Living Arrangements and the Well-Being of Single Mothers in Japan

The goal of this study is to evaluate the extent to which the well-being of single mothers in Japan is related to coresidence with other adults. Using data from a representative survey of households headed by single mothers, we examine two measures of subjective well-being: perceived economic circumstances and self-rated health. One-fourth of the single mothers surveyed were coresiding with another adult(s) and it is clear that these women fare significantly better than their non-coresiding counterparts on both measures of well-being. Net of several theoretically relevant sociodemographic, family, and employment characteristics, single mothers living with others were significantly less likely to report somewhat difficult/difficult economic circumstances or fair/poor health. Efforts to account for potential endogeneity between well-being and living arrangements suggested that self-rated health, but not subjective economic well-being, is related to selection into coresidence. Single mothers in fair/poor health appear more likely to coreside with others and, accounting for this selection, intergenerational coresidence appears to be very beneficial for self-rated health. We discuss the implications of these findings for processes of stratification in Japan in light of the limited public income support available to single mothers.     

Beyond the Nuclear Family: Trends in Children Living in Shared Households

Using data from the 1996–2008 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation and the 2009–2016 American Community Survey, we examine trends in U.S. children living in shared households (living with adults beyond their nuclear (parent/parent’s partner/sibling) family). We find that although the share of children who lived in a shared household increased over this period, the rise was nearly entirely driven by an increase in three-generation/multigenerational households (coresident grandparent(s), parent(s), and child). In 1996, 5.7 % of children lived in a three-generation household; by 2016, 9.8 % did likewise—more than a 4 percentage point increase. More economically advantaged groups (older, more educated mothers, married households) experienced the largest percentage increase in three-generation coresidence, although correlates of coresidence remained largely stable. Decomposition analyses suggest that the rise in Social Security receipt and changes in parental relationship status (less marriage, more single parenthood) most strongly explained the increase in three-generation households. Given the dramatic rise in three-generation households, more research is needed to understand the consequences of these living arrangements for children, their parents, and their grandparents.     

Trends in single mothers’ living arrangements from 1970 to 1995: Correcting the Current Population Survey

I examine trends in single mothers’ living arrangements using data from the 1970–1995 Current Population Surveys. I create a consistent trend by correcting a coding problem that stemmed from the misidentification of children living in multigenerational households before 1984. Revised estimates show that the number of single mothers in each of these years was undercounted by 200,000–300,000. All of these women were subfamily heads living with their parents, and the problem occurred disproportionately among teens and black women. The uncorrected trend falsely indicates a large increase in the share of single mothers living with their parents. In reality, there was little change in the percentage of single mothers living in this arrangement over the time period. However, the data indicate a large increase in the rate of cohabitation and a comparable decline in the rate of living independently among this population.     

Children's living arrangements in developing countries

This paper documents the wide variation in living arrangements experienced by children in developing regions using data from 19 Demographic and Health Surveys. Traditionally, researchers and policymakers concerned with child welfare have assumed that, apart from exceptional cases, children live with their mothers, experience childhood together with their siblings, and have access to resources from both biological parents. Data presented in this paper contradict this assumption. The data demonstrate that, in many countries of sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America as opposed to parts of Asia and North Africa, children spend substantial proportions of their childhood years apart from one or both parents and, by extension, apart from at least some of their siblings. The mothers of many of these children do not live with a partner or are in marital circumstances that may attenuate the link between the child and the father. In countries where child fostering is practiced, the likelihood that children will live apart from their mothers is negatively related to their mother's access to the resources of their fathers and other relatives and positively related to the number of younger siblings. The focus of the paper is on four essential elements of children's living arrangements that influence their access to resources: (1) mother-child co-residence, (2) father-child coresidence, (3) household structure and (4) the number, presence and spacing of siblings. The research suggests that significant proportions of young children, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, benefit from the support provided by family members other than their parents. This support, which involves the coresidence of family members beyond the nuclear unit, can take many forms: the co-residence of three generations within the same household, the inclusion of a single mother and her children as a sub-family within a more complex household, or the exchange of children between kin. Surprisingly, despite enormous variations between countries in current fertility rates (ranging from roughly 2 to 7 births per woman), children in countries as diverse as Thailand and Mali spend their childhood with no more than 2 to 3 children on average sharing the same household. Thus, childhood as it is experienced in many parts of the developing world has much that is common despite apparent differences and much else that is different despite apparent similarities.This is a substantially revised version of a paper presented at the Demographic and Health Surveys World Conference in Washington, DC, 5–7 August 1991.     

