different communication styles differently played out in their relationships with children, which further affected interactive occasions in children’s in-home experiences.

Parental monitoring, the parent-child relationship and children's academic engagement in mother-headed single-parent families

This longitudinal study of 110 mother-headed single-parent families examined the influence of parental monitoring, parent-child attachment and observed parent-child relationship quality on the child's academic engagement. Special interest resided in how parent-child relationship quality moderated the relationship between parental monitoring and academic engagement. Analyses indicated that observed relationship quality and parental monitoring predicted children's academic engagement. However, this relationship was not uniform. Parental influences on academic engagement are most prominent in mother-headed families with a female child. Family income also matters. These preliminary findings have import for school-family research, policy, and practice.

Adolescents Conceived through Donor Insemination in Mother-Headed Families: AQualitative Study of Motivations and Experiences of Contacting and Meeting Same-donor Offspring.

This study interviewed adolescents conceived using sperm donation to examine their experiences of contacting and meeting ‘same‐donor offspring’ (i.e. donor‐conceived offspring raised in different families who share the same donor), their motivations for this contact, and how they make meaning of these relationships. This in‐depth qualitative study involved semi‐structured interviews with 23 young people aged 12–19 years (mean = 14 years). Interviewees were motivated by curiosity about their biological relations and by wanting to extend their family. Contact with same‐donor offspring was described as being either normal/neutral or as a unique experience that was integrated into their identity. This study highlights the importance of contact between same donor offspring, particularly during adolescence, a developmental stage associated with identity formation. The findings have important policy implications as they suggest that donor‐conceived individuals may benefit from contact with others conceived using the same donor prior to the age of 18 years.

‘All about Eve’: Mothers, Masculinities and the 2011 UK Riots

The riots that erupted in English cities in August 2011 were provoked by a complex mix of socio-economic factors. Sidelining structural explanations for the civil disorder, conservative commentators argued that dysfunctional families had caused the riots. Reinforcing traditional connections between criminality, the family and welfare, conservatives contended that the absence of fathers in lone mother-headed families explained both the dynamics of the civil disorder and the aggressive behaviour of some of the young men involved. Such claims located both the causes of the riots and solutions to expressions of violent masculinities in the familial sphere. Employing the framework of critical studies of men and masculinities this article interrogates these narratives and maps their depoliticising effects. Additionally, it exposes how the effects of a range of social problems were projected on to poor, lone mothers, reinforcing a range of regulatory narratives and practices that target this social group.

Life stress, maternal optimism, and adolescent competence in single mother, African American families.

Although research demonstrates many negative family outcomes associated with single-parent households, little is known about processes that lead to positive outcomes for these families. Using 3 waves of longitudinal data, we examined how maternal dispositional optimism and life stressors are associated with parenting and child outcomes in 394 single mother African American families. Confirming prior research, we found that mothers' childhood adversities, current economic pressure, and internalizing problems were associated with lower levels of maternal warmth and child management and with lower child school competence. Extending previous studies, we found that maternal optimism was a positive resource, predicting lower levels of maternal internalizing symptoms and higher levels of effective child management and moderating the impact of economic stress on maternal internalizing problems. These findings highlight the need for further investigation of processes and resources that promote positive outcomes for African American mother-headed families and single mother families in general.

Child Care Preferences of Foreign-Born Immigrant Groups in California

This study using California Health Interview Survey 2005 Child Survey data presents disparities among three major immigrant groups' child care preferences. Asian immigrant families used a grandparent or a relative care and a preschool more than Latino and European immigrant families. Latino immigrant families used child care from a nonfamily member in the provider's home and Head Start more than Asian and European immigrant families. To understand the predictors of time spent in child care by California's immigrant children, a multiple regression analysis was run. Being a child from an Asian immigrant family, child's age, being a girl, and being a child from a single mother-headed immigrant family emerged as predictors explaining 17.2% of the variance in the amount of time spent in child care. Variations in child care usage among immigrant groups warrant concern and suggest a need for culturally sensitive child care programs for immigrants.

Children raised in mother-headed families from infancy: a follow-up of children of lesbian and single heterosexual mothers, at early adulthood

The present investigation constituted the third phase of a longitudinal study of the quality of parent-child relationships and the psychological adjustment of children in female-headed families with no father present from infancy. In this study, 27 families headed by single heterosexual mothers (solo mothers) and 20 families headed by lesbian mothers were compared with 36 two-parent heterosexual families as the child entered adulthood. Data were obtained from mothers and their young adult children by standardized interviews and questionnaires. The female-headed families were found to be similar to the traditional families on a range of measures of quality of parenting and young adults' psychological adjustment. Where differences were identified between family types, these pointed to more positive family relationships and greater psychological wellbeing among young adults raised in female-headed homes. The findings of this study show that children raised by solo heterosexual mothers or lesbian mothers from infancy continue to function well as they enter adulthood. The findings are of relevance to the UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology (2008) Act.

