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This exploratory study sought to assess the job satisfaction of employed Australian single mothers who had mandatory employment participation requirements. In particular, we sought to identify the characteristics of the job and the individual that were closely associated with participant's job satisfaction. Self-report data on job satisfaction, employment characteristics and parenting stress were collected from 155 employed single mothers. Participant job satisfaction was compared to female Australian population norms and linear regression analyses determined the job-related and individual predictors of single mothers' job satisfaction. Findings from this exploratory study revealed that single mothers involved in a mandatory welfare-to-work program experienced significantly lower job satisfaction than the Australian female population. The individual variable, parental distress, negatively predicted each of the six job satisfaction domains while being employed on a casual basis was inversely associated with three domains (job security, work hours and overall job satisfaction). The Australian government purported that making the transition from welfare to work would improve wellbeing for program participants, under the assumption that 'any job's a good job'. However, the relatively low levels of job satisfaction experienced by single mothers in the current study provide little support for this assumption. Keywords: welfare-to-work, single parents, job satisfaction, employment, parental distress, Introduction On 1 July 2006, the Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment (Welfare to work and other measures) Act 2005 came into effect in Australia. This legislation enacted a fundamental [...]

Using panel data from Dutch tax records linked to the municipality registry, we investigate how the partner status of never-married single mothers changes in the years after the birth of their first child. To explore a possible accumulation of financial problems, we study the effects of income on the chances of entering a marital of cohabiting union. We also examine the effects of finding a partner on income for never-married single mothers. Finding a partner substantially improves income. We find that about hall of the never-married single mothers marry of start cohabiting within 10 years of the first birth, but that these are usually mothers with average and higher incomes. Not only are never-married single mothers more likely to be poor at the time of first birth, the poor are also more likely to remain single. There seems to be an accumulation of disadvantage in this special group in Dutch society. Keywords: single motherhood; fertility; union formation; income; poverty; event-history models, panel data; the Netherlands [Submitted December 2008; Final version accepted June 2010] DOI: 10.1080/00324728.2010.506244

Estimates suggest that more than 6 million children live with at least one grandparent. Despite evidence establishing the growing prevalence of this arrangement, limited research has focused on estimating the implications of coresidence for the economic well-being of grandchildren. Using data from the 2001 panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation, this article examines levels of financial hardship among a particularly vulnerable group of children--those living in mother-only families. Findings suggest that children living in mother-only families that include a grandparent are substantially less likely to be living below or near the poverty level, compared with children living in mother-only families without a grandparent present. The financial security of children in these three-generation households is enhanced through significant economic contributions of the grandparents and from household receipt of a wide range of financial resources, including means-tested cash transfers and other income such as Social Security. Keywords: grandparents; grandparenting; three-generation families; economic well-being of children 10.1177/0192513X09340527

The deep recession in Sweden in the early 1990s led to high unemployment levels. In addition, policy changes and reductions in welfare benefits increased costs of living. These changes may have affected lone mothers to a greater extent than other groups. How have these changes in the social context and policy context impacted on the health of lone mothers in comparison with couple mothers in Sweden between 1983 and 2001? Survey data on 19,192 mothers over the period of 1983-2001 were used to study changes in individual economic and social circumstances and self-rated health (SRH) with multivariate logistic regression. In addition, all-cause mortality, cause-specific mortality and severe morbidity were studied using registers for the whole population. Three cohorts of mothers aged 20-54 years (starting 1985, 1990 and 1996) were formed. Age-adjusted risk ratios were calculated using Poisson regression. The employment rate among lone mothers declined from 1983 to 2001. At the same time, prevalence of self-reported financial problems and exposure to violence increased. Lone mothers reported worse SRH and had higher risks of hospitalisation and mortality than couple mothers in all time periods. Despite changes in social context and policy context causing an increase of health detrimental exposures, and deteriorated levels of SRH 1980-2001 for lone mothers, there was no evidence of increased differentials over time between lone and couple mothers in less than good SRH, hospitalisation or mortality. Three alternative explanations are discussed: the Swedish welfare state still acts as a buffer for ill health; latency makes the follow-up time too short; and finally, the lack of increased differentials is due to methodological reasons. Keywords: Sweden; Single parent; Welfare state; Women's health; Mortality; Morbidity; Self-rated health; Mothers

