Mental Health of Low-Income Single Mothers
An Interview with Heather Turner, Ph.D.
A Senior Fellow at the Carsey Institute and Professor of Sociology at the University of New Hampshire, Heather Turner's research concentrates on social stress processes and mental health. She has published numerous articles on the social determinants of mental health across a variety of populations. Her recent research focuses on stress, social resources, and depression among rural single mothers.
She was interviewed by Amy Seif from the Carsey Institute on 2/28/06.
Amy Seif: What is known about the mental health of single mothers living in rural areas?
Heather Turner: Actually, not a great deal; which is why I wanted to research this issue. There has been some past research comparing rates of mental health problems in urban and rural areas, but not much research that has focused on specific at-risk populations within rural environments. I think rural single mothers comprise one such population that deserves more attention.
AS: Are their few studies on rural single mothers because a greater number of single mothers live in cities?
HT: Despite what seems to be a common perception that single parenthood is largely an urban phenomenon, female-headed families are nearly proportionally represented in rural areas. So this is a substantial, but under-studied, population. One thing we do know from research in more metropolitan areas is that single mothers tend to have elevated rates of psychological disorder and distress relative to married mothers. Studies that have attempt to explain the greater distress among single mothers have pointed to stressful circumstances that are more common in the lives of single mothers. But, again, there has been little or no research that has specifically focused on the lives of single mothers in rural areas. And I think there is reason to believe that some of the stressors that single mothers experience may even be more pronounced for rural residents. For one thing, we know that 42 percent of all rural female-headed families in this country live in poverty, a percentage even higher than their urban counterparts. So there is reason to suspect that economic stressors could be accentuated for rural single mothers. And there are a number of other types of stress that may also be particularly relevant in rural areas.
AS: What are the stressors that may cause psychological distress for rural single mothers in particular?
HT: There really are numerous types of stressors that have been found to be related to psychological distress. But there are certain types that are particularly relevant for single mothers. As I mentioned earlier, financial stress is a major source of stress for these mothers that often has particularly detrimental effects. It is reflected in things like not having enough money to pay bills or to cover medical or dental care, being unable to afford what is needed for your children, wanting to move to a better residence but being unable to afford it, feeling too much in debt, and so on. There are also stressors associated specifically with residing in rural areas. These include feeling isolated, needing to travel long distances for shopping or health care, lack of public transportation, and difficulty finding good childcare. Sometimes rural residents also feel constrained by a lack of privacy or sense of anonymity when interacting with community members; it’s the idea that in very small towns everyone knows everyone else's business. This can be a particular problem when a woman wants to seek mental health treatment. We know, for example, that people living in rural areas not only have limited access to mental health treatment, but they also are more reluctant than urban residents to seek help even with when they have similar symptoms.
AS: What about the stress of being a parent?
HT: Another very important stressor for these women is parenting stress. It is well established in the literature that parenting, in general, is stressful and parents on average experience more psychological distress than non-parents. But parenting stress is typically exacerbated for single moms. Time constraints, increase in household tasks, and competing domestic and employment roles, all create greater difficulties for single moms. In addition to these kinds on ongoing hardships, divorced moms often experience life events – negative life changes – associated with needing to move, set up a new household, find a new job, establish new routines, and so on. In my research I find that every one of these different types of stressors--life events, financial stress, parenting stress and rural residence stress--increases psychological stress for rural single mothers. The one with the greatest impact was parenting stress, but all were related to symptoms of depression for these moms.
AS: What is the impact of a mother’s stress on her children?
HT: I did not address the effects of parental stress on children in my study. But there has been plenty of research that has demonstrated how family environments can contribute to children’s emotional and behavioral problems. Financial stress, for example, negatively affects children by reducing parental warmth and nurturance, contributing to poor parent-child interactions, encouraging harsh and inconsistent discipline, and damaging parents’ abilities to provide support to their children. When stressors are severe enough to lead to depression, parenting skills are particularly likely to be compromised.
AS: How does having a job or not having a job influence stress?
HT: Well, this is a question that I am particularly interested in, in light of the legislative changes around welfare. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunities Reconciliation Act of 1996 imposed stringent work-related requirements for single mothers who are in need of government assistance. The new legislation emphasizes employment rather than education and training, imposed a substantial caseload reduction on states, and limited eligibility for cash assistance for most recipients to a maximum of 5 years. These changes have been associated with increases in labor force participation among single mothers, including single mothers in rural areas. However, given the various difficulties associated with parenting alone, securing decent employment and finding child care support, rural single mothers could find employment more of a burden than a help So, in my study, I examined whether employed single mothers experienced more or less stress than mothers who were not employed. What I found was that, in general, employment does appear to be beneficial; employed moms report lower levels of stress and experience less psychological distress than mothers who are not employed. In particular, financial stress was reduced and employed women report fewer symptoms of depression, even after accounting for past history of psychological disorder.
AS: Does this mean that providing jobs to unemployed single mothers will reduce stress?
HT: Overall, I think this would be the case. However, there is a very important caveat. I found that, although employed women in general experience lower levels of financial stress, in cases where financial stress remained high in the context of employment, those women were especially distressed. In other words, experiencing financial stress while being employed was more detrimental to psychological well-being than experiencing this type of hardship while being unemployed. This suggests that employment doesn’t always reduce financial stress and when it does not, there are important negative consequences. Experiencing high levels of financial stress when employed is especially discouraging, and women are more likely to perceive the situation as unjust, hopeless, or as a result of personal failure. I think this has implications for social policy that compels single mothers to work outside the home. While providing jobs can reduce financial stress and lower risk of mental health problems, jobs that do not lead to financial improvement may have the opposite effect. Since jobs that pay a living wage remain scare in many rural areas, mental health benefits of employment through economic relief may not always be realized. Living wage policies and the Earned Income Tax Credit are clearly important in rural communities too.
Read about Heather Turner’s research on rural single mothers:
The Significance of Employment for Chronic Stress and Psychological Distress among Rural Single Mothers (pdf)
Stress, Social Resources and Depression among Never-Married and Divorced Rural Mothers (pdf)