Nativity,duration of residence and the life course pattern of extended family living in the USA

Recent changes in US immigration policy anddomestic welfare policies affecting immigrants haveled to concerns that families will face greaterpressure to provide for extended family members.Extended family households are important resources fornew immigrants to the USA and an integral part of theadaptive strategy of immigrants. This paper examinesthe competing roles of duration of residence in theUSA, aging and changes over time in explainingincreases in extended family living between 1980 and1990. The results from a pooled sample of 1980 and1990 Census data indicate that recent arrivals aremore likely to share households with extended kin butit is older immigrants who face an increasedlikelihood of such coresidence over time. Multinomiallogistic regression analysis demonstrates that thelife course pattern of coresidence remains whenchanges in socioeconomic status are controlled. Theresults suggest that policy changes limiting publicfunds available to new arrivals will have a largerimpact on families sponsoring older family members.     

Moving beyond the household: Innovations in data collection on kinship

Across settings, it has been shown that the co-residential household is an insufficient measure of family structure and support. However, it continues to be the primary means of population data collection. To address this problem, we developed a new instrument, the Kinship Support Tree (KST), to collect kinship structure and support data on co-residential and non-residential kin and tested it on a sample of 462 single mothers and their children in a slum community in Nairobi, Kenya. This instrument is unique in four important ways: (1) it is not limited to the co-residential household; (2) it distinguishes potential from functional kin; (3) it incorporates multiple geospatial measures; and (4) it collects data on kin relationships specifically for children. In this paper, we describe the KST instrument, assess the data collected in comparison to data from household rosters, and consider the challenges and feasibility of administration of the KST.     

Single Motherhood and Child Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Life Course Perspective

Single motherhood in sub-Saharan Africa has received surprisingly little attention, although it is widespread and has critical implications for children’s well-being. Using survival analysis techniques, we estimate the probability of becoming a single mother over women’s life course and investigate the relationship between single motherhood and child mortality in 11 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Although a mere 5 % of women in Ethiopia have a premarital birth, one in three women in Liberia will become mothers before first marriage. Compared with children whose parents were married, children born to never-married single mothers were significantly more likely to die before age 5 in six countries (odds ratios range from 1.36 in Nigeria to 2.61 in Zimbabwe). In addition, up to 50 % of women will become single mothers as a consequence of divorce or widowhood. In nine countries, having a formerly married mother was associated with a significantly higher risk of dying (odds ratios range from 1.29 in Zambia to 1.75 in Kenya) relative to having married parents. Children of divorced women typically had the poorest outcomes. These results highlight the vulnerability of children with single mothers and suggest that policies aimed at supporting single mothers could help to further reduce child mortality in sub-Saharan Africa.     

Do coresidency and financial transfers from the children reduce the need for elderly parents to works in developing countries?

Do elderly parents use coresidence with or financial transfers from children to reduce their own labour supply in old age? This paper is one of only a few studies that seeks to formally model elderly labour supply in the context of a developing country while taking into account coresidency with and financial transfers from children. We find little evidence that support from children—either through transfers or coresidency—substitutes for elderly parents’ need to work. Thus, as in developed countries, there is a role for public policy to enhance the welfare of the elderly population.     

The Family Context of Cohabitation and Single Motherhood in Latin America

The dramatic shift from marriage to cohabitation during the last four decades in most Latin American countries, even among the upper social strata, begs the question as to the living arrangements of cohabiting couples and single mothers. The new “Family Interrelationships Variables” in the IPUMS samples of Latin American censuses facilitated the construction of an enlarged LIPRO typology. LIPRO classifies individuals with respect to the types of households in which they are living. The results indicate that cohabiting women and single mothers aged 25 to 29 are frequently found in their parental households or in other extended or composite households. However, there are large variations depending on country and education. For instance, cohabitation is mainly in nuclear households, as in Europe, in Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Brazil, and Argentina. It occurs mainly in the context of extended households in Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, and Cuba. Mexico and Chile occupy intermediate positions. In all instances co‐residence of cohabiting couples with other kin drops significantly upon the transition to parenthood, at which point there are no longer any differences between cohabiting and married couples. Single mothers, however, continue to co‐reside in extended or composite households to a larger extent, and this holds particularly for the better‐educated among them. This analysis illustrates that cohabitation of the traditional type and of the “Second Demographic Transition” type are found alongside each other, with one being more important than the other depending on country and on educational level or social class within each country.     

The Prevalence and Economic Value of Doubling Up

“Doubling up” (living with relatives or nonkin) is a common source of support for low-income families, yet no study to date has estimated its economic value relative to other types of public and private support. Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we examine the prevalence and economic value of doubling up among families with young children living in large American cities. We find that doubling up is a very important part of the private safety net in the first few years of a child’s life, with nearly 50 % of mothers reporting at least one instance of doubling up by the time their child is 9 years old. The estimated rental savings from doubling up is significant and comparable in magnitude to other public and private transfers.     

