Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration, December 2002. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 104-114) Also available in print.

South African and international statistics indicate that single mother families account for a large and growing proportion of the population. The economic, practical, and emotional stresses of single mothering have been documented and the experience of isolation that often accompanies their circumstances is noted in the literature. Group therapy has been utilised as a treatment plan with single mothers to provide social support and to help the women cope with stress. This thesis examines the experience of single mothers who attended a slow, open group therapy intervention for single mothers at the Child Guidance Clinic, University of Cape Town. The study is located in a feminist social constructionist tradition that recognises the multiplicity of social realities. It places the women's experiences at the foreground of the investigation so as to allow for insight into the socially constructed and first-order reality of the respondents. The research investigates the women's subjective experiences of single parenting; their experiences in the group and its impact on them; and their perceptions of group processes that may have facilitated transformation in their lives. Ten members of the single mother groups were selected for in-depth interviews. Five of the most recent graduates were interviewed and five more participants were selected as the five longest standing members currently participating in the groups. The participants' length of stay in the group at the time of interview varied between eight months and five years. The women were drawn from a range of race, class, cultural and educational backgrounds. The data was collected using individual semi-structured in -depth interviews. A constructivist grounded theory approach was employed to analyse the data. Results revealed the value of the group therapy intervention as a transformative experience for these women who face the challenges of being single parents. The participants highlighted the interpersonal factor of the group intervention as central to their experience and identified this relational aspect as the unique site of their emotional growth. The five interpersonal factors that were identified are: non-judgemental acceptance; support; commonality of experience; reciprocity; and challenge and confrontation between group members. Their accounts of personal changes brought about by participation in the group reflect internal intrapsychic transformations, which are understood in terms of increased se lf-acceptance, enhanced self-esteem, and improved self-confidence. Furthermore, their accounts of personal transformations include a reorganisation of their relational patterns from their immediate to their larger social context. The centrality of relational processes in this research reinforces contemporary theory of women's psychology, particularly theory emerging from the Stone Center, which offers a view of women's psychological growth as occurring in and through participation and engagement with others to achieve more mature and satisfying forms of relating. The accounts of personal and collective transformation provide further insight in to the concept of relational empowerment as it occurs in these groups and offer an understanding of the potentially restorative value of group therapy for single mothers. Future therapeutic interventions are considered and the need for further research in the field is discussed.

Background: Studies have reported that one of the outcomes of on-going social and demographic transition is breakdown in families’ structure. Thus the emergence of single mother families is an observed trend which is associated with poverty and negative child outcome. This study examines the levels and factors associated with single motherhood in Southern Africa. Data source and methods: This is a cross-sectional study of Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data sets for three Southern African countries of study: Lesotho (DHS) 2009, Swaziland (DHS) 2006-2007 and, Zimbabwe (DHS) 2010-2011. A total sample of 5586 women aged 15-49 for Zimbabwe, 4063 for Swaziland and 2541 for Lesotho who are either currently married or not and have at least one dependent child prior to the survey was included in the study. Data analysis was done at three stages; univariate, bivariate and multivariate level. Multivariate logistic regression which yielded odds ratio was used to identify the socioeconomic and demographic correlates of single motherhood. Results: The findings showed that the level of single motherhood in Zimbabwe is 20% (1091), Lesotho 25% (1011) and Swaziland 41% (1041) with premarital childbearing as the main source of single motherhood in the region, while widowhood and divorce is relatively low. Comparing the three countries of study in terms of correlates of single motherhood, the evidence suggested that age of respondents and number of living children, are correlates of single motherhood while religion was found not to be associated with single motherhood in all the countries of study. Younger women were more likely to become single mothers compared to older women while women with more than 2 living children are less likely to be single mothers compared to those with 1 or 2 living children. Conclusion: This study concludes that single motherhood is high in southern Africa. The implication of the rapid spread of single motherhood both reflects and reinforces the declining significance of marriage as a family status and a context for bearing and raising children. Also it may have negative implications for children from single mother families and the mothers themselves.

