scholarly journals The Broken Yellow Brick Road: A Narrative Exploration of the College-Going Decisions and Trajectory of a Low-Income Single Mother of Color

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 601
Author(s):  
Constance Iloh
Keyword(s):  
Postsecondary Education ◽  
Single Mothers ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Single Mother ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Education Access ◽  
Buyer's Remorse ◽  
College Going ◽  
Information Time ◽  
Mothers Of Color

Communities frequently treated as ‘have-nots’ in higher education are a window into the condition of postsecondary education access, exclusion, inequities, and outcomes. This reality is no more evident than with the college-going trajectories of low-income single mothers of color. Evoking the possibilities of narrative inquiry in general, and life history method in particular, the author explores the college-going ecology, decisions, and trajectory of a 35-year-old low-income Filipina single mother. Through this empirical undertaking, particular attention is paid to the challenges present within the informant’s context of information, time, and opportunity—the three dimensions of the Iloh Model of College-Going Decisions and Trajectories. Findings of this narrative include prolonged and disjointed experiences; poor navigational structures and asymmetries of information; and institutional constraints, barriers, and disregard. In addition to insights that reflect decision-making challenges and buyer’s remorse of minoritized students; this study situates new directions for addressing concerning contexts of time, information, and opportunity for single mothers pursuing college.

Poverty and the (Broken) Promise of Higher Education

2001 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivyan Adair
Keyword(s):  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Postsecondary Education ◽  
Single Mothers ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Single Mother ◽  
Degree Programs ◽  
College Degrees ◽  
Reform Legislation ◽  
Economic Equity ◽  
Do So

In this article, Vivyan Adair argues that educators committed to fostering social and economic equity through education must challenge themselves to understand how crucial postsecondary education is to low-income single mothers, to recognize that this student population is increasingly "at risk," and to work against legislation that at best discourages, and at worst prohibits, these students from entering into and successfully completing postsecondary degree programs. Integrated into her discussion of recent welfare reform legislation are findings from her research. She presents data from interviews, in which students describe their desire to further their education and the frustrating obstacles that make this endeavor difficult and often impossible. Adair demonstrates that low-income, single-mother students experience dramatic and enduring benefits from completing college degrees, but that the opportunity and support required to do so is increasingly limited. She concludes that we must take steps toward ensuring that education remains a truly democratic project that has the potential for enacting social change and fostering economic equity. (pp. 217–239)

Psychometric Assessment of the Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory in a Sample of Low-Income Single Mothers

2001 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Lutenbacher
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Construct Validity ◽  
Single Mothers ◽  
Corporal Punishment ◽  
Factor Structure ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Role Reversal ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Adolescent Parenting

The Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory (AAPI) is a 32-item inventory widely used to identify adolescents and adults at risk for inadequate parenting behaviors. It includes four subscales representing the most frequent patterns associated with abusive parenting: (a) Inappropriate Expectations; (b) Lack of Empathy; (c) Parental Value of Corporal Punishment; and (d) Parent-Child Role Reversal. Although it has been used in a variety of samples, the psychometric properties of the AAPI have not been examined in low-income single mothers. The purposes of this study were to: (a) examine the reliability and validity of the Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory (AAPI) in a sample of 206 low-income single mothers; (b) assess the mother’s risk for inadequate parenting by comparing their AAPI subscale scores with normative subscale scores on the AAPI; (c) assess the construct validity of the AAPI by testing the hypothesis that mothers with lower AAPI scores have a higher level of depressive symptoms and lower self-esteem in comparison to mothers with higher AAPI scores; and (d) determine whether the 4-factor structure proposed by Bavolek (1984) could be replicated. AAPI scores indicated these mothers were at high risk for child abuse when compared with normative data for parents with no known history of abuse. Higher risk for abusive parenting was associated with a higher level of depressive symptoms, less education, and unemployment. The subscales, Inappropriate Expectations and Parental Value of Corporal Punishment demonstrated poor internal consistency with Cronbach’s alphas of .40 and .54, respectively. Hypothesis testing supported the construct validity of the AAPI. Bavolek’s 4-factor structure was not supported. A 19-item modified version of the AAPI with three dimensions was identified. This modified version of the AAPI may provide a more efficacious tool for use with low-income single mothers.

scholarly journals Work-Hour Trajectories and Associated Socioeconomic Characteristics among Single-Mother Families

