Changes in family financial circumstances and the physical health of married and recently divorced mothers

Cumulative disadvantage, employment–marriage, and health inequalities among American and British mothers

“…And in Britain, continuous employment meant they were also in no worse health than stably married mothers. These results add important complexity to the multitude of studies showing that lone mothers are in worse health than their married counterparts (e.g., Avison et al, 2007;Benzeval, 1998;Evenson & Simon, 2005;Grundy & Tomassini, 2005;Henretta, 2007;Koropeckyj-Cox et al, 2007;Kalil & Kunz, 2002;Martikainen, 1995;Wickrama et al, 2006;Williams et al, 2011). In both the US and (especially) Britain, a secure attachment to the labour force may lessen or even eliminate the health risks associated with long-term lone motherhood.…”

“…Studies consistently show that lone mothers experience greater psychological distress and depression than their married counterparts (Evenson & Simon, 2005;Koropeckyj-Cox et al, 2007), more long-term illness (Grundy & Tomassini, 2005;Wickrama, Lorenz, Conger, Elder, & Todd, 2006), poorer overall health (Bartley et al, 1999;Williams et al, 2011), and higher risks of death (Grundy & Tomassini, 2005;Henretta, 2007). Greater financial pressure, social isolation, and caregiving strain explain some of these health disparities (Avison, Ali, & Walters, 2007).…”

Changes in Lone Mothers’ Health: A Longitudinal Analysis

“…The results for physical health show that lone mothers have a higher risk for cardiovascular diseases (Young et al 2005), chronic illness (Wickrama et al 2006) and ill health (Roos et al 2005) compared to mothers with a partner. Furthermore, studies report generally a worse health for lone mothers than for mothers with a partner (Curtis 2001, Westin andWesterling 2006).…”

Role of social workers to support single mothers: A case study of welfare receivers in Iran

“…They observed that interactions on adolescents' academic performance were completely described by differentiation in parental financial, human, cultural, and social resources. Wickrama et al (2006) investigated changes in family financial conditions and the physical health of married and recently divorced mothers. They studied on how divorce followed by single parenthood undermines the long-term physical health of rural mothers using four waves of survey data collected in Iowa, USA from 336 married and 80 divorced mothers during a 10-year period and they reported that single-parenthood creates financial difficulties for rural mothers.…”