IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jfamec/v46y2025i2d10.1007_s10834-024-09954-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Loud Silent Side of Single Parenthood in Europe: Health and Socio-Economic Circumstances from a Gender Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Paloma Lanza-León

    (Universidad de Cantabria
    Valdecilla Biomedical Institute Research - IDIVAL)

  • David Cantarero-Prieto

    (Universidad de Cantabria
    Valdecilla Biomedical Institute Research - IDIVAL
    Santander Financial Institute – SANFI)

Abstract

Lone parenthood is one of the multiple accepted family types that make up today’s societies. In Europe, 3.2% of total households were single adults with children in 2019. Understanding the socioeconomic and demographic transformations that have led to the relatively high rates of single-parent families have attracted the attention and concern of researchers and policy makers. This study contributes to the literature by exploring trends in and predictors of health outcomes, lifestyle factors (obesity, smoking and alcohol) and social support among single-parent families and cohabiting couples in 20 European countries. To do so, microdata from the European Health Interview Survey-EHIS (2013–2015 and 2018–2020) is used. Running multivariate logistic regressions, we estimate the impact of individual factors associated with single parents’ health status, lifestyle factors and social support, adjusting by demographic characteristics and stressors. Our analysis suggests that both single mothers and fathers are left behind in several respects compared to their couple counterparts: lower education levels, lower income and worse economic conditions, worse physical health, and poorer social support relationships. Differences in health status, lifestyle factors and social support between single and couple parents, both mothers and fathers could be associated with the unequal distribution of demographic and stress factors found in this article. Understanding these characteristics of single-parent families could enable the establishment of community-level interventions to mitigate the adverse effects of lone parenthood and their children.

