Single mothers by choice in German-speaking countries: Attachment style, social support, personality traits, and motives from an online survey

ABSTRACT

The family model of single mothers by choice (SMCs) is spreading in western industrial nations in the last 30 decades. Since gender equality and new methods in reproductive medicine do not sufficiently explain this phenomenon, this exploratory quantitative study investigates the psychological factors of SMCs assessing attachment style, social support, and Big Five personality traits issuing an online survey to 131 SMCs. In addition, this study aims to gather information about SMCs in German-speaking countries to close a research gap. Findings indicate similarities in characteristics between German-speaking SMCs and internationally reported SMCs. Independent-samples t-tests showed significant differences from the corresponding German norm sample in personality traits (conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness to experience), attachment style, and social support.

KEYWORDS:

• Attachment style
• Big Five
• motives
• personality trait
• single mothers by choice (SMCs)
• social support

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.