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Mental Health Problems Among Single Mothers: Implications for Work and Welfare Reform
Author(s) -
Jayakody Rukmalie,
Stauffer Dawn
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/0022-4537.00188
Subject(s) - welfare , mental health , welfare reform , intervention (counseling) , logistic regression , psychology , work (physics) , population , social welfare , single mothers , psychiatry , medicine , developmental psychology , environmental health , economics , political science , mechanical engineering , engineering , market economy , law
Welfare reform's emphasis on work and self‐sufficiency assumes that poor single mothers are similar in their status and functioning to the rest of the population. However, we find that their status is quite distinct. Logistic regression results reveal that the likelihood of working is 25% lower for those with a psychiatric disorder. Mental health problems may prevent women from undertaking the tasks necessary to find employment, or women with these problems may lack the self‐confidence needed to take on new challenges. Our findings suggest that mental health problems among single mothers deserve greater attention as a barrier to self‐sufficiency and highlight the need for more effective intervention and treatment efforts to improve economic and social outcomes.