Predictors of Stability and Change in Private Safety Nets of Unmarried Mothers

ABSTRACT

Although the importance of social supports for single mothers in times of crisis is widely recognized, little is known about the stability of such “private safety nets” over time, as children age and maternal and household characteristics change. This study uses multilevel models and four waves of data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study to describe trajectories of social support perceptions for 3,065 unmarried mothers. Results suggest that following a birth, most unmarried mothers perceived the availability of support, but these support perceptions disintegrated somewhat in subsequent years. Mothers who appeared to have the greatest need for support—those without stable employment or a stable partner—experienced more rapid deterioration of their perceived safety nets than did more advantaged mothers. Future research should examine network composition and conditions for support provision among the most vulnerable single mothers and should consider how safety-net stability influences maternal and child health and well-being.

KEYWORDS:

• Fragile Families and Child Well-Being (FFCW) Study
• single-mother families
• social support
• safety net

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors thank the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development through grants R01HD36916, R01HD39135, and R01HD404 21, as well as a consortium of private foundations for their support of the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study. The authors also thank the Florida State University Council on Research Creativity for providing support for the data analysis.