Single Motherhood, Media, Methods, And Messiness: Exploring Virtual Reality As A Tool For Autobiographical Expression

<div>This research/creation project documents my experiences of living as a single mother with minimal financial, family, and social support. Since research suggests that virtual reality (VR) can generate heightened empathetic response in users, I chose to develop my story using VR as the primary creative tool. This study required engagement with the creative and methodological approaches of arts-based research—a process of learning-by-making that prompts questions and reflections on ethics, techniques, aesthetics, value, and subjectivity. The finished project, then, is an exploration of my journey not only as a single mother, but also as a researcher exploring emerging technological affordances and their capacity to engender empathy and serve as tools of autobiographical expression. In this way, the work could further be understood as contributing to the emerging field of autotheory, in which the researcher’s subjective and embodied experience is integrated with theoretical and philosophical approaches.</div><div><br></div>

Single Motherhood, Media, Methods, And Messiness: Exploring Virtual Reality As A Tool For Autobiographical Expression

<div>This research/creation project documents my experiences of living as a single mother with minimal financial, family, and social support. Since research suggests that virtual reality (VR) can generate heightened empathetic response in users, I chose to develop my story using VR as the primary creative tool. This study required engagement with the creative and methodological approaches of arts-based research—a process of learning-by-making that prompts questions and reflections on ethics, techniques, aesthetics, value, and subjectivity. The finished project, then, is an exploration of my journey not only as a single mother, but also as a researcher exploring emerging technological affordances and their capacity to engender empathy and serve as tools of autobiographical expression. In this way, the work could further be understood as contributing to the emerging field of autotheory, in which the researcher’s subjective and embodied experience is integrated with theoretical and philosophical approaches.</div><div><br></div>

Socio-Economic Differences in the Prevalence of Single Motherhood in North America and Europe

The study focuses on understanding the association between parental socio-economic status (SES) and the likelihood of women experiencing a first birth while single, and identifying societal factors that influence this association in 18 North American and European societies. Previous research has shown that single motherhood occurs disproportionately among those from with lower a lower parental SES. The study assesses whether this is caused by parental SES differences in the risk of single women experiencing a first conception leading to a live birth or by parental SES differences in how likely women are to enter a union during pregnancy. Additionally, an assessment is made of whether cross-national differences in these associations can be explained by a country’s access to family planning, norms regarding family formation, and economic inequality. Across countries, a negative gradient of parental SES was found on the likelihood of single women to experience a first pregnancy. The negative gradient was stronger in countries with better access to family planning. In some countries, the negative gradient of parental SES was aggravated during pregnancy because women from lower parental SES were less likely to enter a union. This was mostly found in societies with less conservative norms regarding marriage. The results suggest that certain developments in Western societies may increase socio-economic differentials in family demography.

PERTINENT ILLS CONCOMITANT WITH MATRIFOCALITY IN ZIMBABWE: IMPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT

Objective: The paper explored the challenges underpinning matrifocality in Zimbabwe, what is normally termed single motherhood. With the marital institution losing eminence in Africa due to a myriad of factors such as globalization, industrialization, and eurocentrism; this has greatly altered today’s family structure. The study was anchored on the realization that the traditional composition of an African family which recognized extended families has now been overshadowed by the surfacing of nuclear families as well as an increase in matrifocal families. Methods: The article utilized a qualitative approach and a case study design. Convenience sampling was used to select 16 single mothers and a purposive sampling method was preferred to sample three key informants. For single mothers, in a mini-depth interviews were used to elicit detailed information and focus group discussion was adopted for key informants. Data were analyzed using the thematic process to integrate the findings. Results: Stress-induced pathologies, relational conflict within the family set-up, economic privations, communal cynicism, and ostracism were identified as challenges compromising the development and stability of matrifocal families in Chiredzi district. Conclusions: Guided by various feminism lenses and the ecological perspective, the article shifts from the pathological view to single motherhood, advocating for the need to focus the dialogue along the challenges faced by matrifocal families in an attempt to recommend interventions that can strengthen this family set-up.

Single Motherhood by Choice: Difficulties and Advantages

This qualitative phenomenological study focuses on the advantages and difficulties encountered by 20 single mothers by choice (SMC). Research has addressed the difficulties that single mothers face, and the present study will discuss these, as well as the advantages that SMC see in this family structure. The research tool was semi-structured in-depth, non-directive interviews. Findings revealed that the difficulties SMCs face are similar to those faced by women who are single mothers due to life circumstances. The fact that they are solely responsible for their child/ren is a source of emotional stress, and they must deal with society&rsquo;s ambivalent attitudes. At the same time, SMCs emphasized their freedom to decide exclusively, and their success in maintaining a calm atmosphere at home, devoid of possible tension with a partner. This study suggests that although the women had chosen to become single mothers, the choice does not ease their difficulties. However, it allows SMCs to acknowledge the advantages of this family structure.