Accepting social support in single-parent families in Belgium

ABSTRACT

Being one of the quintessential resources to bounce back from adversities, the complexities of social support in the context of transitions to single parenthood are seldom fully grasped. While many studies are limited by (quantitative) data on type and intensity of support received, in-depth qualitative data facilitates an understanding of the hurdles in the support exchange. In this study, we describe six hurdles single parents have to overcome and four perspectives single parents have of these hurdles. These results are based on a grounded theory study using 244 semistructured interviews with Flemish lone parents.

KEYWORDS:

• Social support
• single parenthood
• intergenerational solidarity
• life course studies
• qualitative research

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This implies that the increased flexibility due to working at home caused by COVID-19 had not yet taken place.

2 Isolation here refers to the position to individuals and peers.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Research Foundation Flanders [grant number S006121N].