Single mothers

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Parenting

Types of parent

Adolescent fathers Adolescent mothers Adoptive parents Expectant parents Fathers Foster parents Homosexual parents Mothers Single parents Single fathers Single mothers Stepparents Surrogate parents (human)

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Delayed parenthood Father child relations Mother child relations Parent child communication Parent child relations Parent child interaction Parent educational background Parent school relationship Parent training Parental absence Parental attitudes Parental characteristics Parental expectations Parental investment Parental occupation Parental permissiveness Parental role Parenthood status Parenting skills

Related topics

Alloparenting Animal maternal behavior Animal parental behavior Animal rearing Bateman's principle Child discipline Child rearing practices Corporal punishment in the home

A single mother is a human female single parent. They are generally included in the categories of single persons and unwed mothers.

Single motherhood may occur for a variety of reasons. It could be opted for by the parent (as in divorce, adoption, artificial insemination, surrogate motherhood, or extramarital pregnancy), or be the result of an unforeseeable occurrence (such as death or abandonment by one parent).

File:Gilman-Mother-and-Child.jpg

Harold Gilman's Mother and Child, painted in 1918, depicts the traditional bond between a mother and child from early on in life.

In the United States, 72.6% of single parents are mothers. Among this percentage of single mothers: 45% of single mothers are currently divorced or separated, 1.7% are widowed, 34% of single mothers never have been married.

The prevalence of single mothers as primary caregiver is a part of traditional parenting trends between mothers and fathers. In her work Marriages & Families Nijole V. Benokraitis, Ph.D. in sociology and conducted research with marriage and family and gender roles, defines mothers as the expressive role players, who provide the emotional support and nurturing that sustain the family unit. Because of this, she argues, mothers outshine fathers who tend to be stricter and more distant. She goes on to express that one of a woman's expressive roles is that of kin-keeper, an important communication link among family members. Children tend to drift towards preference of parent depending on how involved a particular parent is, and a common problem in society today are absentee fathers; therefore, children are more likely to show preference for their mothers, as they are more involved with them than the fathers.

Cultural definition of a mother's role also contribute to the preference of mother as primary caregiver. Children will lean more towards mothers because of their protective, nurturing characteristics, from a long established mother-child relationship from early on attachment beginning at birth and continuing as the child grows up. In addition to their traditional protective and nurturing role, single mothers have to play the role of family provider as well; since men are the breadwinners of the traditional family, in the absence of the father the mother must fulfill this role whilst also providing adequate parentage. Because of this dual role, in the United States, 80% of single mothers are employed of which 50% are full-time workers and 30% are part-time. Many employed single mothers rely on childcare facilities to care for their children while they are away at work. Linked to the rising prevalence of single parenting is the increasing quality of healthcare, and there have been findings of positive developmental effects with modern childcare. It's not uncommon that the mother will become actively involved with the childcare program as to compensate for leaving her children under the care of others.. Working single mothers may also rely on the help from fictive kin, who provide for the children while the mother is at her job.

In the United States, 27% of single mothers live below the poverty line, as they lack the financial resources to support their children when the birth father is unresponsive. Although the public is sympathetic with low-wage single mothers, government benefits are fairly low. Many seek assistance through living with another adult, perhaps a relative, fictive kin, or significant other, and divorced mothers who re-marry have fewer financial struggles than unmarried single mothers, who cannot work for longer periods of time without shirking their child-caring responsibilities. Unmarried mothers are thus more likely to cohabit with another adult.

See also

• Child custody
• Child visitation
• Custodial parent
• Coparenting
• Family structure
• Father absence
• Fathers' rights
• Marital status
• Mothers
• Never married
• Noncustodial parent
• Parental absence
• Single fathers
• Tender years doctrine
• Working women