IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/upj/weupjo/05-118.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Single Mothers, Social Capital, and Work-Family Conflict

Author

Listed:
  • Teresa Ciabattari

    (Sonoma State University)

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine work-family conflict among low-income, unmarried mothers. I examine how social capital affects work-family conflict and how both social capital and work-family conflict affect employment. I analyze the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a national sample of non-marital births collected in 1998-2000 and 1999-2002. Results show that social capital reduces unmarried mothers' reports of work-family conflict, especially for low-income women. In addition, mothers who report high levels of work-family conflict are less likely to be employed; this pattern holds for women who are not looking for work as well as those who are. However, even at high levels of conflict, low-income women are more likely to be employed. The results suggest that work-family conflict has two consequences for unmarried women: it keeps them out of the labor force and makes it more difficult for women who want to work to maintain employment stability.

Suggested Citation

  • Teresa Ciabattari, 2005. "Single Mothers, Social Capital, and Work-Family Conflict," Upjohn Working Papers 05-118, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
  • Handle: RePEc:upj:weupjo:05-118
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://research.upjohn.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1135&context=up_workingpapers
    Download Restriction: This material is copyrighted. Permission is required to reproduce any or all parts.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marta Tienda & Jennifer Glass, 1985. "Household structure and labor force participation of black, hispanic, and white mothers," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 22(3), pages 381-394, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lopez-Acevedo,Gladys C. & Freije-Rodriguez,Samuel & Vergara Bahena,Mexico Alberto & Cardozo Medeiros,Diego, 2020. "Changes in Female Employment in Mexico : Demographics, Economics, and Policies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9292, The World Bank.
    2. Emanuela Furfaro & Giulia Rivellini & Laura Terzera, 2020. "Social Support Networks for Childcare Among Foreign Women in Italy," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 151(1), pages 181-204, August.
    3. Noonan, Mary C. & Smith, Sandra S. & Corcoran, Mary E., 2005. "Examining the Impact of Welfare Reform, Labor Market Conditions, and the Earned Income Tax Credit on the Employment of Black and White Single Mothers," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt7x25h6h3, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    4. Karen Chapple, 2002. "“I Name it and I Claim it—In the Name of Jesus, this Job is Mine†: Job Search, Networks, and Careers for Low-Income Women," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 16(4), pages 294-313, November.
    5. Xiaodong Gong & Arthur van Soest, 2002. "Family Structure and Female Labor Supply in Mexico City," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 37(1), pages 163-191.
    6. Carolina Aragao & Aida Villanueva, 2021. "How do mothers work? Kin coresidence and mothers' work in Latin America," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 45(30), pages 917-956.
    7. Wendy Sigle-Rushton & Sara McLanahan, 2002. "The Living Arrangements of New Unmarried Mothers," JCPR Working Papers 262, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
    8. Li, Hongbin & Yi, Junjian & Zhang, Junsen, 2015. "Fertility, Household Structure, and Parental Labor Supply: Evidence from Rural China," IZA Discussion Papers 9342, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Robert Weller & Isaac Eberstein & Mohamed Bailey, 1987. "Pregnancy Wantedness And Maternal Behavior During Pregnancy," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 24(3), pages 407-412, August.
    10. Miaari, Sami H. & Khattab, Nabil & Sabbah-Karkabi, Maha, 2020. "Obstacles to Labour Market Participation among Arab Women in Israel," IZA Discussion Papers 13572, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Huffman, Wallace E., 1988. "Effects of Local Economic Conditions On Poverty Status of U.S. Rural Husband-Wife Households," ISU General Staff Papers 198812160800001196, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    12. Yu-Han Jao & Jui-Chung Allen Li, 2011. "Trends in the Employment of Married Mothers of Preschool-Aged Children in Taiwan," Working Papers WR-850, RAND Corporation.
    13. Guo, Rufei & Li, Hongbin & Yi, Junjian & Zhang, Junsen, 2018. "Fertility, household structure, and parental labor supply: Evidence from China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 145-156.
    14. Uzi Rebhun, 2008. "A Double Disadvantage? Immigration, Gender, and Employment Status in Israel," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 24(1), pages 87-113, March.
    15. Tong, Yuying & Chen, Feinian & Su, Wenyang, 2019. "Living arrangements and older People's labor force participation in Hong Kong, 1986–2016," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 229(C), pages 50-59.
    16. Yu-Han Jao & Jui-Chung Allen Li, 2011. "Trends in the Employment of Married Mothers of Preschool-Aged Children in Taiwan," Working Papers 850, RAND Corporation.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    work-family; work; family; conflict; low-income; unmarried; mothers; social; capital;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods
    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:upj:weupjo:05-118. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/upjohus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.