Introduction: Laura Bernardi, Dimitri Mortelmans -- PART I. Macro Perspectives on Lone Parenthood: Marie-Thérèse Letablier and Karin Wall: Changing Lone Parenthood Regimes: New Challenges for Policy and Research -- PART II. Subjective Representations of Lone Parenthood: Emma Salter: A Media Discourse of Lone Parents in the UK: Investigating the Stereotype -- Fabienne Portier-Le Cocq: Being a Single Young Parent in Great Britain by Choice? Life Stories -- Laura Bernardi and Ornella Larenza: Measuring and Modeling the Transition to Solo Parenthood: Perspectives from Aqualitative Study -- PART III. Demographics/Diversity of Lone Parents: Judit Monostori: The Demographic Determinants of Becoming a Lone Parent -- Sylvia Keim: Are Lone Mothers also Lonely Mothers? Social Networks of Unemployed Lone Mothers in Eastern Germany -- Laura Bernardi, Nadja Milewski and Emanuela Struffolino: Pathways in and out Lone Motherhood in Switzerland: a Comparison Between Migrants and Non-migrants -- PART IV. Income and Poverty among Lone Parenthood: Sabine Hübgen: Only a Husband away from Poverty‘? Lone Mothers’ Poverty Risks in a European Comparison -- Dimitri Mortelmans and Christine Defever: Income Trajectories of Lone Parents after Divorce. A View with Belgian Register Data -- Susan Harkness: The Economic Consequences of Becoming a Lone Mother -- PART V. Labor Market Behavior of Lone Parents: Michelle Brady: The Role of Informal Care in the Transition from Welfare to Work and Employment Sustainability: A Longitudinal Qualitative Study of Australian Single Mothers -- Emanuela Struffolino and Dimitri Mortelman:Lone Mothers in Belgium: Labour Force Attachment and Risk Factor -- PART VI. Well Being and Health of Lone Parents: Diana Dinescu, Eric Turkheimer and Robert E. Emery: Associations between Single Motherhood and Depression: a Co-twin Control Study -- Mine Hancioglu: Changes in Lone Mothers’ Health: A Longitudinal Analysis -- Carmel Hannan: Growing-Up in a One-Parent Family: The Case of Ireland -- Conclusions:  Laura Bernardi, Dimitri Mortelmans.    .

Open Access

Lone parenthood is an increasing reality in the 21st century, reinforced by the diffusion of divorce and separation. This volume provides a comprehensive portrait of lone parenthood at the beginning of the XXI century from a life course perspective. The contributions included in this volume examine the dynamics of lone parenthood in the life course and explore the trajectories of lone parents in terms of income, poverty, labour, market behaviour, wellbeing, and health. Throughout, comparative analyses of data from countries as France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, Hungary, and Australia help portray how lone parenthood varies between regions, cultures, generations, and institutional settings. The findings show that one-parent households are inhabited by a rather heterogeneous world of mothers and fathers facing different challenges. Readers will not only discover the demographics and diversity of lone parents, but also the variety of social representations and discourses about the changing phenomenon of lone parenthood. The book provides a mixture of qualitative and quantitative studies on lone parenthood. Using large scale and longitudinal panel and register data, the reader will gain insight in complex processes across time. More qualitative case studies on the other hand discuss the definition of lone parenthood, the public debate around it, and the social and subjective representations of lone parents themselves.  This book aims at sociologists, demographers, psychologists, political scientists, family therapists, and policy makers who want to gain new insights into one of the most striking changes in family forms over the last 50 years. This book is open access under a CC BY License.