Elsevier

Social Science & Medicine

Volume 49, Issue 12, December 1999, Pages 1637-1649
Social Science & Medicine

Does financial hardship account for elevated psychological distress in lone mothers?

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(99)00251-8Get rights and content

Abstract

Lone mothers have been shown to have higher levels of psychological distress than married mothers, but it is not clear how this difference arises. Using data from the 1958 British birth cohort followed to age 33, we investigated alternative explanations for the excess distress of lone mothers. Logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios for distress (measured using the Malaise Inventory) in lone vs married mothers. Odds ratios were adjusted to assess the contribution of explanatory factors. At age 33, psychological distress was greater among lone than married mothers (OR 2.59, 95% CI 1.97, 3.41). The odds ratio decreased to 1.43 (95% CI 1.02, 2.01) after adjustment for all explanatory factors (prior psychological distress, age of youngest child and number of children in the household, and contemporary measures of financial hardship, employment, and social support). Attenuation of the odds ratio was most marked after taking account of financial hardship. Psychological distress was greater among divorced mothers than never married mothers, though not significantly (OR=1.70, 95% CI 0.88, 3.28). This difference was not explained by the factors examined, and was not due to the immediate distress associated with a recent divorce. Elevated psychological distress of lone mothers appears to be related to financial hardship, while other explanations, including social support and selection, have a more modest impact. Not all of the elevated psychological distress among lone mothers was accounted for, particularly among divorced lone mothers.

Introduction

Lone parents have consistently been found to have elevated levels of psychological distress (McLanahan and Adams, 1987, Weissman et al., 1987, Lipman et al., 1997, Benzeval, 1998), although the pathways through which this relationship develops are not clearly understood. Four main causal explanations have been proposed. The first involves the negative consequences on psychological health of financial hardship (Pearlin and Johnson, 1977, Weissman et al., 1987, Brown and Moran, 1997). Hardship has been shown to be associated with increased psychological distress and several psychiatric disorders (Ross and Huber, 1985, Bruce et al., 1991, Rodgers, 1991, Weich and Lewis, 1998), and lone parents are disproportionately represented among the poorest groups in society: in 1994/1995 three quarters of lone parents were in the poorest 40% of the UK population and correspondingly they were more likely to have less favourable housing (Giles et al., 1996, OPCS Social Survey Division, 1996, Hills, 1998). The increased risk of psychological distress among lone parents may therefore reflect their poorer financial circumstances.

A second, related explanation focuses on employment. Paid employment has been associated with lower levels of psychological distress among women (Brown and Harris, 1978, Warr and Parry, 1982, Gore and Mangione, 1983, Weich et al., 1998), although the effects appear to vary with other contextual factors, such as socio-economic group and childcare responsibilities (Bromberger and Matthews, 1994, Bartley et al., 1992, Søgaard et al., 1994). Among possible benefits of work, in addition to a higher income, are social support, increased self-esteem, social status, the imposition of a daily routine, and relief from stress at home (Brown and Harris, 1978, Warr and Parry, 1982, Hall et al., 1985, Macran et al., 1996). Lone mothers are less likely than married mothers to have paid employment: in the UK in the period 1986–1990, 40% of lone mothers had paid work compared with 56% of married mothers (Haskey, 1993). They are also more likely than married mothers to have a manual occupation if they do have paid work (Haskey, 1996). Moreover, some evidence is available that lone mothers with paid employment have less risk of psychological distress (Hall et al., 1985, Rodgers, 1991, Macran et al., 1996). A third potential explanation involves lack of social support for lone mothers, which may influence psychological distress directly, or indirectly by increasing their vulnerability to life events and adversities such as financial hardship (Pearlin and Johnson, 1977, Hall et al., 1985, Simons et al., 1993, Brown and Moran, 1997). Furthermore, there is evidence that the social ties and regulations available to those living with another (proximate) adult are positively related to health, irrespective of whether the proximate adult is a partner (Anson, 1989). A fourth explanation for higher psychological distress among lone mothers recognises the intrinsic consequences of being responsible for children. There is evidence that women with dependent children have a higher risk of psychological distress than those without (Meltzer et al., 1995), and symptom levels vary also with the number and age of children (Pearlin and Johnson, 1977, Brown and Harris, 1978, McLanahan and Adams, 1989, Rodgers, 1991). Greater psychological distress among lone mothers may therefore arise because they face the burdens of childcare on their own while two parents are in a position to share these responsibilities (Pearlin and Johnson, 1977, Ross and Huber, 1985, Rodgers, 1991).

