The Triple Bind of Single-Parent Families

"This excellent collection addresses the ‘triple bind’ of inadequate resources, employment, and policies for single mothers, and what this means for well-being. A thoughtful and innovative analysis." Jane Millar, University of Bath

"An excellent contribution: evidence and insight from top-notch analysts on one of our most important and difficult policy challenges." Lane Kenworthy, University of California

Dr. Rense Nieuwenhuis is an associate professor at the Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI) of Stockholm University. His work addresses poverty, economic inequality, single parents, family policies, and the (EU) social investment perspective.

Dr. Laurie C. Maldonado is a scholar on single-parent families in the US and across countries. She is affiliated with LIS Cross-National Data Center and Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality at the Graduate Center, City University of New York.

The triple bind of single-parent families: resources, employment, and policies ~ Rense Nieuwenhuis and Laurie C. Maldonado;

Part 1: Adequate resources

Single-mother poverty: how much do educational differences in single motherhood matter? ~ Juho Härkönen;

The 'wealth-being' of single parents ~ Eva Sierminska;

Income poverty, material deprivation and lone parenthood ~ Morag C.Treanor

Single motherhood and child development in the UK ~Susan Harkness and Mariña Fernández Salgado;

Single parenthood and children’s educational performance: inequalities among families and schools ~ Marloes de Lange and Jaap Dronkers;

Wellbeing among children with single parents in Sweden –focusing on shared residence ~ Emma Fransson, Sara Brolin Låftman, Viveca Östberg and Malin Bergström;

Part 2: Adequate employment

A life-course approach to single mothers’ economic wellbeing in different welfare states ~ Hannah Zagel and Sabine Hübgen;

Doesn’t anyone else care? Poverty among working single parents across Europe ~ Jeroen Horemans and Ive Marx;

Middle-class single parents ~ Young-hwan Byun;

Does the use of reconciliation policies enable single mothers to work? A comparative examination of European countries ~ Wim van Lancker;

Whose days are left? Separated parents’ use of parental leave in Sweden ~ Ann-Zofie Duvander and Nicklas Korsell;

Matched on job qualities? Single and coupled parents in European comparison ~ Ingrid Esser and Karen M. Olsen;

The health penalty of single parents in institutional context ~ Rense Nieuwenhuis, Anne Grete Tøge and Joakim Palme;

Part 3: Adequate redistributive policy

Cash benefits and poverty in single-parent families ~ Jonathan Bradshaw, Antonia Keung and Yekaterina Chzhen;

The role of universal and targeted family benefits in reducing poverty in single-parent families ~ Ann Morissens;

Policies and practices for single parents in Iceland ~ Guðný Björk Eydal;

The structural nature of the inadequate social floor for single-parent families ~ Bea Cantillon, Diego Collado and Natascha Van Mechelen;

Part 4: Reflections and conclusion

Social justice, single parents and their children ~ Gideon Calder;

The socioeconomics of single parenthood: reflections on the triple bind ~ Janet C. Gornick;

Conclusion ~ Laurie C. Maldonado and Rense Nieuwenhuis.