July 08, 2014 | News

A child but no man. What’s next?

On July 8, Sonja Bastin has successfully defended her dissertation. Her PhD work was focused on the life-course of lone mothers.

The share of lone mothers has doubled since the 1970s. Lone mothers often find themselves in a tough situation - economically and socially. Finding a job and a partner seems to be a way out, as indicated by research done at least so far. Previous studies, however, have rarely looked at the period of time actually spent as lone mother.

Sonja Bastin analyzed data from the German Family Panel (pairfam), a comprehensive longitudinal study as part of which survey data from over 13,000 people of certain cohorts, their partners, parents, and children have been collected nationwide since 2008. The study is worldwide unique and enables researchers to conduct in-depth studies on issues such as partnership relations, intergenerational relationships, and aspects of fertility at different stages of life.

The Panel data provided Sonja Bastin with detailed insights into the personal situation of lone mothers. Her aim was to address several research questions, and answers to these could only be provided by looking at a person’s life over longer periods of time. An example is the question of when and how mothers end their phase of lone motherhood.

Sonja Bastin found out, among other things, that women who have been single right from birth of their child are having difficulties in finding a permanent partner for the most part. Moreover, finding a partner is not always a precursor to setting up a joint household; the two processes rather need to be considered separately. And here, education comes in, says Sonja Bastin. Higher-educated lone mothers are more likely to move in with their new partner than lone mothers with a lower level of education.