Using data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth 1997 (NLSY-97), this research provides a descriptive portrait of the relationship between poverty and parenting among single mothers of adolescent children. This research contributes to our understanding of how strongly and consistently poverty status relates to various parenting dimensions, including parenting style, monitoring, relationship quality, and limit-setting. This study extends prior work by focusing on within group variation of parenting of single-mother family structures, and including non-poor single mothers in the analyses. Using multinomial logistic and OLS regression, results indicate poverty status is unrelated to the style, relationship quality, and monitoring of single mothers, but it is moderately related to greater involvement in limit-setting. Overall, the experience of poverty does not appear negatively related to the parenting of single mothers. These results indicate poor single mothers appear to manage their parental strategies equally well compared to non-poor single mothers. doi: 10.1300/J002v42n04_04 KEYWORDS. Parenting, poverty, single mothers

This essay attempts to piece together a coherent picture of recent developments in the economic well-being of children in families headed by an unmarried female by presenting data from several household surveys that tell us about their income and expenditures. The focus is on the period of the greatest change in welfare programs, from the last peak in the poverty rate in 1993 to 2001. Also examined is whether recent directions and magnitudes of change are in line with longer-term trends.

This study investigates how divorce followed by single parenthood undermines the long-term physical health of rural mothers using four waves of survey data collected in Iowa, USA from 336 married and 80 divorced mothers during a 10-year period. Findings generally support the hypothesized pathways in that single-parenthood creates financial difficulties for rural mothers. Furthermore, this financial adversity is linked to self-assessed physical health trajectories that then contribute to change in morbidity. This reflects the developmental course of morbidity during the middle years. Methodologically, this extends existing research on the association between women's marital status and well being by explicitly examining individual trajectories of change in family financial strain and physical health, as well as by examining the dynamic association between both during the middle years. Keywords: Single mothers; Financial strain; Physical health; Divorce; Parenting; USA

Objectives. Many single mothers are likely to face special economic challenges in old age, because they often have limited employment histories and cannot rely on husbands for financial support. This article examines the economic status of these women in later life. Methods. The analysis uses nationally representative data from the Health and Retirement Study to estimate multivariate models of income, assets, and poverty rates for women aged 65-75 in 1999. Results. Controlling for education, current marital status, and race and ethnicity, the models indicate that women who spent [less than or equal to] 10 years raising dependent children outside of marriage are 55% more likely to live in poverty at ages 65-75 than women who were always married when their children were young. Discussion. The financial difficulties confronting single mothers raising children persist into later life. Social Security reforms, especially those that are not tied to the current system of spousal and survivor benefits, could improve retirement security for these vulnerable women, whose numbers will begin to soar when the many women who raised children outside of marriage in thee 1970s retire in coming years.

Much debate is going on in Costa Rica about the increase of out-of-wedlock births and unestablished paternity in particular with regard to the elaboration of social policy measures. No systematic empirical data on the issue has been available to date, leaving the various discourses in public without foundation. Our work contributes to this gap in knowledge. Data and methodology: Using representative data sets we outline the national situation. A qualitative study based on 140 qualitative in-depth interviews with lone mothers in various cultural settings within Costa Rica offers a "grass-roots" view of the issue. Results: A macro-level analysis of official data shows 49% of births in 1998 were non-marital ones and that the proportion of births with unestablished paternity accounts for more than one quarter (28%) of the children. The rise in births with unestablished paternity results from a rise in the number of non-married women and a change in the population structure of Nicaraguan immigrants. Strong regional differences exist. Among individual factors are nationality, age, birth order, and social and marital status. Information from the qualitative study shows that the majority of women relate unestablished paternity to desertion or abandonment of responsibilities by the father of their child. Other reasons are interference by parents or in-laws and not wanting legal acknowledgement. Only one quarter of the women receive official child support and one third receive voluntary contributions. The women's assessment of their situation in the different cultural contexts is varied and enables identifying areas worthy of reflection for efficient national social policy measures, presented as the conclusions of the paper. La proporcion de nacimientos fuera del matrimonio, y de ninos no reconocidos por sus padres ha aumentado considemblemente en Costa Rica en los ultimos anos, lo cual ha generado un debate sobre la importancia del problema. Dicho debate incluye varios discursos publicos y cada discurso ofrece un analisis de la situacion y directrices para posibles intervenciones en la solucion del problema. Sin embargo, es fundamental tener tambien la vision de los directamente afectados si se quiere que las medidas en materia de politica social sean eficaces. Un analisis a nivel macro de los datos oficiales'revela que un 49% de los nacimientos en 1998 fueron de mujeres no casadas, y que la proporcion de nacimientos con padre no reconocido alcanza mas de una cuarta parte de los ninos (28%). Este elevado porcentaje de nacimientos con paternidad no reconocida es el resultado de un incremento en el numero de mujeres no casadas, y de un cambio en la estructura de la poblacion por inmigracion nicaraguense. Existen grandes diferencias regionales, y entre los factores individuales se pueden mencionar: la nacionalidad, la edad, el orden de nacimiento, la condicion social y el estado civil. La informacion basada en 140 entrevistas a profundidad realizadas a madres sin companero en el hogar, muestra que la mayoria de ellas declaran desde la paternidad no reconocida hasta la huida o abandono de responsabilidades por el padre del nino. (El termino "madre sin companero en el hogar" se refiere a mujeres que pueden ser solteras, casadas pero abandonadas, divorciadas o separadas.) Entre otras causas se menciona la interferencia de los padres o de los suegros, y aproximadamente una de cuatro mujeres no desean el reconocimiento legal por parte del padre del nino. Solo una cuarta parte de ellas reciben pension alimentaria, y un tercio recibe contribuciones voluntarias. Las razones que estas mujeres dan sobre su situacion en los diferentes contextos culturales, permite identificar las areas que merecen estudiarse para la elaboracion de medidas eficaces en materia de politica social, las que se presentan en las conclusiones de esta investigacion., INTRODUCTION Costa Rica has a long history, shared with other Latin American countries, of high proportions of unmarried mothers, and children who are not acknowledged by their fathers (Perez Brignoli […]