In addition to the four causal explanations outlined above, two non-causal explanations can be identified to account for psychological distress among lone parents. The first involves selection processes, whereby those with psychological symptoms are selectively more likely to become lone parents (Davies et al., 1997, Lorenz et al., 1997). However, since most studies investigating the relationship between lone parenthood and psychological distress use cross-sectional data, there is little evidence to support or refute this hypothesis. Second, the excess psychological distress of lone parents may to some extent reflect the negative consequences of divorce (McLanahan, 1983, Lorenz et al., 1997) rather than the role of lone parent. Most people who become lone parents do so through divorce or separation (Haskey, 1994), which is associated with psychological distress, both in the period surrounding divorce and of a more long-term nature (Wertlieb et al., 1984, Doherty et al., 1989, Booth and Amato, 1991).

Although we have described these causal and non-causal explanations independently, it is important to emphasise that the factors involved are likely to be highly inter-related rather than mutually exclusive. For example, financial hardship will be related to employment status, which, in turn, influences the extent of social networks and availability of support. Social support would itself relate to the burden of childcare responsibilities experienced by the lone parent. Thus, psychological distress among lone parents may relate in particular to the number, intensity, and duration of stressors that they experience, and in addition to a lack of social support that might alleviate the impact of adversity (Hall et al., 1985, Simons et al., 1993, Brown and Moran, 1997, Davies et al., 1997, Lorenz et al., 1997). Moreover, there is evidence that the psychological effects of different stressors vary such that lone parents not only have greater exposure to adversity, but they may also be more vulnerable to the effects of adversities. Notably, in this regard, lone mothers have been shown to be especially vulnerable to the effects of unemployment (Hall et al., 1985, Rodgers, 1991), financial hardship (Pearlin and Johnson, 1977, Gerstel et al., 1985, Hall et al., 1985), the burdens involved in caring for children (Pearlin and Johnson, 1977), and lack of social support (Pearlin and Johnson, 1977, Hall et al., 1985). Even selective processes are not entirely separate from other explanations, in that the psychological distress which may increase the likelihood of lone parenthood, is itself influenced by earlier stressors, including adversities in family of origin, such as childhood parental divorce and poor quality of parenting (Simons et al., 1993, Olson et al., 1994, Davies et al., 1997).

Whilst there have been several studies examining alternative explanations for psychological distress among lone parents, these are generally based on cross-sectional data. Hence, this previous work has been unable to include selection as a potential explanatory factor. By using longitudinal data available in the 1958 British birth cohort we are able to overcome this limitation. We use these comprehensive data to investigate the role of financial hardship, employment, social support, level of childcare demands (number and ages of children) selection and the experience of divorce in accounting for excess psychological distress among lone parents. More specifically, we examine both the mediating and moderating role of these explanatory factors. Given the prevailing levels of financial hardship among lone parents within the UK, we focus on this as a potentially predominant explanatory influence. In doing so, we examine whether financial hardship is likely to have a direct effect or whether it reflects co-existence of other explanatory factors such as the availability of paid work and social support.

Section snippets

Sample

The data are from the 1958 birth cohort study of all children born in England, Scotland and Wales during one week in March 1958. Details of the study are presented elsewhere (Ferri, 1993). In brief, data have been collected at birth, and at ages 7, 11, 16, 23 and 33. Immigrants to Britain born in the same week were added to the sample at ages 7, 11 and 16. At age 23, 12,537 subjects were re-interviewed (76% of the target population), and at age 33, 11,405 subjects were re-interviewed (69% of

Results

Malaise symptom scores (mean scores and scores above a cut-off of seven or more) for unmarried and married women were similar among those with no children (Table 3). However, among women with children, Malaise scores were greater for lone parents than for married women: one quarter of lone mothers scored 7 or more compared with only 11% of married mothers. Thus, there was a significant interaction between marital status and parental responsibility. Within the group of lone mothers, divorced

Discussion

We have found that lone mothers were significantly more likely to report psychological distress than married mothers. This is consistent with findings from earlier research, in relation to a range of outcomes, including psychological distress, depression, anxiety and levels of happiness (Moss and Plewis, 1977, McLanahan and Adams, 1989, Reeves et al., 1994, Meltzer et al., 1995, Brown and Moran, 1997, Lipman et al., 1997). The magnitude of the elevated risk for lone mothers in the 1958 cohort

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the financial support from the Department of Health for England and Wales (Steven Hope and Chris Power) and the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, Unit grant number 973302 (Bryan Rodgers). Chris Power is also supported by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.

For the data we thank the Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, National Child Development Study composite file, including selected Perinatal Data and sweeps

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