Unfulfilled Plans and Financial Stress

ABSTRACT

Unwed mothers and their families find themselves in especially fragile social and economic positions, and employment for them presents unique challenges. Using the mother-only subset of the Fragile Families¹ public-use baseline and one-year follow-up data, our paper describes the financial stressors experienced by unwed mothers with unfulfilled employment plans. Our findings offer a clarification of the social structural constraints within which unwed mothers cope with employment barriers. Most unemployed mothers met their families' basic needs. However, results suggest efforts to engage unwed mothers in work activities must consider employment barriers and facilitators.

Key Words:

• Unwed mothers
• unemployment
• financial stress
• government support
• social support
• fragile families