The Precarious Survival and Hard-Won Satisfactions of White Single-Parent Families

Interviews with 43 white single-parent mothers are examined for their thematic content relating to the economics of single parenthood, the mother's feelings about single parenting, the children's fathers, and stigmatization. Although the women in this study largely live in or on the edge of poverty, they have developed coping strategies to deal with their poverty. While many did not choose single parenting, most are proud of their ability to survive under adverse circumstances. Only a few fathers have dependable contact with their children. The women in this study feel stigmatized because they are poor, not because they are single parents.