Income poverty, material deprivation and lone parenthood

Citation

Treanor MC (2018) Income poverty, material deprivation and lone parenthood. In: Nieuwenhuis R & Maldonado L (eds.) The Triple Bind of Single-Parent Families: Resources, employment and policies to improve wellbeing. Bristol: Policy Press. https://policypress.co.uk/the-triple-bind-of-single-parent-families

Abstract
Lone parents are less likely to be in employment and their annual changes in work intensity is statistically significantly higher compared to their coupled counterparts. Additionally, their income poverty and high levels of material deprivation indicate precarious, low-pay employment. They experience exceedingly high levels of material deprivation compared to all other family formations and have increasing levels of material deprivation the longer they remain a lone-parent. When all these factors are taken into account, it is not the state of lone-parenthood that is negatively associated with child wellbeing, nor transitions in family formations, but the low levels of income and high levels of material deprivation they experience. In order to improve child wellbeing, policy needs to begin by securing the financial circumstances of lone-parents

Keywords
lone parents; single parents; income; poverty; child poverty; material deprivation; wellbeing; employment; work intensity