IPR Policy Brief - Lone mothers, work and depression (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Influence of Employment on Depression: a Study of British Single and Partnered Mothers
2012
This paper explores the relationship between mother’s participation in paid employment and depression in the UK. It uses 18-waves of data from the British Household Panel Survey and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) to investigate this relationship at two points in time, 1993/98 and 2003/08. The findings show that maternal employment is associated with lower levels of mental distress for both married and single mothers. This relationship has become stronger over time for partnered mothers. For single mothers the association of work with a reduced incidence of depression is a new phenomenon only observed in the later period. Two potential reasons for these changes over time are investigated, those resulting from (i) changes in selection into employment and (ii) changes in occupation.
The Lancet Public Health
Background In the UK, lone parents must seek work as a condition of receiving welfare benefits once their youngest child reaches a certain age. Since 2008, the lower age limit at which these Lone Parent Obligations (LPO) apply has been reduced in steps. We used data from a nationally representative, longitudinal, household panel study to analyse the health effects of increased welfare conditionality under LPO. Methods From the Understanding Society survey, we used data for lone mothers who were newly exposed to LPO when the age cutoff was reduced from 7 to 5 years in 2012 (intervention group 1) and from 10 to 7 years in 2010 (intervention group 2), as well as lone mothers who remained unexposed (control group 1) or continuously exposed (control group 2) at those times. We did difference-indifference analyses that controlled for differences in the fixed characteristics of participants in the intervention and control groups to estimate the effect of exposure to conditionality on the health of lone mothers. Our primary outcome was the difference in change over time between the intervention and control groups in scores on the Mental Component Summary (MCS) of the 12-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12). Findings The mental health of lone mothers declined in the intervention groups compared with the control groups. For intervention group 1, scores on the MCS decreased by 1•39 (95% CI-1•29 to 4•08) compared with control group 1 and by 2•29 (0•00 to 4•57) compared with control group 2. For intervention group 2, MCS scores decreased by 2•45 (-0•57 to 5•48) compared with control group 1 and by 1•28 (-1•45 to 4•00) compared with control group 2. When pooling the two intervention groups, scores on the MCS decreased by 2•13 (0•10 to 4•17) compared with control group 1 and 2•21 (0•30 to 4•13) compared with control group 2. Interpretation Stringent conditions for receiving welfare benefits are increasingly common in high-income countries. Our results suggest that requiring lone parents with school-age children toseek work as a condition of receiving welfare benefits adversely affects their mental health.
Lone parents, health, wellbeing and welfare to work: a systematic review of qualitative studies
BMC Public Health, 2016
Background: Lone parents and their children experience higher than average levels of adverse health and social outcomes, much of which are explained by high rates of poverty. Many high income countries have attempted to address high poverty rates by introducing employment requirements for lone parents in receipt of welfare benefits. However, there is evidence that employment may not reduce poverty or improve the health of lone parents and their children. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of qualitative studies reporting lone parents' accounts of participation in welfare to work (WtW), to identify explanations and possible mechanisms for the impacts of WtW on health and wellbeing. Twenty one bibliographic databases were searched. Two reviewers independently screened references and assessed study quality. Studies from any high income country that met the criteria of focussing on lone parents, mandatory WtW interventions, and health or wellbeing were included. Thematic synthesis was used to investigate analytic themes between studies. Results: Screening of the 4703 identified papers and quality assessment resulted in the inclusion of 16 qualitative studies of WtW in five high income countries, USA, Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand, covering a variety of welfare regimes. Our synthesis found that WtW requirements often conflicted with child care responsibilities. Available employment was often poorly paid and precarious. Adverse health impacts, such as increased stress, fatigue, and depression were commonly reported, though employment and appropriate training was linked to increased self-worth for some. WtW appeared to influence health through the pathways of conflict and control, analytical themes which emerged during synthesis. WtW reduced control over the nature of employment and care of children. Access to social support allowed some lone parents to manage the conflict associated with employment, and to increase control over their circumstances, with potentially beneficial health impacts. Conclusion: WtW can result in increased conflict and reduced control, which may lead to negative impacts on mental health. Availability of social support may mediate the negative health impacts of WtW.
Health and wellbeing of lone parents in welfare to work: a systematic review of qualitative studies
The Lancet, 2015
Background Lone parents have worse health than couple parents, which is largely explained by higher levels of poverty. Many high income countries have attempted to address poverty by introducing mandatory requirements to actively seek employment or participate in training for welfare recipients, including lone parents. However, employment might not reduce poverty or improve the health of lone parents. To assess experiences of welfare to work and gain insight into possible mechanisms linking interventions with health and wellbeing, this study systematically reviewed qualitative data from studies of lone parents' experiences of mandatory welfare to work. Methods 21 bibliographic databases were searched (appendix) for articles published between July 16, 2009, and July 6, 2013, with no language restrictions; search-term sets were used for the topics, lone parent and welfare to work. Studies that met the criteria of focusing on lone parents, mandatory welfare to work interventions, and health or wellbeing were imported into NVivo (version 10) for coding. Two reviewers independently screened references, assessed study quality for clarity and appropriateness of methods, and developed the coding framework. Thematic synthesis, a method to facilitate transparency when identifying analytical themes between studies, was used to guide line-by-line coding of the data. Findings From 4703 papers identifi ed, 16 studies (724 participants) from fi ve high income countries were included. Although the balance of evidence was on negative fi ndings-ie, linking welfare to work to negative health eff ects, such as stress, fatigue, and depression-there were some positive reports of improved self-worth. Available employment was often precarious and poorly paid. The demands of parenting were frequently in direct confl ict with employment and welfare to work obligations, and aff ected parents' control over major life decisions and everyday routines. Therefore, the concepts of confl ict and control seemed to encapsulate how welfare to work aff ected health. Social support allowed some parents to manage these confl icts, allowing greater control over their circumstances, and for some mediating the adverse health eff ects of welfare to work. Interpretation Participation in mandatory welfare to work can result in increased confl ict and reduced control for lone parents, leading to negative eff ects on mental health. The potential benefi ts of welfare to work are dependent on access to adequate social support and suitable employment opportunities; however these are often unavailable to lone parents in welfare to work.
Motherhood, Employment and the Development of Depression
British Journal of Psychiatry, 1990
A prospective inquiry of a largely working-class sample of women with children considers the effect of employment on risk of developing clinical depression. The hypothesis was that there would be a direct protective effect arising from employment once quality of other support was taken into account. In fact full-time working mothers were at high risk. This appeared to be explained by either prior work strain or a severe event involving ‘deviant’ behaviour on the part of husband/boyfriend or child. Neither factor was relevant for part-time workers. The severe events appeared to be particularly depressogenic for full-time workers because they represented either failure in the motherhood role or a sense of entrapment in an unrewarding work/domestic situation. However, those in part-time work had a low rate of onset compared with non-workers, and the difference appears to be related to non-working women feeling less secure about their marriages.