Lone mothers have risk of ill health

According to a recent study lone mothers in the age group of 16 - 49 are at an increased risk of ill health at a later stage of life. The research showed that the risk of ill health for lone mothers is greater in countries like England, the US, Denmark and Sweden.

In the survey, single mothers were asked a set of questions about childbearing and marital status to women aged above 50 and were asked to rate their own health.

According to the research data, 1 in 3 of the US’s conducted survey on single mothers before the age of 50, compared with around 1 in 5 in England and Western European countries, around 4 out of 10 in Denmark and Sweden, and 1 in 10 in Southern Europe.
 
The research findings explained that women who became single mothers before the age of 20, or as the result of divorce, or who parented alone for 8 or more years, were at particular risk of physical disability and poor health in later life than dual parenthood.
 
"Social support may partially explain the associations between single motherhood and health," they said.

By Lizitha