Single motherhood has increased throughout Europe. Single mothers assume the dual role of provider and caregiver and often need external support from public policies or kin to meet their needs. Research has focused primarily on public policies, disregarding the role of kin support—and of multigenerational coresidence in particular. This study provides the first detailed description of single mothers’ multigenerational coresidence in Europe. To do so, we combine census and survey microdata from 31 European countries. The data reveal large geographic variation in single mothers’ coresidence. Whereas coresidence is a rare and temporary living arrangement in Northern and Western Europe, it is common and more permanent in Southern, Central, and especially Eastern Europe. At the same time, coresidence has declined in almost all countries with data from the past half-century. These findings suggest large and persistent variation in kin support for single mothers and thus question the assumption of its marginal role in Europe.

中文翻译：

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欧洲的单身母亲和多代同居

单身母亲在整个欧洲都有所增加。单身母亲承担着提供者和照顾者的双重角色，往往需要来自公共政策或亲属的外部支持来满足她们的需求。研究主要集中在公共政策上，忽视了亲属支持的作用——尤其是多代同居的作用。这项研究首次详细描述了欧洲单身母亲的多代同居情况。为此，我们结合了来自 31 个欧洲国家的人口普查和调查微观数据。数据揭示了单身母亲同居的巨大地域差异。在北欧和西欧，同居是一种罕见的临时居住安排，而在南欧、中欧，尤其是东欧，这种情况很常见，而且更为永久。同时，在过去半个世纪的数据中，几乎所有国家的同居率都有所下降。这些发现表明，单身母亲的亲属支持存在巨大而持久的差异，因此质疑其在欧洲的边缘作用的假设。