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Social policies and the pathways to inequalities in health: a comparative analysis of lone mothers in Britain and Sweden

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  • Whitehead, Margaret
  • Burström, Bo
  • Diderichsen, Finn

Abstract

The aim of this study is to contribute to the emerging field of health inequalities impact assessment. It develops further a conceptual framework that encompasses the policy context as well as the pathways leading from social position to inequalities in health. It then uses this framework for a comparative analysis of social policies and their points of potential impact on the pathways leading from lone motherhood to ill health in Britain and Sweden. The British General Household Survey and the Swedish Survey of Living Conditions are analysed for the 17 years from 1979 to 1995/96. First, the results show that the health of lone mothers is poor in Sweden as well as in Britain and, most notably, that the magnitude of the differential between lone and couple mothers is of a similar order in Sweden as in Britain. This is despite the more favourable social policies in Sweden, which our results indicate have protected lone mothers from poverty and insecurity in the labour market to a much greater degree than the equivalent British policies over the 1980s and 1990s. Second, the pathways leading to the observed health disadvantage of lone mothers appear to be very different in the two countries in relation to the identified policy entry points. Overall, in Britain, around 50% of the health disadvantage of lone mothers is accounted for by the mediating factors of poverty and joblessness, whereas in Sweden these factors only account for between 3% and 13% of the health gap. The final section discusses the implications of the findings for future policy intervention and research in the two countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Whitehead, Margaret & Burström, Bo & Diderichsen, Finn, 2000. "Social policies and the pathways to inequalities in health: a comparative analysis of lone mothers in Britain and Sweden," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 255-270, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:50:y:2000:i:2:p:255-270
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Fritzell, Sara & Burstrom, Bo, 2006. "Economic strain and self-rated health among lone and couple mothers in Sweden during the 1990s compared to the 1980s," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(2-3), pages 253-264, December.
    2. Olsen, Karen M. & Dahl, Svenn-Åge, 2007. "Health differences between European countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(8), pages 1665-1678, April.
    3. Kuntsche, Sandra & Knibbe, Ronald A. & Gmel, Gerhard, 2009. "Social roles and alcohol consumption: A study of 10 industrialised countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(7), pages 1263-1270, April.
    4. Rebekah Burroway & David Brady, 2010. "Targeting, Universalism and Single Mother Poverty: A Multi-level Analysis Across 18 Affluent Democracies," LIS Working papers 554, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    5. Burstrom, Bo & Whitehead, Margaret & Clayton, Stephen & Fritzell, Sara & Vannoni, Francesca & Costa, Giuseppe, 2010. "Health inequalities between lone and couple mothers and policy under different welfare regimes - The example of Italy, Sweden and Britain," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(6), pages 912-920, March.
    6. Fritzell, Sara & Ringbäck Weitoft, Gunilla & Fritzell, Johan & Burström, Bo, 2007. "From macro to micro: The health of Swedish lone mothers during changing economic and social circumstances," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(12), pages 2474-2488, December.
    7. Cherylynn Bassani, 2008. "The influence of financial, human and social capital on Japanese men’s and women’s health in single- and two-parent family structures," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 85(2), pages 191-209, January.
    8. Stefan Fors & Ylva B. Almquist & Lars Brännström, 2019. "Coexisting Social, Economic, and Health-Related Disadvantages in More than 2.4 Million Swedes: Combining Variable-Centred and Person-Centred Approaches," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 115-132, May.
    9. Teresa Castro Martín, 2010. "Single motherhood and low birthweight in Spain," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 22(27), pages 863-890.
    10. David Brady & Rebekah Burroway, 2012. "Targeting, Universalism, and Single-Mother Poverty: A Multilevel Analysis Across 18 Affluent Democracies," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 49(2), pages 719-746, May.
    11. Stefanie Sperlich & Sonja Arnhold-Kerri & Siegfried Geyer, 2011. "What accounts for depressive symptoms among mothers? The impact of socioeconomic status, family structure and psychosocial stress," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 56(4), pages 385-396, August.

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