This article examines the uneven welfare support accorded to Black and white women at the end of the twentieth century. The author analyzes the generosity of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) benefits in the 48 contiguous U.S. states in 1970, 1980, and 1990 to determine if the state is less supportive of Black than white women. The author argues that the race-biased policies and procedures implemented with the inception and expansion of the welfare state remained throughout the program, resulting in uneven levels of support for Black and white families. More specifically, the author demonstrates that the generosity of AFDC is lower in states with a larger proportion of Black single mothers and higher in states with a larger proportion of white single mothers. These findings are relevant in the current period because such institutionalized race inequalities perpetuate white privilege and Black women's poverty.

During the 1990s, the proportion of female-headed households as well as their poverty risk has increased rapidly. Seven rounds of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) are used to investigate the role that household living arrangements play in single-mother family income dynamics and the major factors that affect the income status of mother-only families in Russia. Enhanced earning power of the single parent as well as a higher level of child benefits increases the likelihood that the single parent family lives separately from other relatives. Increasingly single mothers are choosing to co-reside with other relatives or adults in times of economic stress.

[The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors only and do not represent the opinions of the Ontario Legal Aid Plan.] How do we understand the state's need to police the social and sexual lives of single mothers? To what extent has this policy changed over time in its regulation of single mothers' relationships? This paper explains how the state determines who is and who is not worthy for Mothers' Allowance based on a mother's associations with men- and how this has been contested by those subject to it. Following a brief historical examination of the policy's determination of moral worthiness, we pay particular attention to a 1995 change to the definition of 'spouse' in the social assistance system, which has meant a return to the practice of intense surveillance of poor mothers' relationships and contacts with men, after an eight-year period in which the state withdrew somewhat - although never entirely- from this scrutiny. Those who police these relationships have been nicknamed the 'Pecker Detectors.' The paper concludes that low-income single mothers have become a target for moral scrutiny and blame in the 1990s. This not only impacts upon single mothers on welfare but it affects all women. Condemning single mothers to abject poverty and moral scrutiny deters other women from leaving unhappy or abusive relationships, impeding the ability of all women to become full and equal citizens in Ontario society.

For the first time in Ontario, since the introduction of the Ontario Mother's Allowance (OMA) programme in 1920, single mothers in financial need will lose an important form of protection that has been associated with their entitlement to assistance as full-time childcare providers. On 1 May 1998, the Ontario Works Act came into effect along with its mandatory employment requirements for single parents. With nearly 200,000 sole-support mothers as well as their children affected by changes to 'mothers allowance,' the significance of these developments cannot be underestimated. Through an examination of key ideological and structural transformations internal and external to the social assistance system, this article argues that a redefinition of women's relationship to the employment market and to domestic labour is fundamental to the neo-conservative view holding sway in Ontario. By redefining single mothers' 'deservedness' for financial assistance, traditionally viewed since 1920 as compensation for their contribution to society through child rearing, the Ontario government is legitimizing its broader withdrawal from social provision to those in need, and is compelling individuals to rely on their own private solutions to the systemic problems of unemployment, underemployment and the gender division of labour. Paradoxically, by making Ontario's social assistance programme harsher in its economic and moral regulation of sole-support parents, the government has assumed even greater regulatory powers over the lives of poor families and has effectively contradicted the 'family values' it claims to uphold.

