Single Mother Status Research Articles

The Impact of Welfare Benefits on the Conjugal Status of Single Mothers in Canada: Estimates from a Hazard Model

This paper focuses on the determinants of the likelihood of a remarriage (marriage) for female heads with children. Using retrospective data from Statistics Canada's 1990 Family History Survey, the study attempts to identify which socioeconomic characteristics of single mothers are conducive to conjugal union formation (formal or informal). Particular attention is given to external time-varying economic covariates, so as to disentangle the impact they exert on single mothers' propensity to start living with a (new) partner. The empirical analysis is carried out using a proportional hazards model which permits the estimation of the effects of various covariates on the hazard of exiting single parenthood. The most striking result is the strong effect of provincial welfare benefits on conjugal union formation. However, the analysis reveals that single motherhood, far from representing a final state, remains a transitory situation for a majority of women.

Mother, Child, and Family Factors Related to Employment of Single Mothers With LBW Preschoolers

The purpose of this study was to identify maternal, child, and family factors related to the employment status and employment history of single mothers of low-birth-weight (LBW) and full-term preschoolers. A sample of 121 female-headed, single-parent families with 3-, 4-, and 5- year-old LBW and full-term children was recruited through admission records to three Level III neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) and birth records of two normal newborn nurseries. Results show that the birth of an LBW infant was not related to employment status, number of hours employed per week, or employment history for single mothers. Employed mothers had significantly more education and more positive attitudes toward employment. Controlling for other factors, never being married, and having more children, more federal income, and less positive employment attitudes were predictive of nonemployment. Both employed and nonemployed women expressed preference for employment.

Single Mothers in Various Living Arrangements:

Abstract.The economic status of single mothers with dependent children has recently been shown to vary greatly according to their living arrangements, a finding with implications for poverty policy and welfare reform. The economic and time resources of single mothers in various living arrangements were compared using the 1987 National Survey of Families and Households, Cohabitation is significantly related to increased income adequacy and lesser receipt of public assistance for white mothers, but not for black mothers. Living in the parent's home is significantly related to a reduced likelihood of receipt of public assistance for both white and black single mothers, but living with parents is related to lesser time demands in household work for only white single mothers. Differences in resource levels may be related to the finding that, among those living in the parental household, a large majority of white mothers live with two parents, while a majority of black mothers live with one parent.

Maternal smoking among blacks and whites

Data from a random sample of mothers and children participating in a study on the sequelae of low birth weight were used to examine potential risk factors of maternal smoking. It was hypothesized that maternal smoking will vary by race, age, education, psychiatric status, employment status, single mother status and indicators of the burden of child care. Low education, young age, current psychiatric disorder and having a child with a psychiatric disorder or a physical illness predicted maternal smoking. The association of maternal smoking with other factors, specifically maternal employment and indicators of the burden of child care, varied between blacks and whites. Single mother status and having pre-school children in the home was associated with a higher odds ratio for smoking in whites, but not in blacks. On the other hand, maternal employment was associated with a lower odds ratio for smoking in blacks only. This study identified common and race-specific predictors of smoking in white and black mothers. It emphasizes the need for a greater understanding of the social context of maternal smoking in different ethnic populations, and highlights the importance of the burden of child care as a factor in maternal smoking.

Individually administered videotape parent training: ?who benefits??

One-hundred families with young conduct problem children were randomly assigned to either an individually administered videotape modeling parent training program (IVM) or to a waiting-list control group. Results immediately posttreatment indicated that treated parents reported using significantly less physical discipline and perceived improvements in their children's behavior problems compared with untreated control parents. During home observations, treated parents exhibited significant changes in at least two of the four behavior outcome variables in their interactions with their children compared with untreated parent—child interactions. One year later, these changes were maintained and the children continued to improve. Correlational analyses indicated that, for treated families, single mother status, maternal depression, and mother's mental age were significantly correlated with at least two of the four mother outcome variables at both posttreatment assessments. A 1-year followup social class was significantly correlated with more critical mother behaviors and increased child deviance. For fathers, analyses indicated that high negative life stress and father depression was correlated with more negative father perceptions of child adjustment and increased child deviance at immediate posttreatment. At 1-year followup only father mental age was correlated with teacher perceptions of child behavior problems. The data support the general effectiveness of the IVM program but caution its use as the sole treatment with highly stressed families.

Images of Mothers in Poverty Discourses

This Essay focuses on the construction of the concept of in poverty discourses. It addresses the role of patriarchical ideology in the process whereby a characteristic typical of a group of welfare recipients has been selected and identified as constituting the cause as well as the effect of poverty. I am particularly interested in those political and professional discourses in which single Mother status is defined as one of the primary predictors of poverty. This association of characteristic with cause has fostered suggestions that an appropriate and fundamental goal of any proposed poverty program should be the eradication of the status and practice of single motherhood. This goal is to be accomplished through appropriate coupling of the single mother with the child's father-who would thereby assume his rightful place in the family and fulfill his financial obligations. By his so doing, the paramount welfare reform objective-letting the state off the economic hook-will have been achieved.

Single mothers: their health and health service use.

The aim of the study was to investigate differences in reported health and health service use in single mothers. The study was a survey of data derived from the General Household Surveys conducted by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS). The OPCS data are derived from samples of households throughout Great Britain. OPCS data for 1983 and 1984 were used, comprising approximately 60,000 individuals, of whom 793 were single mothers. Five different health outcomes were examined, two on perceived morbidity and three on the use of health services. The chief determinants of health and health services use among single mothers were housing tenure, employment status and the age of the youngest child. Single mother status did not consistently contribute to self reported morbidity and uptake of care when adjusted for other social variables, but there was a difference between categories of single mother, with those who were separated/divorced and those who were widowed reporting more acute illness than those who were married. The findings suggest that single mothers do not form a homogeneous group and that, if special consideration is to be given to them when planning and allocating health service resources, this needs to be taken into account in the context of other socioeconomic factors.