Firstly, the government support system provided welfare support for single mothers through danwei institution and social assistance system. Danwei used to provide general welfare for single mothers and ensure their economic security. With the demise of danwei , many working single mothers started to xiagang (lose job) and became poor. Social assistance system was recently established in China to ensure the subsistence security of the poor and single mothers were also included. But since the subsistence allowance was too low, the benefit of its effect limited. / In the context of changing social economic and structure in China, poverty of single mothers is becoming an important issue in social policy and social welfare. How do single single mothers react against poverty? What kinds of welfare support are provided to them by the government, the market and the community? Could single single mothers alleviate poverty successfully under the present welfare support system? In order to answer these questions, this study takes the low-income single mothers in Beijing as the research target and examines the structure, context and effect of their welfare support system which were composed by the government, the market and the community. The study puts forward a new welfare support system design for single mothers by studying the main characters and the main problems of the actual welfare support system. / Secondly, the market support system provided welfare support through the free labor market. Single mothers in this study confronted the double discrimination due to gender and age in the labor market; and they usually only get low-income job in marginal employment. Most re-employed single mothers in this study were still living in poor conditions, they were in fact working poor. / The study concludes that to cope with poverty, single mothers in this Beijing small sample had to ask for formal welfare support, mainly social assistance, medical assistance and family assistance. Single mothers in this study had a welfare support system primarily based on the family and taking the family as the latent welfare provider by stressing the mutual responsibility of family members. Although this type of welfare support system can ensure the subsistence security of single mothers, it cannot help them stay away from threat of poverty. Considering the situation of China, it is suggested that the welfare support system for single mother should be primarily based on employment and taking the government, family and NGOs as the complementary sources of welfare support. This will help single mothers strengthen their self-development and independence, so they can positively and effectively respond to poverty. / The study takes a qualitative approach and the analysis is based on the materials stemmed from the in-depth interviews of 20 low-income single mothers in Beijing, Xuan Wu district which were taken on Nov 2006-Jan 2007 and Jan 2008-Mar 2008 respectively. The main findings are described as the following: / Thirdly, the community support system provided welfare support for single mothers through family, neighbours, colleagues, friends, community organizations and NGOs Family was the main support resource for single mothers in this study the government and the market. Parents, brothers and sisters had provided plenty of support for single mothers such like economic, house and caring support which helped them respond to poverty and other needs. The diversity of family support had led to the diversity of single mothers' economic status. The ex-husbands and their families usually had little connections with single mothers in this study and the former hardly provided any welfare support for them. The neighbours usually provided caring support while the colleagues and friends usually provided working and emotional supports. The community organizations and NGOs provided support for sourcing employment, emotional support and short-term monetary or material support for single mothers. / 黃霞. / Adviser: Chack Kie Wong. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 72-01, Section: A, page: . / Submitted: Nov. 2009 / Thesis (doctoral)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 286-306). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Huang Xia.

The study explored a model that integrates human capital, family resource, employment and psychosocial factors to explain variation in economic self-sufficiency (ESS) among single mothers. A sample of 851 single mothers on Aid to Families with Dependent Children was selected from the Washington State Family Income Study data base. Data from a three-year period (6/88-5/91) were utilized to describe and analyze single mothers in transition from welfare. When compared to a sample of non-poor single mothers, mothers on public assistance differed significantly in several ways: They were younger, had more children and were more likely to have parents who received public assistance. Educational levels were significantly lower, as was employment activity. Economic self-sufficiency was measured as the ratio of welfare benefits to household income. Degree of ESS improved over the three-year period: While 60 percent of single mothers relied on welfare for more than half their income in the first year, only 45 percent did by the third year. In analyzing differences in degrees of economic self-sufficiency among single mothers, the following groups of mothers had significantly higher degrees of welfare reliance: never-married and divorced mothers; mothers with a child under age two; mothers with three or more children; non-white mothers; and mothers living in public housing. A path analysis was conducted to determine the relative influence of human capital, family resource, employment and psychosocial factors on later economic self-sufficiency. Number of children and receipt of subsidies positively affected welfare reliance. Education, number of adults in the household and number of months employed negatively affected degree of welfare reliance. A key finding was that, after controlling for differences in human capital, family resources and employment activity, workplace support retained a highly significant, inverse relationship with degree of welfare reliance. Sense of personal control and social support had both direct and indirect effects on degree of welfare reliance, establishing that psychosocial factors mediate impacts of human capital, family and employment factors on economic self-sufficiency. The results support the viability of utilizing stress models to examine objective economic outcomes in future research. / Graduation date: 1993

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- McMaster University, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 176-180). Also available via World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 91-98). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 390-431).

published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences