The triple bind of single-parent families: resources, employment and policies

The days when Tolstoy opened Anna Karenina with ‘Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way’, to reect a dominant discourse on the nuclear family as the singular form of happiness and wellbeing, are long gone. Alongside the second demographic transition – women gaining economic independence and better control over their fertility, improvements in gender equality and changing norms on family and gender – a diversity of family forms emerged. Wellbeing and happiness, as well as unhappiness, can be found in all families, regardless of family structure. This challenges the assertion that any one family form will always ensure wellbeing over another. Indeed, as Myrdal and Klein noted in 1956: ‘Though it is fairly easy to describe what constitutes a bad home, there is no simple definition of a good one. Conformity with the traditional pattern certainly is no guarantee of the happiest results’ (p.126)

The Triple Bind of Single-Parent Families: Resources, employment and policies to improve wellbeing

Editors: Rense Nieuwenhuis and Laurie C. Maldonado Authors are listed in order of appearance in text. Author/Editor details at time of book publication. Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. This book presents evidence from over 40 countries that shows how single parents face a triple bind of inadequate resources, employment and policies, which in combination further complicate their lives. This book - multi-disciplinary and comparative in design - shows evidence from over 40 countries, along with detailed case studies of Sweden, Iceland, Scotland, and the UK. It covers aspects of well-being that include poverty, good quality jobs, the middle class, wealth, health, children’s development and performance in school, and reflects on social justice. Leading international scholars challenge our current understanding of what works and draw policy lessons on how to improve the well-being of single parents and their children. Also available through Bristol University Press.https://digitalcommons.molloy.edu/fac_book/1001/thumbnail.jp