Changes in the Consumption, Income, and Well-Being of Single Mother Headed Families

We investigate well-being changes for single mother headed families targeted by recent tax and welfare reforms. Measured income changes sharply differ from consumption changes. We examine disaggregated consumption, time use, and health insurance coverage. Increases in housing and transportation spending mostly account for the rise in consumption in the bottom quintiles. We find modest improvement in housing quality, but the evidence is less strong at the very bottom. The consumption of nonmarket time for those in the bottom half of the consumption distribution falls sharply, indicating a loss in utility for those families if nonmarket time is valued above $3 per hour. (JEL D12, I31, I32, J12, J16)

Child Care by Poor Single Mothers: Study of Mother-Headed Families in India

Child rearing, single handedly by mothers alone when the spouse is absent due to death, desertion/divorce has been a real challenge. It is further arduous for the mothers belonging to the poverty stricken families. These mothers are handicapped to provide the basic needs. Apart from that, they face many problems in bringing up their children such as childcare arrangements during their absence from home, the time spent with their children, problems with their schooling and behavioral problems exhibited by their children. The present article describes the problems being faced by these poor single mothers.

Coparent Support and Conflict in African American Single Mother-Headed Families: Associations With Maternal and Child Psychosocial Functioning

This longitudinal investigation examined main and interactive effects of coparent support and conflict on mother and child adjustment in 248 low-income, African American, single mother-headed families. The findings indicated that coparent conflict was a more robust predictor of mother and child maladjustment both cross-sectionally and longitudinally than was coparent support. Moreover, findings revealed that coparent conflict and support interacted to predict one parenting behavior, monitoring, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Coparent relationships characterized by high levels of support and low levels of conflict were associated with the highest levels of parental monitoring behavior, whereas coparent relationships characterized by low levels of support and high levels of conflict were associated with the lowest levels of monitoring. The findings highlight the importance of examining both positive and negative aspects of coparent relationships in this at-risk, but understudied, group.

Longitudinal Links between Contextual Risks, Parenting, and Youth Outcomes in Rural African American Families

Longitudinal links between contextual risks, parenting processes, youth self-regulation, academic achievement, and conduct problems were explored in young adolescents. Data were gathered across 4years from 139 rural, African American, single mother-headed families with young adolescents (mean age =11 years at recruitment). Structural equation modeling indicated that accumulated risks were associated with lower levels of the competence-promoting parenting practices that were linked indirectly with youth outcomes via youth self-regulation. A combination of parent and youth variables appears to foster a link that encourages academic achievement and discourages conduct problems during early adolescence. Parental involvement, support, and vigilance and youths' development of self-regulation appear to enhance development among rural African American youths growing up in challenging circumstances. When Wave 1 academic achievement and conduct problems were controlled, all paths in the model remained significant thereby indicating that the hypothesized path-ways accounted for change in the outcome variables across 3 years.

Early Problem Behavior Among Children From Low-Income, Mother-Headed Families: A Multiple Risk Perspective

Examined proximal and contextual factors most strongly related to externalizing behavior among young children growing up in low-income, mother-headed families. Participants were 50 low-income single mothers and their preschool-age children who were visited twice in the home setting. Measures of proximal (low levels of supportive parenting, high levels of punitive disciplinary practices, low levels of maternal emotional well-being) and contextual (low maternal support, high levels of family stress) risk were assessed in relation to maternal reports of child externalizing behavior and an index of negative child behavior during a clean-up task. Child defiance during the clean-up task was highly associated with punitive maternal control in the same situation but had no other direct correlates. However, multiple risk factors representing both proximal and contextual variables were associated with variations in children's behavior problem scores. Mothers of children with high behavior problem scores reported lower feelings of self-efficacy in handling child care and emotional stressors, more frequent use of punitive child disciplinary practices, and lower feelings of satisfaction with the quality of their supportive resources than others. Maternal self-evaluations of coping efficacy mediated the relation between perceived support and child behavior problems, suggesting that constructs of personal control are important to represent in future studies of highly stressed parents.