Background: A central question in family research is whether parents’ social disadvantages, such as being a single parent or having low education, are becoming more concentrated over time. Objective: We contribute to this literature by examining long-term trends in the gap in single parenthood between more educated and less-educated mothers since the 1970s to around 2015, placing special emphasis on children’s age. Methods: To this end, we rely on a unique compilation of censuses as well as labour force surveys from eight European countries representing different institutional and cultural contexts: Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Poland, and the United Kingdom. The data were analysed using logistic regression models. Results: Our results show that the gap in single motherhood between highly educated and less-educated women generally changed over the period: Single motherhood increased disproportionally among less-educated women. The gap widened most among mothers with young children (0 to 4 years) and somewhat less for mothers of children at age 5 to 9 years. For mothers with children aged 15+, the prevalence of single motherhood varied only moderately by the mothers’ level of education. Contribution: These findings suggest that being a low-educated single mother and having responsibility for young children has become more tightly linked. This uncovers a double disadvantage in that low-educated single mothers who possess less resources also more frequently have younger-aged children in need of more time and other resources.

中文翻译：

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单亲家庭是否越来越成为受教育程度较低的母亲的经历？五十年来的欧洲比较（作者：Caroline Berghammer、Anna Matysiak、Torkild Hovde Lyngstad、Francesca Rinesi）


背景：家庭研究的一个核心问题是父母的社会劣势，例如单亲父母或受教育程度低，是否随着时间的推移变得更加集中。目的：我们通过研究自 1970 年代至 2015 年左右受教育程度较高和受教育程度较低的母亲之间单亲父母身份差距的长期趋势，特别强调儿童的年龄，为这些文献做出贡献。方法：为此，我们依赖于来自八个欧洲国家（代表不同制度和文化背景）的人口普查和劳动力调查的独特汇编：奥地利、法国、德国、爱尔兰、意大利、挪威、波兰和英国。使用 logistic 回归模型对数据进行分析。结果： 我们的结果表明，受教育程度高的女性和受教育程度较低的女性之间的单身母亲差距通常在此期间发生了变化： 受教育程度较低的女性的单身母亲比例增加不成比例。有幼儿（0 至 4 岁）的母亲的差距扩大最大，而 5 至 9 岁儿童的母亲的差距略小。对于有 15+ 岁孩子的母亲，单身母亲的患病率仅因母亲的教育水平而异。贡献： 这些发现表明，作为受教育程度低的单身母亲和承担照顾幼儿的责任变得更加紧密地联系在一起。这揭示了双重劣势，即受教育程度低的单身母亲拥有较少的资源，也更频繁地拥有需要更多时间和其他资源的年幼孩子。