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-57
Author(s):  
Chi-Fang Wu ◽  
Yu-Ling Chang ◽  
Emily Rhodes ◽  
Salma Musaad ◽  
Woojin Jung
Keyword(s):  
Single Mothers ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Mixed Model ◽  
Linear Mixed Model ◽  
Single Mother ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Work Hour ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Single Mother Families

Abstract Although social work research has paid substantial attention to employment patterns among low-income single mothers after welfare reform, little is known about their work-hour trajectories over time. This study uses group-based trajectory modeling to analyze the work-hour trajectories among low-income single mothers in the United States (N = 870). Only approximately two-fifths (41.9 percent) of participants in the sample had stable employment. About 18 percent did not work throughout the study period. Yet several groups experienced changes in working patterns over time: increasing hours (20.7 percent), decreasing then increasing hours (11.3 percent), and decreasing hours (8.4 percent). This study uses a generalized linear mixed model to determine the factors associated with change in work hours over time. Significant factors include marital status, high school completion, race, citizenship, homeownership, child care arrangement, income support program participation, work disability, age of youngest child, age of the mother, state unemployment rate, and state minimum wage. These findings have important policy implications for targeting supports to diverse needs of low-income single-mother families to promote employment stability and economic improvement.

scholarly journals When poverty knocks on the door: Sharing the story of low income single mothers in Kelantan

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zarina Md Nor ◽  
Nur Zhafirah Mohamad ◽  
Suresh Kumar N Vellymalay
Keyword(s):  
Single Mothers ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Child Support ◽  
Single Mother ◽  
Child Poverty ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Number Of Children ◽  
Low Education ◽  
Preliminary Study ◽  
Socio Economic Factors

Single mother households are often associated with financial hardships as they have lost financial support from the spouse upon divorce. This preliminary study presents the story of hardships among 12 selected single mothers with children in Kelantan. A survey questions has been distributed and the descriptive data has been collected and analyzed with their consent. We find that demographic and socio-economic factors play important roles in the financial wellbeing of the respondents whereby the low education attainment seems to cause the respondents to have low paying jobs exacerbated by more than average number of children in the households and an absence or irregularity of child support payments from their former husband. Hence, the findings further highlight the additional burden faced by the single mothers due to unavailability child support payment for various reasons. It is important to note that the income of all of our respondents fall under the minimum wage of the country therefore they are considered poor and very poor from per capita point of view. Poverty and hardships come hand in hand therefore public assistance in the form of cash and housing arrangements have somehow reduced the burden of single mothers in this study. Consequently, we believe that this brief study has invoke more questions that warrant further studies on many topics involving single mother households such as child support, child poverty and financial and economic wellbeing of single mothers households in Malaysia. So where do we start?

scholarly journals Public and Private Lives: Institutional Structures and Personal Supports in Low-Income Single Mothers’ Educational Pursuits

2013 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Cerven
Keyword(s):  
Community College ◽  
Postsecondary Education ◽  
Single Mothers ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Significant Others ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Community College District ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
Welfare Department ◽  
The Impact

Drawing on a case study of 60 low-income single mothers in California, I present a grounded account of the barriers and supports single mothers encounter in their pursuit of postsecondary education (PSE) and detail what the women themselves attributed to their success. I highlight the role both significant others (peers, family, friends) and institutional structures (the county welfare department and a community college district) played in their access and persistence within a community college district. In doing so, I provide a rich portrait of single mothers’ pursuits of postsecondary education to inform the empirical research gaps in the literature on the effects of welfare reform on the pursuit of PSE. I find that not only does the support of significant others play an important role in single mothers’ access of PSE, but that referrals to PSE from the county welfare department were as equally important—a finding that counters the dominant discussion in scholarly work on the barriers welfare departments pose to welfare recipients’ pursuit of PSE. Supportive significant others remained an important factor in the women’s abilities to persist in their postsecondary pursuits, but the women also cited student support programs designed to address the needs of low-income students as facilitating their persistence. The implications for the impact of welfare department practices, community college support structures and close networks of significant others on low-income single mothers’ access and persistence in a community college district are discussed.  

scholarly journals Examining Low-Income Single-Mother Families’ Experiences with Family Benefit Packages during and after the Great Recession in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 265
Author(s):  
Yu-Ling Chang ◽  
Chi-Fang Wu
Keyword(s):  
Single Mothers ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Single Mother ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Vulnerable Families

