40,167 research outputs found
Leaving lone parenthood: analysis of the repartnering patterns of lone mothers in the U.K.
No full textDespite a wealth of research in the U.K. on the stock of lone parents, in recent years there has
been a lack of research on the dynamics of lone parenthood, particularly leaving lone
parenthood. In an attempt to fill this gap, this thesis provides a detailed study of repartnering
patterns of lone mothers in the U.K. This study uses the first 14 waves of the British
Household Panel Survey (BHPS), a nationally representative survey conducted annually which
interviews every adult member of a sample of around 5,000 households amounting to around
10,000 individual interviews. This data is particularly advantageous for this study due to its
prospective longitudinal nature, allowing lone mothers to be captured at the point of entry into
lone motherhood and their repartnering patterns to be analysed over subsequent waves. In
addition the data enabled the construction of marital and cohabitation histories for lone
mothers in order to control for any effect of prior union history on the probability of
repartnering.Employing discrete time event history analysis techniques, the first part of this research
examines repartnering among two distinct groups of lone mothers; those entering through the
breakdown of a cohabiting or marital union and those entering through the birth of a child
whilst single and never-married. Of particular interest is the effect of these different routes of
entry into lone motherhood on the timing and determinants of repartnering and the types of
new unions formed. The second part of the study seeks to identify if repartnering is associated
with improved well-being for lone mothers. Using a series of pooled logistic regression models
this thesis explores the association of repartnering with transitions in three domains: economic,
demographic and health.Amongst those entering lone motherhood through the breakdown of a previous partnership the
most important determinant of repartnering is found to be age at entry into lone motherhood.
However, the economic situation of a lone mother, in particular whether or not she was
receiving Income Support, has a much stronger influence on repartnering among single never
married lone mothers than age. The duration of lone motherhood is found to be similar for both
types of lone mother, -estimated at around five years, however controlling for a number of
demographic and socio-economic factors suggests the probability of repartnering is lower for
those entering through the breakdown of a cohabitation compared with those entering through
the dissolution of a marriage. There appears to be a preference for cohabitation over marriage
with nearly three quarters of those who repartnered moving into a cohabiting union. However,
the higher chance of moving into a marriage for those who were previously married appears to
result from a high proportion reconciling with a former partner.Examining the relationship between repartnering and other transitions occurring in three
domains reveals that repartnering is likely to occur against a backdrop of other changes.
Repartnering is strongly associated with an improvement in financial situation, residential
mobility and an increase in the number of resident dependent children. Although no direct link
is found between repartnering and improved mental health outcomes, the strong association
between improved financial well-being and an improvement in mental health indicates
repartnering may be indirectly related to better mental health. However, the finding of a direct
association between poorer mental health and repartnering warrants further investigatio
The effects of early years' childcare on child emotional and behavioural difficulties in lone and co-parent family situations
Get PDFWith targeted childcare initiatives and welfare-to-work programmes policy-makers have sought to address employment activation of lone mothers and negative outcomes for children in lone parent households. The present study examines non-parental childcare use and maternal employment among children living in lone and co-parent family situations at ages three and four and emotional and behavioural difficulties at ages four and five. The results demonstrate that negative outcomes associated with lone motherhood are explained largely by mother's age, education, material circumstances and area deprivation; and that maternal employment does not relieve lone mothers’ disadvantages in a way that alleviates the risks of difficulties to their children. However, in any family constellation, mainly group-based formal pre-school childcare does have a positive impact on child difficulties compared to drawing on informal childcare arrangements as main provider. In addition, and specifically for the difficulties of children in lone mother family situations, any non-parental childcare – formal or informal − for at least twenty-five hours per week is beneficial. Study findings support policy agendas which tackle families’ material hardship beyond promoting mothers’ employment, and through investment in formal childcare provision, and also through arrangements allowing lone mothers to divide their weekly load of childcare with another main provider
Lone Female Headship and Welfare Policy in Canada
Get PDFThe principal qualifying condition for welfare in Canada, unlike the US, is financial need - there are no demographic criteria. We use a time-series of annual, national cross-sections for the period 1981 through 1993 to estimate a model of lone-female headship. Our findings do not support the hypothesis that welfare benefit levels for one-parent and two-parent families are important determinants of the likelihood that a Canadian woman is a lone mother. In all models with provincial fixed effects, the coefficients for welfare benefits are small, statistically insignificant and often of the unexpected sign. We do find that the probability that a woman is a lone mother is generally associated in the expected fashion with her earnings capacity and the earnings capacity of her potential male partner, and with her age and schooling.
Lone Female Headship and Welfare Policy in Canada
Get PDFThe principal qualifying condition for welfare in Canada, unlike the US, is financial need - there are no demographic criteria. We use a time-series of annual, national cross-sections for the period 1981 through 1993 to estimate a model of lone-female headship. Our findings do not support the hypothesis that welfare benefit levels for one-parent and two-parent families are important determinants of the likelihood that a Canadian woman is a lone mother. In all models with provincial fixed effects, the coefficients for welfare benefits are small, statistically insignificant and often of the unexpected sign. We do find that the probability that a woman is a lone mother is generally associated in the expected fashion with her earnings capacity and the earnings capacity of her potential male partner, and with her age and schooling.
