Why I Chose This...

There are many kinds of people in poverty for various reasons but what most stuck out to me was the single mother. Unknown to me at the time, my life until I was 6 was the life of the poor single parent household. My mom did everything she could to help me and give me the love and attention I needed while sacrificing herself to make enough money to help us survive. She did not do this all on her own though, we have a very supportive extended family and a wonderful group of friends who did everything they could to help us through our difficult time. I'm so proud I have a strong and determined mother who broke our own small poverty cycle. It can be done but often times it is necessary and beneficial to have the gracious help of others.  The cycle of poverty is a hard thing to witness and to be apart of but there are ways to break it, it is not by any means easy, but it is possible.

The American Journal of Sociology, in their article "Work and Welfare Among Single Mothers in Poverty" state that "Poverty in American has historically been viewed as a problem of work effort. Those who are poor either cannot work, choose not to work, or do not work enough" (317). This is a thought that hurst many people who are stuck in this cycle of poverty. For most single mothers, this statement could not be any more wrong. Being a single parent, many of these mothers must work endlessly to take car of their child/children while also maintaining the household, and also keeping a job to support her and her family. Does that sound like laziness or unwillingness to work to you?

Also, when these single mothers are struggling to decide between jobs and welfare, as the article states, "the economic benefits of work must be weighed against the costs of child care, medical care, role strain, and loss of time with children" (322). Is it fair to ask this of the mothers that surround our communities everyday? This strain on their lives really gives them no chance to break the cycle.

Citation:

Work and Welfare Among Single Mothers in Poverty

Kathleen Mullan Harris

American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 99, No. 2 (Sep., 1993), pp. 317-352

Published by: The University of Chicago Press

Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2781681

Through research I discovered that George Brown and Patricia Moran said that "single mothers were twice as likely as their married counterparts to be in financial hardship..." and additionally that "poor self esteem" and "lack of support" hurt single mother's chances of stability and leads towards depression. Being in poverty and being a single mother adds to the already stressful things in daily life, and without the support of a spouse, family, or significant other, most of these women will deal with these issues by internalizing their stress or taking it out on their children.



Citation: 
 GEORGE W. BROWN and PATRICIA M. MORAN (1997). Single mothers, poverty and depression. Psychological Medicine, 27, pp 21-33. 

What are some of the events that keep single mothers, specifically, in poverty?

This is a good example of what a cycle of poverty might look like. You can see that these events circle into one another and leave no room for escape. 

It starts with 

A: Poverty. This can begin from birth or at any point in one's life. 

B: Inadequate Diet. This is caused by poor nutrition along with poverty. The cheapest foods are the most unhealthy but also the most attainable (David Shipler, "The Working Poor" Chapter 8, Body and Mind).  

C: Poor Health. A direct subset of inadequate diet. This effects all aspects of live, especially when it starts from a young age. A lot of children suffer from poor health due to bad food choices and this effects their brain growth and can even mentally handicap them. Poor health also stems from not having the funds to get appropriate health care.

D: Low Productivity. This also follows suit to poor health. If someone is sick, not eating the right thing, and they have lost all motivation, they will often loose all moral towards working which can hurt them the most out of all of these. 

E:Low Income. Because there is the factor of low productivity this effects the income of the worker. They don't work as hard and end up not producing as much and that effects how much they are paid which narrows the chances of getting out of poverty even more. 

How does this effect single mothers?

These factors one by one effect single mothers immensely because they are often stressed and may not have the resources to feed their child(ren) the right foods. Which can potentially lead to a handicap, ADHD, and a slew of other issues that require extra work and time that these mothers just do not have. Being a single mother, they are already at a disadvantage within the workforce and in the world. They must be there for their children but also work sometimes multiple jobs to keep enough of an income to feed and house her children. Additionally if the children are younger, she must worry about childcare, one of the most expensive necessities. The odds are clearly stacked against a lot of these single mothers in the world 

These two graphs showcase how prevalent single-mother families are amongst the poverty stricken

What is the Cycle of Poverty?

The cycle of poverty, to me, is a never ending circle that a lot of impoverished families are often trapped in. The cycle includes many controllable and uncontrollable life events that cascade into each other that results in an avalanche of stress and make it harder to escape the cycle. 

Especially for single mothers, the cycle of poverty can be even more difficult. First off, having experience with being apart of a single parent family, I relate immensely to women who struggle to make ends meet and are still raising their children the best that they can.