It takes a virtual village: Childbearing women's experience of a closed Facebook support group for mothers

BackgroundChildbearing women engage in large public pregnancy and parenting forums, primarily for the purpose of seeking information and advice. There is an absence of research related to women's engagement in closed and private online mothers’ groups.AimThe aim of this study was to explore the experiences of participation and support for members within a closed online mothers’ group.MethodA qualitative study using in-depth interviews. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.FindingsThis study demonstrated that a closed online mothers’ group enabled a group of childbearing women to overcome isolation and form sustained, evolving and supportive friendships within a small, private and trusted group. The technology allowed women to engage and share at a level much deeper than what they would in “real life”. The depth of sharing was enhanced in a closed online mothers’ group due to a smaller, private audience of trusted friends. Virtual support felt safer than face-to-face support as information could not impact one's real world reputation, and communication was able to be controlled. This was particularly helpful to women experiencing social difficulties or isolation.ConclusionThis study has provided a unique and rare insight into the private world of closed online mothers’ groups. As a virtual village, this closed group enabled childbearing women to form a small community with members sharing responsibility and working for the wellbeing and benefit of all. By encouraging, locating and establishing similar groups, maternity health professionals may assist women to access their own ‘virtual village’.     

Males’ Later-Life Mortality Consequences of Coresidence With Paternal Grandparents: Evidence From Northeast China, 1789–1909

In this study, we investigate the effect of early-life coresidence with paternal grandparents on male mortality risks in adulthood and older age in northeast China from 1789 to 1909. Despite growing interest in the influence of grandparents on child outcomes, few studies have examined the effect of coresidence with grandparents in early life on mortality in later life. We find that coresidence with paternal grandmothers in childhood is associated with higher mortality risks for males in adulthood. This may reflect the long-term effects of conflicts between mothers and their mothers-in-law. These results suggest that in extended families, patterns of coresidence in childhood may have long-term consequences for mortality, above and beyond the effects of common environmental and genetic factors, even when effects on childhood mortality are not readily apparent.     

A Multigenerational View of Inequality

The study of intergenerational mobility and most population research are governed by a two-generation (parent-to-offspring) view of intergenerational influence, to the neglect of the effects of grandparents and other ancestors and nonresident contemporary kin. While appropriate for some populations in some periods, this perspective may omit important sources of intergenerational continuity of family-based social inequality. Social institutions, which transcend individual lives, help support multigenerational influence, particularly at the extreme top and bottom of the social hierarchy, but to some extent in the middle as well. Multigenerational influence also works through demographic processes because families influence subsequent generations through differential fertility and survival, migration, and marriage patterns, as well as through direct transmission of socioeconomic rewards, statuses, and positions. Future research should attend more closely to multigenerational effects; to the tandem nature of demographic and socioeconomic reproduction; and to data, measures, and models that transcend coresident nuclear families.     

Should International Migration Be Encouraged to Offset Population Aging? A Cross-Country Analysis of Public Attitudes in Europe

Concerns about population aging in Europe have occupied the attention of policy makers and demographers for over a decade. Some policy makers have proposed increased immigration to offset the aging of the population (i.e., replacement migration). However, demographers have estimated that a very high (and likely untenable) level of immigration would be required, and little is known about whether the national publics of Europe would support international migration as a potential solution to population aging. Using Eurobarometer data from 2006 and concurrent country-level measures from Eurostat, this study examines individual- and contextual-level factors related to public attitudes toward immigration as an effective solution to the problem of population aging in the current 27 member countries of the European Union. Results from multilevel logit analyses indicate that urban, university-educated, and childless individuals are consistently more likely than others to endorse replacement migration. Countries with more prosperous economies and proportionally fewer foreign-born residents also show more supportive attitudes. Such results echo research on anti-immigrant sentiment, suggesting considerable public resistance to population policies that might encourage large-scale immigration. At the same time, these findings show consistent patterns of endorsement despite demographers’ criticism of the concept of replacement migration and concerns about developing alternative long-term strategies.     

Covering nipples: news discourse and the framing of breastfeeding

Health experts are in widespread agreement that breastfeeding is generally the best option for infants and their mothers. The right to breastfeed in public has been guaranteed in forty-seven states in the US as a means to support nursing mothers and their babies, yet breastfeeding in public remains a controversial act. This project represents a textual analysis of news articles in the top ten newspapers in the United States to study the way breastfeeding is framed. We focus particular attention on the way one word, “nipple,” is treated in news coverage and argue that by using this word in connection with sexuality or pathology, news reports inhibit efforts to normalize nursing. Our findings suggest that because of journalism’s role in framing public discourse, a more frank, frequent and open use of the word nipple might better serve the needs of maternal–infant health.     

