The contribution of social support to patterns of employment among unmarried mothers with young children: a comparative analysis of hispanics, blacks, and whites
Year: 2005
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This dissertation addresses the influences of race and ethnicity, as well as family, \nfather, community, and human capital resources, on social support and employment \npatterns among unmarried mothers with young children. In the 1970s and 1980s, \nresearch indicated greater access to supports among Hispanics and Blacks. More recent \nstudies suggest that Whites have greater access. Most prior studies examined \nrace/ethnicity or social supports. This study examines these variables simultaneously to \nbetter understand how social supports influence employment patterns and how these \ninfluences differ among Hispanic, Black, and White mothers. \nData from the Fragile Families and Child Well-being study were analyzed using \nmultinomial logistic regression. Predictor variables were measured primarily at the focal \nchild’s birth and at Year 1 to predict employment at Year 3. Outcome measures were \nhours currently employed, weeks employed in past year, and number of jobs held since \nchild’s birth. Separate regression models were run for Hispanic, Black, and White \nmothers to assess whether race/ethnicity moderated the relationship between social \nsupport and employment. \nIn bivariate analyses, Hispanic mothers were less likely to be employed than \nWhites. This difference was largely explained by Hispanics’ lower levels of formal \neducation and, to a lesser extent, their more traditional values. After including human \ncapital, there were no racial/ethnic differences in employment. Black and Hispanic \nmothers had less access to family supports than Whites but used more community \nsupports. Family supports indicated higher employment, but community supports \nindicated lower employment. Father supports made a negligible contribution to \nemployment for all groups. Hispanic mothers had lower educations than White mothers; \nthere were no differences for Blacks and Whites. Although access to child care for \nHispanics and financial support for Blacks indicated increased employment, neither was \nsignificant for Whites. Education was more closely associated with employment for \nHispanics and Blacks than for Whites. \nResults suggest increased need for childcare arrangement and subsidies and \neffective high school completion, job preparation, and rent assistance programs. Health \nbarriers, common among these mothers, must also be addressed in this work-focused, \nwelfare reform era. To improve employment stability, family and community support \nmust be considered together so unmarried mothers can obtain the resources to meet their \nmultiple, diverse needs.
Author: Melissa Anne Radey
Language: English
Subfield: Gender Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1841374782