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.

摘要

单身、分居的母亲报告的心理健康水平低于有伴侣的母亲。这项研究检验了这种对幸福感的惩罚是由单亲父母的负担还是来自工会解体的压力和压力造成的。数据来自德国社会经济委员会 (SOEP)。我们的样本由 1919 名报告工会解散的无子女妇女和母亲组成。我们使用固定效应模型来检查工会解散后财务满意度、家庭满意度和整体生活满意度的变化。我们的研究结果表明，在工会解散后，母亲的财务满意度下降幅度更大，但家庭满意度的下降幅度低于没有孩子的女性。母亲和没有孩子的妇女报告说，分居后总体生活满意度的下降几乎相似。. 研究结果表明，分居的单身母亲所经历的生活满意度损失的很大一部分来自工会的解体，而不是单亲家庭。