Testing the Economic Independence Hypothesis: The Effect of an Exogenous Increase in Child Support on Subsequent Marriage and Cohabitation

We examine the effects of an increase in income on the cohabitation and marriage of single mothers. Using data from an experiment that resulted in randomly assigned differences in child support receipt for welfare-receiving single mothers, we find that exogenous income increases (as a result of receiving all child support that was paid) are associated with significantly lower cohabitation rates between mothers and men who are not the fathers of their child(ren). Overall, these results support the hypothesis that additional income increases disadvantaged women’s economic independence by reducing the need to be in the least stable type of partnerships. Our results also show the potential importance of distinguishing between biological and social fathers.     

‘I really needed help’: What mothers say about their post-birth care in Queensland,Australia

BackgroundAustralian mothers consistently rate postnatal care as the poorest aspect of their maternity care, and researchers and policymakers have widely acknowledged the need for improvement in how postnatal care is provided.AimTo identify and analyse mothers’ comments about postnatal care in their free text responses to an open ended question in the Having a Baby in Queensland Survey, 2010, and reflect on their implications for midwifery practice and maternity service policies.MethodsThe survey assessed mothers’ experiences of maternity care four months after birth. We analysed free-text data from an open-ended question inviting respondents to write ‘anything else you would like to tell us’. Of the final survey sample (N = 7193), 60% (N = 4310) provided comments, 26% (N = 1100) of which pertained to postnatal care. Analysis included the coding and enumeration of issues to identify the most common problems commented on by mothers. Comments were categorised according to whether they related to in-hospital or post-discharge care, and whether they were reported by women birthing in public or private birthing facilities.ResultsThe analysis revealed important differences in maternal experiences according to birthing sector: mothers birthing in public facilities were more likely to raise concerns about the quality and/or duration of their in-hospital stay than those in private facilities. Conversely, mothers who gave birth in private facilities were more likely to raise concerns about inadequate post-discharge care. Regardless of birthing sector, however, a substantial proportion of all mothers spontaneously raised concerns about their experiences of inadequate and/or inconsistent breastfeeding support.ConclusionWomen who birth in private facilities were more likely to spontaneously report concerns about their level of post-discharge care than women from public facilities in Queensland, and publically provided community based care is not sufficient to meet women's needs. Inadequate or inconsistent professional breastfeeding support remains a major issue for early parenting women regardless of birthing sector.     

Patrilocal Residence and Female Labor Supply: Evidence From Kyrgyzstan

Many people live in patrilocal societies, which prescribe that women move in with their husbands’ parents, relieve their in-laws from housework, and care for them in old age. This arrangement is likely to have labor market consequences, in particular for women. We study the effect of coresidence on female labor supply in Kyrgyzstan, a strongly patrilocal setting. We account for the endogeneity of coresidence by exploiting the tradition that youngest sons usually live with their parents. In both OLS and IV estimations, the effect of coresidence on female labor supply is negative and insignificant. This finding is in contrast to previous studies, which found positive effects in less patrilocal settings. We go beyond earlier work by investigating effect channels. In Kyrgyzstan, coresiding women invest more time in elder care than women who do not coreside, and they do not receive parental support in housework.     

Child Support in Immigrant Families

In this study, we use nationally representative data from the U.S. Current Population Survey-Child Support Supplement (N = 28,047) to examine differences in nonresident fathers’ material contributions between children of native and foreign-born mothers. We focus on contributions provided through the formal child support system (whether the mother has a child support agreement and the amount received), as well as support provided informally (the amount of informal cash and whether she receives any in-kind support). We control for a variety of individual and household characteristics, including whether the nonresident father lives in a different state or in a different country. We find that foreign-born mothers are much less likely to have a child support agreement than native-born mothers, but have similar amounts of formal support, once an agreement is in place. Compared to native-born mothers, foreign-born mothers are also much less likely to receive in-kind support, but this difference is completely explained by fathers’ distance from the child. Foreign-born mothers do not differ at all on the amount of informal cash support received from fathers. Nonresident fathers’ residence outside the U.S. is an important mechanism through which nativity affects the likelihood of having a child support order and receiving any in-kind support, but not the amount of formal support (given an order) or the amount of informal cash support. Aggregate comparisons mask important differences within the foreign-born group by mothers’ and children’s citizenship status, years in the U.S., and region of origin.     

Coresidence With Husband’s Parents,Labor Supply,and Duration to First Birth

This article investigates the time to first birth, treating coresidence with husband’s parents and labor supply as endogenous and using representative data on Taiwanese married women born during 1933–1968. We use a full-information maximum likelihood estimator for a duration model with endogenous binary variables. Results controlling for endogeneity suggest that both coresidence and working are associated with a delay in childbearing, reversing the effect of coresidence on the timing of first birth but not that of working. Women in earlier cohorts tend to choose coresidency and not working, and an increasing number of women from later cohorts choose to do both or to work only.