Dynamics of single motherhood. Partnership trajectories in early parental biography

Sonja Bastin, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

This study uses data of the German Family Panel (pairfam) to investigate the partnership trajectories of single mothers. In line with previous research, we define a single mother as a woman who does not coreside with a partner. The focus of the investigation is on women who were single mothers at the birth of their first children. Thus, we concentrate on single mothers who already were living alone with their children when their children were very young. Using event history analysis, we investigate the duration until a single mother moves in with a partner. Our analysis shows that many of the mothers who do not coreside with a partner at first birth have a partner who does not live in the same household. These women behave very differently from single mothers who do not have a partner. Around half of the women in each of the two groups leave the single parent status within the first five years. But single mothers with a non-residential partner leave single motherhood more quickly and more often move in with the father of the child. We also show that children of those women more often experience fluctuated motherly partnership trajectories than children born to partnerless women. Also differences by level of education are discussed.