Being or becoming a lone parent while their children are young more than doubles the chances of a person experiencing poverty, new research from the Economic and Social Research Institute suggests.
The study suggests family size, levels of education, the ability to take up significant paid employment and the receipt of financial supports, be it maintenance from a former partner or social welfare, are among the factors that play significant roles in helping lone parents avoid challenges like low income, material deprivation and financial stress or to recover from them where they have been experienced.
The research, Lone Parent Transitions, Employment Transitions and Poverty Outcomes by Prof Helen Russell and Bertrand Maître of the ESRI, was supported by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and will be published at the Growing Up in Ireland conference at Dublin’s Gibson Hotel annual research conference on Wednesday.
It is based on a series of interviews over the course of nine years with some 7,500 parents of children who were nine months old in 2008.
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Almost all of those who were or became lone parents during the period were women.
Sixteen per cent of those interviewed were lone parents when the project began and about half of these were in partnerships by 2017. About 9 per of those in two-parent families became lone parents over the same period, leaving the overall proportions largely unchanged.
Among lone parents, the report finds, “disability, lower education levels, larger family size and lack of employment are all associated with an increased risk of economic vulnerability”.
Across all economic groups, the risk of experiencing poverty was 2.6 times greater for those who became lone parents compared to those in two-parent units.
The scale of the increases risk was relatively consistent even where significant differences in economic status were seen.
Among those with degrees “the probability of economic vulnerability is 24 per cent for those who become lone parents compared to 10 per cent for those who remain partnered”, the report suggests .
“For those with only lower second-level education, the respective figures are 44 per cent and 23 per cent. Therefore, while there is a substantial increased risk for both groups, lone parents with lower educational qualifications have the highest risk overall,” the authors say.
Prof Russell said the extent of the issue came as a surprise. “I don’t think we had a sense of the scale of it before,” she said. “I think what was a surprise was just how widespread the economic risk was. Even those who were relatively more advantaged before becoming lone parents… their risk of economic vulnerability also increased very substantially.
“But we still do see that education is one of the levers that can help people avoid economic vulnerability or escape it. There are many other factors, though, if the lone parents can get employment it has to be well-enough paid to make a really positive impact and there are issues like access to childcare. There needs to be a lot scaffolding in place to support people.”
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Government supports can be an important part of this, she suggested.
Welcoming the research, Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman said it “shows where supports should be targeted to reduce the higher levels of poverty experienced by lone parents, in comparison with parents who are couples. The report highlights the need for supports particularly in childcare, access to education and employment for lone parents.
“This report adds to the significant body of evidence that helps us to understand the issues around child poverty so that we can find and implement solutions,” he said.
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