Welfare Reform and Lone Parents in the UK
Get PDFThe last thirty years saw dramatic increases in the proportion of children living in lone parent households. In 1997 the incoming Labour government initiated a series of policy reforms aimed at reducing this high level of child poverty. A key element of their strategy was a move towards increasing employment rates among families with children by a combination of increased in-work support through the Working Families Tax Credit and active case management of the population on welfare through the New Deal for Lone Parents. The assessment of this policy reform agenda has focused to date mainly on lone mothers’ employment and poverty. In this paper we extend this to include at the impact on the numbers of lone parent families and a range of outcomes for mothers and children. We cover mothers’ mental well-being and health, child outcomes and relationship patterns. As well as representing the basic facts about employment incomes and hours of work. Our results show there was no significant impact of these policy reforms on family structure. Mothers malaise scores are, unsurprisingly, very high on family break up but they tend to recover after around 2 years. WFTC is found to reduce the spike of high malaise co-incident with the transition into lone parenthood but to have no longer term effects. This decline in malaise is strongly associated with improved financial indicators. Adolescent children in lone parents families report lower self-esteem, more unhappiness, lower quality relationships with the mother and a number of worse or risky behaviours. Difference-in-difference techniques suggest a marked narrowing if these gaps since WFTC. The magnitude of these changes are quite large, half of the gap in self-esteem and unhappiness scores and in truanting, smoking and planning to leave school at age 16 are eliminated after the policy reforms. This strongly suggests that the increases in incomes and employment associated with the reforms have profoundly changed the quality of life children in lone parent families.Welfare reform, lone parents, tax Credits
Lone mothers of mixed racial and ethnic children: then and now
No full textIn this paper Dr Chamion Caballero and Professor Rosalind Edwards look at the experience of lone mothers of mixed ethnic and racial children
Are Lone Mothers Responsive to Policy Changes? Evidence from a Workfare Reform in a Generous Welfare State
Get PDFThere is a heated debate in many European countries about a move towards a welfare system that increases the incentives for lone mothers to move off welfare and into work. We analyze the consequences of a major Norwegian workfare reform of the generous welfare system for lone mothers. Our difference-in-differences estimates show that the policy changes were successful in improving labor market attachment and increasing disposable income of new lone mothers. By contrast, the reform led to a substantial decrease in disposable income and a significant increase in poverty among persistent lone mothers, because a sizeable group was unable to offset the loss of out-of-work welfare benefits with gains in earnings. This suggests that the desired effects of the workfare reform were associated with the side-effects of income loss and increased poverty among a substantial number of lone mothers with insurmountable employment barriers. This finding stands in stark contrast to evidence from similar policy changes in Canada, the UK, and the US, and underscores that policymakers from other developed countries should be cautious when drawing lessons from the successful welfare reforms implemented in Anglo-Saxon countries.lone mothers, workfare reform, difference-in-differences, heterogeneity, earnings, labor force participation, poverty, disposable income
Does material disadvantage explain the increased risk of adverse health, educational, and behavioural outcomes among children in lone parent households in Britain? : a cross sectional study
Get PDFObjective: To test the hypothesis that material disadvantage explains the increased risk among children and young people of adverse health, educational, and behavioural problems associated with living in lone parent households in Britain
Study design: Secondary analysis of a cross sectional survey of a representative sample of British households with children and youth
Main outcomes: Parent reported fair/poor health, longstanding illness and disability, statement of special educational needs, suspension and/or expulsion from school, and in trouble with the police.
Participants: Data were available on 15 636 (8049 boys and 7587 girls) aged 0-18 years in 8541 households in the third sweep (2001) of the British government's families and children study
Results: Lone parenthood was associated with increased risk of health and educational problems, and antisocial behaviour among boys and girls in a logistic regression model adjusting for child's age alone. Adding age of main carer, number of dependent children, and child's rank in the household made little difference to the associations. Addition of housing tenure, household hardship index, and an interaction term for lone parenthood and hardship eliminated the relation with lone parenthood for all outcomes except parent reported health among girls. Similar results were obtained for households headed by lone parents for at least a year. An interaction effect of lone parenthood with hardship for parent reported health and statement of special educational needs was noted.
Conclusion: Adverse effects of lone parenthood on health, education, and antisocial behaviour were apparently explained by material disadvantage in this cross sectional sample of British households with children and youth
Doing Lone Motherhood in Japan: The 'Project of Self' in a Precariously Transforming Society
Get PDFThe thesis explores the position and situation of lone mothers in Japan via a multi-scalar analysis, involving the consideration of public policy discourses, street level state bureaucracy, and experiences of lone mothers. It offers a rich account of practices of lone motherhood and the Japanese state, changing state policies, and social and economic change in Japan. The study draws on the empirical work with lone mothers and frontline welfare workers in J^an, which is balanced with extensive theoretical reflections and critically reflexive analysis of pubic policy discourses. A feminist perspective informs and enriches the analysis throughout. The thesis unveils the 'minimalist state' of Japan that lingers behind the front-screen renewal efforts of the Japanese state that recently involved eye-catching calls for a 'gender-equal society' (Danjyo Kyodo Sankaku Shakai) and universalisation of welfare. On the cusp of precariously modernising Japan are the frontline welfare workers who both struggle to enact and refract progressive policies, and lone mothers who face scripted normality that is coined by a policy trend that emphasises "differences should make no difference" without matching structural redress. The thesis shows lone mothers are faced with both the traditional and detraditionalising pressures of 'doing the self - as a 'good mother' and gender norm deviator, that is, the stigmatised self, as well as a self that is a reflexive endeavour. The thesis presents an innovative geographical enquiry into problems of lone mothers in Japan. A variety of geographic accounts are signposted that could be developed to reflect the various intersecting scales and topics that unfold in the thesis
National evaluation of the neighbourhood nurseries: impact report
No full textThis study assessed the impact of NNI on parental employment, use of formal childcare, and take-up of benefits and tax credits, particularly for disadvantaged groups such as lone parents, low income families and ethnic minority groups
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