Suggested Citation

  • Paloma Lanza-León & David Cantarero-Prieto, 2025. "The Loud Silent Side of Single Parenthood in Europe: Health and Socio-Economic Circumstances from a Gender Perspective," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 479-491, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jfamec:v:46:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s10834-024-09954-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s10834-024-09954-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10834-024-09954-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10834-024-09954-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fritzell, Sara & Burstrom, Bo, 2006. "Economic strain and self-rated health among lone and couple mothers in Sweden during the 1990s compared to the 1980s," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(2-3), pages 253-264, December.
    2. Marta Pascual & David Cantarero & Paloma Lanza, 2018. "Health polarization and inequalities across Europe: an empirical approach," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 19(8), pages 1039-1051, November.
    3. Letizia Mencarini & Silvia Pasqua & Agnese Romiti, 2019. "Single-mother families and the gender gap in children’s time investment and non-cognitive skills," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 149-176, March.
    4. Kyoung Ae Kong & Hee Yeon Choi & Soo In Kim, 2017. "Mental health among single and partnered parents in South Korea," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(8), pages 1-16, August.
    5. Wickrama, K.A.S. & Lorenz, Frederick O. & Conger, Rand D. & Elder, Glen Jr & Todd Abraham, W. & Fang, Shu-Ann, 2006. "Changes in family financial circumstances and the physical health of married and recently divorced mothers," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 123-136, July.
    6. Burstrom, Bo & Whitehead, Margaret & Clayton, Stephen & Fritzell, Sara & Vannoni, Francesca & Costa, Giuseppe, 2010. "Health inequalities between lone and couple mothers and policy under different welfare regimes - The example of Italy, Sweden and Britain," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(6), pages 912-920, March.
    7. Fritzell, Sara & Ringbäck Weitoft, Gunilla & Fritzell, Johan & Burström, Bo, 2007. "From macro to micro: The health of Swedish lone mothers during changing economic and social circumstances," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(12), pages 2474-2488, December.
    8. Rebecca Jayne Stack & Alex Meredith, 2018. "The Impact of Financial Hardship on Single Parents: An Exploration of the Journey From Social Distress to Seeking Help," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 233-242, June.
    9. Dong-Sik Kim & Gyeong-Suk Jeon & Soong-Nang Jang, 2010. "Socioeconomic status, social support and self-rated health among lone mothers in South Korea," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 55(6), pages 551-559, December.
    10. Mine Hancioglu & Bastian Hartmann, 2014. "What Makes Single Mothers Expand or Reduce Employment?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 27-39, March.
    11. Rahkonen, Ossi & Laaksonen, Mikko & Karvonen, Sakari, 2005. "The contribution of lone parenthood and economic difficulties to smoking," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 211-216, July.
    12. Aaron Albert, 2018. "Parental duties, labor market behavior, and single fatherhood in America," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 1063-1083, December.
    13. Qin Li, 2020. "Mothers Left without a Man: Poverty and Single Parenthood in China," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(2), pages 114-122.
    14. Qin Li, 2020. "Mothers Left without a Man: Poverty and Single Parenthood in China," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(2), pages 114-122.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stefanie Sperlich & Frauke-Marie Adler & Johannes Beller & Batoul Safieddine & Juliane Tetzlaff & Fabian Tetzlaff & Siegfried Geyer, 2022. "Getting Better or Getting Worse? A Population-Based Study on Trends in Self-Rated Health among Single Mothers in Germany between 1994 and 2018," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-13, February.
    2. Robert Walker & Jane Millar, 2020. "Left Behind? The Status of Women in Contemporary China," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(2), pages 1-9.
    3. Valerie Heintz-Martin & Claudia Recksiedler & Alexandra N. Langmeyer, 2022. "Household Debt, Maternal Well-Being, and Child Adjustment in Germany: Examining the Family Stress Model by Family Structure," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 338-353, June.
    4. Dong-Sik Kim & Gyeong-Suk Jeon & Soong-Nang Jang, 2010. "Socioeconomic status, social support and self-rated health among lone mothers in South Korea," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 55(6), pages 551-559, December.
    5. Mohammad Siahpush & Raees A. Shaikh & Melissa Tibbits & Terry T-K Huang & Gopal K. Singh, 2013. "The Association of Lone-Motherhood with Smoking Cessation and Relapse: Prospective Results from an Australian National Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-14, July.
    6. Miriam Marcén & Marina Morales, 2019. "Live together: does culture matter?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 671-713, June.
    7. Kazuo YAMAGUCHI & Yoosik YOUM, 2012. "The Determinants of Low Marital Fertility in Korea: A comparison with Japan," Discussion papers 12013, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    8. Fritzell, Sara & Ringbäck Weitoft, Gunilla & Fritzell, Johan & Burström, Bo, 2007. "From macro to micro: The health of Swedish lone mothers during changing economic and social circumstances," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(12), pages 2474-2488, December.
    9. Nopriadi Saputra & Yosef Dedy Pradipto, 2022. "The Mediating Role of Personal Financial Management on Parenting Quality During COVID-19 Crisis," International Journal of Behavior Studies in Organizations, EUROKD, vol. 8, pages 1-11.
    10. Morales, Marina, 2018. "Can the composition of the family during adolescence influence their future unemployment situation? Evidence for Spain," MPRA Paper 86770, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Aitken, Zoe & Garrett, Cameryn C. & Hewitt, Belinda & Keogh, Louise & Hocking, Jane S. & Kavanagh, Anne M., 2015. "The maternal health outcomes of paid maternity leave: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 32-41.
    12. Mojgan Mirghafourvand & Sakineh Mohammad-Alizadeh Charandabi & Mohammad Asghari Jafarabadi & Nikta Tavananezhad & Mahsa Karkhane, 2016. "Predictors of Health-Related Quality of Life in Iranian Women of Reproductive Age," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 11(3), pages 723-737, September.
    13. Hélène Le Forner, 2023. "Parents' Separation: What is the Effect on Parents' and Children's Time Investments?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 85(4), pages 718-754, August.
    14. Petra Rattay & Elena von der Lippe, 2020. "Association between Living with Children and the Health and Health Behavior of Women and Men. Are There Differences by Age? Results of the “German Health Update” (GEDA) Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-19, May.
    15. Cynthia Bansak & Martha Starr, 2021. "Covid-19 shocks to education supply: how 200,000 U.S. households dealt with the sudden shift to distance learning," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 63-90, March.
    16. Kelsey R Landrum & Brian W Pence & Bradley N Gaynes & Josée M Dussault & Mina C Hosseinipour & Kazione Kulisewa & Jullita Kenela Malava & Jones Masiye & Harriet Akello & Michael Udedi & Chifundo C Zim, 2022. "The cross-sectional association of stressful life events with depression severity among patients with hypertension and diabetes in Malawi," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(12), pages 1-17, December.
    17. Meechan, Hannah & John, Mary & Hanna, Paul, 2021. "Understandings of mental health and support for Black male adolescents living in the UK," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    18. John Yfantopoulos, 2021. "Awaiting the “catharsis”," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 22(4), pages 499-504, June.
    19. Maskileyson, Dina, 2014. "Healthcare system and the wealth–health gradient: A comparative study of older populations in six countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 18-26.
    20. Yannakoulia, Mary & Panagiotakos, Demosthenes & Pitsavos, Christos & Skoumas, Yannis & Stafanadis, Christodoulos, 2008. "Eating patterns may mediate the association between marital status, body mass index, and blood cholesterol levels in apparently healthy men and women from the ATTICA study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(11), pages 2230-2239, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jfamec:v:46:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s10834-024-09954-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.