Growing up with a single mother and life satisfaction in adulthood: A test of mediating and moderating factors

Single parenthood is increasingly common in Western societies but only little is known about its long-term effects. We therefore studied life satisfaction among 641 individuals (ages 18–66 years) who spent their entire childhood with a single mother, 1539 individuals who spent part of their childhoo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2017-06, Vol.12 (6), p.1-15
Main Authors: Richter, David, Lemola, Sakari
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adjustment
Adolescent
Adult
Adults
Age
Age Factors
Aged
Alcohol
Analysis
Children
Children & youth
Divorce
Families & family life
Family structure
Female
Gender identity
Households
Humans
Influence
Integration
Labor market
Living conditions
Long-term effects
Male
Mediation
Medicine and Health Sciences
Middle Aged
Mothers
Parents
Parents & parenting
People and Places
Personality
Psychological aspects
Quality of life
Quality of Life - psychology
Satisfaction (Psychology)
Separation
Sex Factors
Single mothers
Single Parent
Single parents
Social aspects
Social psychology
Social Sciences
Socioeconomic Factors
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Summary:Single parenthood is increasingly common in Western societies but only little is known about its long-term effects. We therefore studied life satisfaction among 641 individuals (ages 18–66 years) who spent their entire childhood with a single mother, 1539 individuals who spent part of their childhood with both parents but then experienced parental separation, and 21,943 individuals who grew up with both parents. Individuals who grew up with a single mother for their entire childhood and to a lesser degree also individuals who experienced parental separation showed a small but persistent decrease in life satisfaction into old age controlling childhood socio-economic status. This decrease was partly mediated by worse adulthood living conditions related to socio-economic and educational success, physical health, social integration, and romantic relationship outcomes. No moderation by age, gender, and societal system where the childhood was spent (i.e. western oriented FRG or socialist GDR) was found.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0179639