Leaving lone parenthood: analysis of the repartnering patterns of lone mothers in the U.K.

Abstract

Despite a wealth of research in the U.K. on the stock of lone parents, in recent years there has been a lack of research on the dynamics of lone parenthood, particularly leaving lone parenthood. In an attempt to fill this gap, this thesis provides a detailed study of repartnering patterns of lone mothers in the U.K. This study uses the first 14 waves of the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), a nationally representative survey conducted annually which interviews every adult member of a sample of around 5,000 households amounting to around 10,000 individual interviews. This data is particularly advantageous for this study due to its prospective longitudinal nature, allowing lone mothers to be captured at the point of entry into lone motherhood and their repartnering patterns to be analysed over subsequent waves. In addition the data enabled the construction of marital and cohabitation histories for lone mothers in order to control for any effect of prior union history on the probability of repartnering.
Employing discrete time event history analysis techniques, the first part of this research examines repartnering among two distinct groups of lone mothers; those entering through the breakdown of a cohabiting or marital union and those entering through the birth of a child whilst single and never-married. Of particular interest is the effect of these different routes of entry into lone motherhood on the timing and determinants of repartnering and the types of new unions formed. The second part of the study seeks to identify if repartnering is associated with improved well-being for lone mothers. Using a series of pooled logistic regression models this thesis explores the association of repartnering with transitions in three domains: economic, demographic and health.
Amongst those entering lone motherhood through the breakdown of a previous partnership the most important determinant of repartnering is found to be age at entry into lone motherhood. However, the economic situation of a lone mother, in particular whether or not she was receiving Income Support, has a much stronger influence on repartnering among single never married lone mothers than age. The duration of lone motherhood is found to be similar for both types of lone mother, -estimated at around five years, however controlling for a number of demographic and socio-economic factors suggests the probability of repartnering is lower for those entering through the breakdown of a cohabitation compared with those entering through the dissolution of a marriage. There appears to be a preference for cohabitation over marriage with nearly three quarters of those who repartnered moving into a cohabiting union. However, the higher chance of moving into a marriage for those who were previously married appears to result from a high proportion reconciling with a former partner.
Examining the relationship between repartnering and other transitions occurring in three domains reveals that repartnering is likely to occur against a backdrop of other changes. Repartnering is strongly associated with an improvement in financial situation, residential mobility and an increase in the number of resident dependent children. Although no direct link is found between repartnering and improved mental health outcomes, the strong association between improved financial well-being and an improvement in mental health indicates repartnering may be indirectly related to better mental health. However, the finding of a direct association between poorer mental health and repartnering warrants further investigation

More information

Identifiers

ORCID for J. Falkingham: orcid.org/0000-0002-7135-5875

ORCID for A. Berrington: orcid.org/0000-0002-1683-6668

Catalogue record

Export record