A growing number of single mothers are benefiting from changes in child support enforcement laws. Among never-married mothers, the child support receipt rate has risen from 4% in 1976 to 18% in 1997. The receipt rate has also risen for previously-married mothers, rising modestly from 36% in 1976 to 42% in 1997. These improvements in child support receipt rates have come about because of the decision of state governments to play a more active role in child support enforcement, mainly because it is known to lower welfare costs while helping to improve the incomes of single mother-led families., is working better than we think Changes in child support enforcement since the 1970s have succeeded in improving collection efforts more than we think. Yet, sometimes it is difficult to [...]

Children in the United States are more likely than ever before to spend part of their lives in single-mother families. However, researchers usually ignore the complexity of household living arrangements, [...]

The US welfare system does not encourage the existence of female-headed households for either whites or blacks. The study investigates how individual and state effects influence assessments of the effect of welfare benefits on decisions female-headed households. However, welfare program generosity is related to how the composition of population varies across states. Results of the study also show that an overstatement of the effect of welfare programs to family structure may have been made by earlier investigations.

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.

The phenomenon of female headship in developing countries is analyzed using a structural model, with Jamaica chosen as the target country. Although most studies presume that female-headed households (FHH) are a result of problems in family relations, evidence from Jamaica shows that FHHs represent 42% of all households. Data indicate that FHHs are endogenous and significantly affected by economic factors.

I examine the process by which single mothers who have ever experienced and ended a spell on welfare return to welfare for further economic support. My analyses address the permanency of welfare independence by type of exit and identify those women who manage to stay off welfare. I use the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) for the years 1983 to 1988; the data contain monthly reports of welfare receipt (AFDC) and employment status. Returns to welfare are quite common and often occur soon after leaving: Over one quarter of the women in this study return to welfare within one year of exiting, and 42 percent return within two years. I find that repeat dependency on welfare is determined by social isolation, child-care responsibilities, human capital, and family economic status. Moreover, the route by which women exit welfare is less important to their chances of remaining off welfare than is the sequence of life events and changing circumstances that occur after their welfare exit.

A study of lone mothers on welfare in West Berlin reveals that they feel that they are entitled to welfare, which most choose because they prefer not to depend on private support through marriage or a relationship. Their choice of dependency on welfare reveals their use of welfare to create an alternative family structure. The welfare state does not entirely coerce these women into traditional roles or stop alterations in their gender roles as welfare enables these women to differently define their relationships with men.

This paper examines the economic fortunes of lone-mother families using the public use microfiles of the 1971 and 1986 Canadian censuses. The analysis shows that despite a 16 per cent increase in the real income of lone-mother families, the income gap between lone-mother and two-parent families widened appreciably over the 15-year period. Although real wages for both husbands and lone mothers rose slowly, a sharp increase in the labour force participation rate of married women allowed two-parent families to increase their total family income significantly. By contrast, demographic changes among lone-mother families served to limit the increase in total family earnings and slowed the rise of family income.

School reform has been largely ineffective because it has not dealt with the fact that one-third of the students are at risk of school failure before they begin kindergarten. Reasons, and suggested solutions, are discussed.

A study was conducted to investigate the relationship between minimum wage increases and the economic well-being of single mothers. Findings indicate that minimum wage increases were ineffective at reducing poverty among single mothers, since they already earned wages above state and federal minimum wages.

A study conducted to investigate the relationships of single mothers' assets and their human capital development to their upward economic mobility is presented. The data can be used by social workers to recommend investment strategies for single mothers' long-term well-being.

The article focuses on the coping strategies of three categories of people usually considered to be at risk of becoming socially excluded-single mothers with minor children, long-term unemployed males and foreign immigrants-in the northern Italian city of Milan. The concept of social exclusion, often used as an alternative to the concept of poverty, occasionally as its synonym, is here intended as multidimensional, dynamic and, most of all, relational. The article shows how this concept can be useful in analysing the condition of the three categories of people and how their condition is strongly related to the constraints and resources offered by the local context. Through the empirical material gathered from in-depth interviews with the three above-mentioned categories of people, the article first shows how these people profit from the labour market and the social services available in the city. It then analyses the role of social networks and the mechanisms behind the mobilization of people in support of the interviewees. Finally, it deals with the subjective dimension, that is, it examines whether, and to what extent, interviewees express feelings of uselessness. A visualization of the strategies will also be proposed. The empirical material will help to understand whether these people are socially excluded or not, and in which sense.

Data from the Surveys of Income and Program Participation for 1991 and 1992 indicate that sick children have a greater negative impact on single mothers' participation in the work force than on that of working mothers who are also wives. Specific areas impacted include likelihood of entering the workforce and number of hours worked over length of time.