The recent economic recession triggered by the global pandemic has renewed scholarly interest in the role of social welfare systems in supporting economically vulnerable families when they experience employment instability. This article unpacks the patterns of the cash and in-kind components of the monthly family benefit packages that US low-income single mothers accessed during and after the Great Recession. We used the 2008 Survey of Income and Program Participation and an innovative analytic procedure involving family benefit package plots, group-based trajectory modeling, and logistic regression modeling. We found that low-income single mothers more often used in-kind basic-needs packages and less often used packages that bundle a cash benefit or a childcare subsidy, regardless of their dynamic employment status. Our findings challenge the effectiveness of the US work-based welfare system in ensuring the economic security of economically vulnerable families and contribute to the policy discussions on unconditional basic income and President Biden’s American Families Plan.

Beyond Posters and Pennants: College-Going Messaging at Three Racially and Economically Diverse Public Schools

2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (11) ◽  
pp. 1-42
Author(s):  
Melissa A. Martinez ◽  
Isaac Torres ◽  
Katherine Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
High Schools ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Students Of Color ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Ecological Model ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
College Going ◽  
Field Notes ◽  
College Going Culture

Context It has been argued that high schools with a majority of students of color and from low-income backgrounds must be purposeful in fostering a college-going culture in order to address the challenges and inequities historically underserved students face in preparing for and accessing a higher education. However, what this looks and sounds like in practice is not always clear, leaving schools seeking common ground on how to create a college-going environment. Purpose Through a symbolic and ecological model of college readiness framework, the messaging associated with the college-going culture at three racially and economically diverse Texas high schools that had consistently high college ready graduate rates was examined. The research questions that guided the study included: What types of college-going culture messages are conveyed at the schools, and how? How might such messaging impact students, school staff and leaders? Research Design This study drew on data from a three-year, multi-site descriptive case study of three public high schools in different regions of Texas that all served approximately 50% or more of students with financial need and 72% to 97% students of color, specifically Latina/o and Black students. Data Collection and Analysis Data was collected during week-long, yearly visits to the three schools and included: school and district documents; individual and group semi-structured interviews with 194 individuals including administrators, teachers, support staff, students, parents, and community members; observations of common areas and classrooms; archival data; and researcher-derived documents including field notes, memos, and photographs of the school grounds and school activities. This paper primarily drew on the pictures taken of the schools (in hallways, classrooms, and shared spaces like cafeterias and libraries), field notes, memos, and interview data that specifically spoke to the visual and verbal messaging associated with the college-going culture. Analysis of data revealed six themes: college is a revered goal with many options; varying degrees of integration; support and resources are at your reach; think college and career; finding funding for college is vital; college is an individual and shared success. Conclusions This study's findings suggest the need to: reconsider what a strong college-going culture entails, re-envision college-going cultures as dynamic, multi-layered, and responsive, reframe postsecondary opportunities so they are more expansive and varied, and re-evaluate inequities in college-going messaging and academic rigor.

scholarly journals Gendered Emotional Support and Women’s Well-Being in a Low-Income Urban African Setting

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 837-859
Author(s):  
Sangeetha Madhavan ◽  
Shelley Clark ◽  
Yuko Hara
Keyword(s):  
Single Mothers ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Emotional Support ◽  
Living Arrangements ◽  
Gender Norms ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Single Women ◽  
Gender Composition ◽  
Support Network ◽  
Data Set

In most contexts, emotional support is crucial for the well-being of low-income single women and their children. Support from women may be especially important for single mothers because of precarious ties to their children’s fathers, the prevalence of extended matrifocal living arrangements, and gendered norms that place men as providers of financial rather than emotional support. However, in contexts marked by economic insecurity, spatial dispersion of families, and changing gender norms and kinship obligations, such an expectation may be problematic. Applying theories of emotional capital and family bargaining processes, we address three questions: What is the gender composition of emotional support that single mothers receive? How does gender composition change over time? Does the gender composition of emotional support affect the self-reported stress of single mothers? Drawing on data from a unique data set on 462 low-income single mothers and their kin from Nairobi, Kenya, we uncover three key findings. One, whereas the bulk of strong emotional support comes from female kin, about 20 percent of respondents report having male-dominant support networks. Two, nearly 30 percent of respondents report change favoring men in the composition of their emotional support over six months. Three, having a male-dominant emotional support network is associated with lower stress. These results challenge what is commonly taken for granted about gender norms and kinship obligations in non-Western contexts.

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