Does non-employment contribute to the health disadvantage among lone mothers in Britain, Italy and Sweden? Synergy effects and the meaning of family policy

Fritzell, Sara; Vannoni, Francesca; Whitehead, Margaret; Burström, Bo; Costa, Giuseppe; Clayton, Stephen; Fritzell, Johan

doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2011.09.007

Cited by 27 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Economic strain is increasingly associated with the worse health conditions of lone parents, even though the Swedish welfare state intervenes substantially. In follow-up comparisons between Sweden, Britain, and Italy, economic conditions turned out to be less important as a main factor to explain bad health, but the synergy between lone motherhood and non-employment turned out to be a highly important mediation factor (Burstrom et al 2010;Fritzell et al 2012;Whitehead et al 2000). The comparative study revealed influences of both policy regimes and a country's culture and tradition.…”

Section: Health Trajectoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing Lone Parents, Changing Life Courses

Bernardi

Mortelmans

Larenza

2017

Life Course Research and Social Policies

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The socio-demographic profile of lone parents has changed in the last decades. Being mostly widowed men and women or young single mothers until the 1970s, lone parents are nowadays mostly divorced and separated parents, even though they are still by and large mothers rather than fathers. As a consequence, the experience of lone parenthood has also dramatically changed. Less objects of pity or stigmatized with shame, lone parents and their children are more than ever bound by legal arrangements to the other parent and are caught in more dynamic family trajectories.There are at least two remarkable changes that certainly need to be addressed by research on lone parenthood: its boundaries and its diversity. Both aspects are connected and have potential implications for lone parents and their children. First, the diversity and complexity of legal and residential arrangements of parents and children make it difficult to establish the borders between a full-time and a part-time one-parent household. When child custody or parental authority are shared, can we still talk about lone parents? Children circulate more and more between two or more parental households after separation, and more than one parent may be financially and legally responsible for them. One direct consequence of such changes in the

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Section: Health Trajectoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing Lone Parents, Changing Life Courses

Bernardi

Mortelmans

Larenza

2017

Life Course Research and Social Policies

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“…It is likely that health benefits of paid maternity leave vary depending on the characteristics of the sample, such as marital status, ethnic background, job characteristics and socioeconomic characteristics. For example, lone mothers are consistently found to have poorer health than married or partnered mothers, and their poorer health is linked to their lower socioeconomic position (Burstrom et al, 2010;Fritzell et al, 2012;Lahelma et al, 2002). Thus, having access to paid leave at the time of birth may have greater health benefits for lone mothers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The maternal health outcomes of paid maternity leave: A systematic review

Aitken

Garrett

Hewitt

et al. 2015

Social Science & Medicine

160

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Paid maternity leave has become a standard benefit in many countries throughout the world. Although maternal health has been central to the rationale for paid maternity leave, no review has specifically examined the effect of paid maternity leave on maternal health. The aim of this paper is to provide a systematic review of studies that examine the association between paid maternity leave and maternal health. We conducted a comprehensive search of electronic databases (Medline, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Sociological Abstracts) and Google Scholar. We searched websites of relevant organisations, reference lists of key papers and journals, and citation indices for additional studies including those not in refereed journals. There were no language restrictions. Studies were included if they compared paid maternity leave versus no paid maternity leave, or different lengths of paid leave. Data were extracted and an assessment of bias was performed independently by authors. Seven studies were identified, with participants from Australia, Sweden, Norway, USA, Canada, and Lebanon. All studies used quantitative methodologies, including cohort, cross-sectional, and repeated cross-sectional designs. Outcomes included mental health and wellbeing, general health, physical wellbeing, and intimate partner violence. The four studies that examined leave at an individual level showed evidence of maternal health benefits, whereas the three studies conducting policy-level comparisons reported either no association or evidence of a negative association. The synthesis of the results suggested that paid maternity leave provided maternal health benefits, although this varied depending on the length of leave. This has important implications for public health and social policy. However, all studies were subject to confounding bias and many to reverse causation. Given the small number of studies and the methodological limitations of the evidence, longitudinal studies are needed to further clarify the effects of paid maternity leave on the health of mothers in paid employment.

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“…These challenges are further enhanced in the United States by the absence of many public social protections that enable working men and women to reduce conflicts between work and family responsibilities (Gornick & Meyers, 2003; Gornick, Meyers, & Ross, 1997; Heymann, 2000; Kelly, 2003; Kelly & Moen, 2007; King, et al, 2013). Evidence from Scandanavia suggests that extensive social policies supporting working parents have benefits for both parents and children (Burstrom et al, 2010; Fritzell et al, 2012; Whitehead, Burstrom, & Diderichsen, 2000) but may not reduce sickness absence or burnout, especially for women. Rates of sickness absence remain high in Sweden and women dominate among the long-term sick listed (Johansson, 2002; Vingard et al, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Work–family conflict, cardiometabolic risk, and sleep duration in nursing employees.

Berkman

Liu

Hammer

et al. 2015

Journal of Occupational Health Psychology

105

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The study investigates the associations of work-family conflict and other work and family conditions with objectively-measured outcomes cardiometabolic risk and sleep duration in a study of employees in nursing homes. Multilevel analyses are used to assess cross-sectional associations between employee and job characteristics and health in analyses of 1,524 employees in 30 extended care facilities in a single company. We examine work and family conditions in relation to two major study health outcomes: 1) a validated, Framingham cardiometabolic risk score based on measured blood pressure, cholesterol, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), body mass index (BMI), and self-reported tobacco consumption, and 2) wrist actigraphy-based measures of sleep duration. In fully-adjusted multi-level models, Work-To-Family conflict, but not Family-to-Work conflict was positively associated with cardiometabolic risk. Having a lower-level occupation (nursing assistants vs. nurses) was also associated with increased cardiometabolic risk, while being married and having younger children at home was protective. A significant age by Work-To-Family conflict interaction revealed that higher Work-To-Family conflict was more strongly associated with increased cardiometabolic risk in younger employees. With regard to sleep duration, high Family-To-Work Conflict was significantly associated with shorter sleep duration. In addition, working long hours and having younger children at home were both independently associated with shorter sleep duration. High Work-To-Family Conflict was associated with longer sleep duration. These results indicate that different dimensions of work-family conflict (i.e., Work-To-Family Conflict and Family-To-Work Conflict) may both pose threats to cardiometabolic risk and sleep duration for employees. This study contributes to the research on work- family conflict suggesting that Work-To-Family and Family-To-Work conflict are associated with specific outcomes. Translating theory and our findings to preventive interventions entails recognition of the dimensionality of work and family dynamics and the need to target specific work and family conditions.

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Does non-employment contribute to the health disadvantage among lone mothers in Britain, Italy and Sweden? Synergy effects and the meaning of family policy

Cited by 27 publications

References 40 publications

Changing Lone Parents, Changing Life Courses

Changing Lone Parents, Changing Life Courses

The maternal health outcomes of paid maternity leave: A systematic review

Work–family conflict, cardiometabolic risk, and sleep duration in nursing employees.

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