Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1272-1286 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Journal of family studies |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 14 Sept 2020 |
| Publication status | Published - 2022 |
Abstract
Single, separated mothers report lower levels of psychological well-being than partnered mothers. This study examines whether this penalty in well-being results from the burdens of single parenting or from the stress and strain of union dissolution. The data come from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). Our sample consists of 1919 childless women and mothers who reported a union dissolution. We used fixed effects models to examine changes in financial satisfaction, family satisfaction, and overall life satisfaction after union dissolution. Our results show that mothers experience steeper declines in financial satisfaction after union dissolution but lower declines in family satisfaction than childless women. Mothers and childless women report almost similar post-separation declines in overall life satisfaction. The results contradict the common notion that low life satisfaction among single mothers can be attributed primarily to the negative consequences of single parenting. The findings suggest that large parts of the life satisfaction penalty experienced by separated single mothers arise from union dissolution rather than from single parenting.
Keywords
- Fixed effects models, life satisfaction, parenthood, single motherhood, union dissolution
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Sciences(all)
- Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
Sustainable Development Goals
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In: Journal of family studies, Vol. 28, No. 4, 2022, p. 1272-1286.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Don't blame the kids
T2 - mothers’ satisfaction with different life domains after union dissolution
AU - Huss, Björn
AU - Pollmann-Schult, Matthias
N1 - Funding information: This work was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) [PO 1569/4]. We thank Jeremy Reynolds and David Johnson who inspired us to the title of this paper (Reynolds & Johnson, 2012).
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Single, separated mothers report lower levels of psychological well-being than partnered mothers. This study examines whether this penalty in well-being results from the burdens of single parenting or from the stress and strain of union dissolution. The data come from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). Our sample consists of 1919 childless women and mothers who reported a union dissolution. We used fixed effects models to examine changes in financial satisfaction, family satisfaction, and overall life satisfaction after union dissolution. Our results show that mothers experience steeper declines in financial satisfaction after union dissolution but lower declines in family satisfaction than childless women. Mothers and childless women report almost similar post-separation declines in overall life satisfaction. The results contradict the common notion that low life satisfaction among single mothers can be attributed primarily to the negative consequences of single parenting. The findings suggest that large parts of the life satisfaction penalty experienced by separated single mothers arise from union dissolution rather than from single parenting.
AB - Single, separated mothers report lower levels of psychological well-being than partnered mothers. This study examines whether this penalty in well-being results from the burdens of single parenting or from the stress and strain of union dissolution. The data come from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). Our sample consists of 1919 childless women and mothers who reported a union dissolution. We used fixed effects models to examine changes in financial satisfaction, family satisfaction, and overall life satisfaction after union dissolution. Our results show that mothers experience steeper declines in financial satisfaction after union dissolution but lower declines in family satisfaction than childless women. Mothers and childless women report almost similar post-separation declines in overall life satisfaction. The results contradict the common notion that low life satisfaction among single mothers can be attributed primarily to the negative consequences of single parenting. The findings suggest that large parts of the life satisfaction penalty experienced by separated single mothers arise from union dissolution rather than from single parenting.
KW - Fixed effects models
KW - life satisfaction
KW - parenthood
KW - single motherhood
KW - union dissolution
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85091027774&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13229400.2020.1818606
DO - 10.1080/13229400.2020.1818606
M3 - Article
VL - 28
SP - 1272
EP - 1286
JO - Journal of family studies
JF - Journal of family studies
SN - 1322-9400
IS - 4
ER -