Mortality among lone mothers in Sweden: a population study
Gunilla Weitoft2000, The Lancet
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Abstract
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This study investigates the mortality rates among lone mothers in Sweden, highlighting significant disparities compared to mothers with partners. The findings indicate that lone mothers experience higher mortality rates, particularly due to ischaemic heart disease, cancer, respiratory diseases, and injuries. The research underscores the importance of social welfare dependence and socioeconomic factors in understanding the health outcomes of lone mothers, suggesting that psychological stress and financial difficulties contribute significantly to their health disadvantages.
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Lone mothers are more likely to be unemployed and in poverty, which are both factors associated with a risk of poor health. In Switzerland, weak work-family reconciliation policies and taxation that favours married couples adopting the traditional male breadwinner model translate into low labour market participation rate for mothers. In the case of lone mothers, employment can be associated with better health because it eases the potential economic hardship associated with being the sole earner. However, working can represent an additional stress factor due to lone mothers’ responsibility as the main caregiver. We investigate how family arrangements and employment status are associated with self-reported health in Switzerland. Our analyses on the Swiss Household Panel (waves 1999-2011) suggest that lone mothers who are out of the labour market have a higher probability of reporting poor health, especially those with an upper secondary level of education. Lone mothers reported being in better health when working full-time versus part-time, whereas the opposite applied to mothers living with a partner.
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This study analyses self-rated health and non-employment and potential synergy effects among lone and couple mothers aged 25-59 in Britain, Sweden and Italy, representing different family policy categories using data from national surveys (2000-2005). Synergy effects on health were calculated by synergy index. Non-employment only marginally contributed to the excess risk of poor health among lone mothers but there were synergy effects between lone motherhood and non-employment in all three countries, producing a higher risk of poor health than would be expected from a simple addition of these exposures. Results are discussed in relation to the different family policy and living contexts.
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Canadian journal of public …, 2004
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Lone motherhood and socio-economic disadvantage: insights from quantitative and qualitative evidence
The Sociological Review, 2005
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Appendix_JFI_Lonemothers-2019_05_07 – Supplemental material for Lone Mothers' Repartnering Trajectories and Health: Does the Welfare Context Matter?
2019
Supplemental material, Appendix_JFI_Lonemothers-2019_05_07 for Lone Mothers' Repartnering Trajectories and Health: Does the Welfare Context Matter? by Claudia Recksiedler and Laura Bernardi in Journal of Family Issues
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Background Living alone is increasingly common and has been depicted as an important cause of mortality. We examined the association between living alone and mortality risks among older men and women in northern Sweden, by linking two unique longitudinal datasets. Methods We used the Linnaeus database, which links several population registers on socioeconomic and health. This register-based study included 22,226 men and 23,390 women aged 50 and 60 years in Västerbotten County who had participated in the Västerbotten Intervention Program (VIP) during 1990–2006, with a total of 445,823 person-years of observation. We conducted Cox-proportional hazard regression to assess the risk of living alone on the mortality that was observed between 1990 and 2015, controlling for socio-demographic factors, chronic disease risk factors and access to social capital. Results Older men and women who lived alone with no children at home were at a significantly higher risk of death compared to married/...
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