As policymakers consider how best to respond to increased labour market volatility in post-COVID-19 economies, there is concern that vulnerable groups such as lone parents may be left behind, and consensus that we need to develop more responsive and person-centred approaches to employability. Drawing on Cottam's (2011, 2018) work on 'relational…

Self-compassion has been shown to bolster resilience (Leary, Tate, Adams, Batts Allen, & Hancock, 2007), intrinsic motivation (Neff, Hseih, & Dejitthirat, 2005), and a general sense of well-being (Arimitsu & Hofman, 2015) as students cope with academic and life stressors. While research has begun exploring gender as a factor for…

Access to quality child care profoundly impacts the life chances of low-income single mothers and their children. Tennessee is among the top 10 states with the worst poverty numbers for children, with a poverty rate of 31% for children under six years old. Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) sets forth guidelines adopted by state…

Background/Context: In light of increasingly common, non-traditional pathways to college enrollment and potential importance of post-secondary education for family wellbeing, this article examines maternal college enrollment. I employ a sociological application of rational action theory in which costs of reentry, probability of success, and…

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) serves as the foundation of America's national nutrition safety net. It is the nation's first line of defense against food insecurity and offers a powerful tool to improve nutrition among low-income individuals. SNAP is the largest of the 15 domestic food and nutrition assistance programs…

Since the early 1990s, liberal welfare regimes have begun to treat lone parents as workers rather than as carers. This has happened in conjunction with an ongoing "moral panic" about the need to develop policies to invest in children, and to protect them from adult worlds. The purpose of this article is to analyse contradictions within…

This study gave voice to the issues, needs, and concerns of economically disadvantaged single mothers and determined the motivational and institutional factors that helped lead them to their successful completion of a community college degree or certificate program while at the same time coping with the challenges of financially surviving on…

Research Findings: The home literacy environment and other early learning settings such as preschool play a role in children's language and literacy outcomes, yet research suggests that Latino, Spanish-speaking families are less likely than other families to participate in family literacy activities. This study explored the relations among…

We investigated the widely held premise that welfare participation causes women to refrain from marriage. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 3,219), we employed an event history approach to study transitions to marriage among mothers who have had a nonmarital birth. We found that welfare participation reduces the…

Between 2000 and 2003, the Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) project identified and implemented a diverse set of innovative models designed to promote employment stability and wage or earnings progression among low-income individuals, mostly current or former welfare recipients. The project's goal was to determine which strategies could…

Between 2000 and 2003, the Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) project identified and implemented a diverse set of innovative models designed to promote employment stability and wage or earnings progression among low-income individuals, mostly current or former welfare recipients. The project's goal was to determine which strategies could…

We investigate associations of housing assistance with housing and food-related hardship among low-income single-mother households using data from the National Survey of America's Families (N = 5,396). Results from instrumental variables models suggest that receipt of unit-based assistance, such as traditional public housing, is associated with a…

Using data from two waves of a short-term longitudinal study, the authors examined the impact of maternal socioeconomic conditions (education, employment, and income) and family processes (quality of mother-father relations, frequency of nonresident fathers' contacts with their children, and mothers' parenting stress) at time (T) 1 on maternal…

This article explores issues of persistent poverty and income inequality. The major focus is that of the alleviation of poverty. Is there a framework that delineates the roles for government, market forces and self-reliance that can effect a reduction in the level of poverty? The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act…

This three-year longitudinal study investigated whether low-wage employment was associated with improved psychological and parenting outcomes in a sample of 178 single mothers who were employed and unemployed current and former welfare recipients both before and subsequent to the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity…