ABSTRACT

In Europe, the percentage of lone-parent families has risen from 14% to 19% between 1996 and 2012. Only in Greece and Finland did the rates fall, while in Denmark and the Republic of Ireland the rise has reached or exceeded 10 percent. As of 2017, there are 2.9 million lone parents with dependent children in the UK, and nine out of ten lone parents are women. Sadly, lone parents are known to experience considerable social, financial, and health problems.

Fertility, Health and Lone Parenting examines the way in which lone parents live their lives, and how it impacts their health and well-being. Topics explored in these interdisciplinary contributions include lifestyle, nutrition, and the mental health of both parents and children. Unique empirical case studies within a European context help to expand the reader’s understanding, whilst also drawing comparisons between the impacts of lone parenting on young mothers, fathers and their children.

A timely volume, this book will appeal to undergraduate and postgraduate students interested in subjects such as Sociology of the Family, Social Policy, Social Work, Gender Studies and Family Policy.

chapter |7 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|18 pages

Lone parents in the UK

chapter 2|20 pages

Lone parents, poverty and mental health

Results from the Poverty and Social Exclusion Survey 2012

chapter 3|17 pages

Mental ill-health among parents after divorce and separation

Causes, consequences and compounding factors

chapter 4|17 pages

Surviving, not thriving

Eating and health in lone-parent families in the UK

chapter 5|13 pages

Child health and lone motherhood

Evidence from the UK Millennium Cohort Study

chapter 6|17 pages

The disparities in health and quality of life in child protection

The case of the Loire-Atlantique department

chapter 7|17 pages

Family context and adoption of risky lifestyles

A study of English adolescents

chapter 8|15 pages

Public health, social anxieties

The example of the English lone teenage mother

chapter 10|18 pages

Young fathers and their perspective of health and well-being

Examples from the ESRC ‘Following Young Fathers Study’

chapter 11|28 pages

Lone parents’ self-rated health in European comparative perspective

Socio-economic factors, job quality and social protection