M Hakovirta
Biographic Data
| ID | 45567 |
|---|---|
| NAME | M Hakovirta |
| GIVEN NAMES | M |
| FAMILY NAME | Hakovirta |
| SIGNATURE | HAKOVIRTA M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Turku |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0947-3985 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 41 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 154 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 41 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Feasibility, Acceptability and Potential Effectiveness of an Intervention for Social Work Clients With Children Facing Complex Financial Problems in Finland (FinSoc)—Results From a Pilot Randomized Co…
Social work clients often face complex financial difficulties. To address this, we developed FinSoc, a financial social work intervention designed to improve financial literacy, strengthen economic self‐efficacy and reduce financial anxiety among parents in Finland. This pilot randomized controlled trial aimed to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary effectiveness of the intervention. Altogether, 30 social work clients participa…
Measuring the standard of living in shared‐care families—Challenges and insights
This methodological article aims to acquire a better understanding of how current research in the traditional income distribution literature considers shared‐care families and what kind of implications these approaches pose for measuring the economic well‐being of children living in two homes. Second, it provides insights on how to measure the economic standard of living of individuals in shared‐care families. These aims are related to research g…
Separated families’ use of formal and informal childcare across 12 European countries
As family structures are becoming diverse across Europe, understanding how separated parents manage childcare is essential for supporting children’s well-being. However, little is known about how physical custody arrangements relate to childcare arrangements. Informed by the triple bind framework, this study examined the relationship between custody arrangement and children’s use of formal (e.g. preschool) and informal (e.g. family) care. We anal…
How much are fathers asked to contribute when children live with low-income mothers? New evidence from Colombia, Finland, Peru, Uruguay, and the United States
This article provides new exploratory information on child support amounts expected for non-resident fathers of children living with low-income, unemployed mothers in Colombia, Finland, Peru, the United States, and Uruguay. Using vignette data obtained through extensive interviews with judicial and social service personnel and child support experts, we investigated whether child support is expected and its amount when single mothers are unemploye…
Children’s physical custody arrangements and mothers’ employment in 11 European countries
As joint physical custody (JPC) of children after parental separation has become more prevalent across countries, we need to know more about its impacts. This study examines whether JPC is associated with mother's paid employment given that childcare responsibilities are redistributed more equally between parents compared to mothers with sole physical custody (SPC). We provide the first comparative analysis on the relationship between a child's p…
Joint physical custody and mothers’ life satisfaction in Belgium, Finland, and Germany
Joint physical custody (JPC) is an increasingly common care arrangement in which children live about equally with their parents after separation or divorce. This study examined the association between JPC and mothers' life satisfaction in Belgium, Finland, and Germany. The objective was to determine whether mothers with (asymmetric or symmetric) JPC differed in terms of life satisfaction from mothers with sole physical custody (SPC) and whether t…
Single Mothers and Child Support in Extended-Family Households: Insights from Six Latin American Countries
Extended-family households are common among single mothers. Using Luxembourg Income Study data from waves 2014–2019, we study child support receipt among single mothers living in extended-family households in Chile, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. We have three aims: to present the prevalence and characteristics of single mothers living with relatives, compare the level of child support received by extended-family and other single…
Shared Care and Mothers’ Post-separation Economic Wellbeing in Finland and Wisconsin, US: Does Child Support and Sharing Child’s Costs Matter
Children’s post-separation living arrangements may have important implications for mothers’ economic wellbeing. This study examines self-reported economic wellbeing of mothers with shared versus sole physical custody (also known as shared care) of the child six or more years since separation, using unique survey data on separated parents in Finland (n = 850) and Wisconsin, US (n = 395) in 2019–2020. We use sequential logistic regression models to…
Promoting financial capability within the field of social work practice among families with children: A systematic review
Shared residence and social security policy: A comparative analysis from 13 countries
Increasingly, children live in both parents' homes equally after parental separation, but little is known about whether social security policy supports these shared‐residence families. We propose that a determination of support for shared residence in various policies can be based on two criteria: whether both parents can receive benefits and whether the total amount received is greater than what would have been received if children lived with on…
Sharing care and sharing costs? Child support and child-related expense-sharing post-separation in Finland and Wisconsin, US
This study analyzes the associations between post-separation child living arrangements and child support outcomes and expense sharing in two contrasting welfare states: Finland and the United States (Wisconsin). The extent to which parents share the economic responsibility of the child after separation varies across countries. As shared care arrangements become more prevalent, traditional child support arrangements may become less common. Survey …
Factors Associated with the Joint Physical Custody of European Children
Understanding patterns of children’s living arrangements (physical custody) in separated families and the factors related to joint physical custody are crucial as custody patterns have significant implications for the well-being of children and parents. In this study we use the 2021 European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions Survey (EU-SILC) to provide new evidence of children’s post-separation living arrangements in Europe. Our sa…
Maternal satisfaction with joint and sole child physical placement arrangements following separation in Wisconsin and Finland
Families (and sometimes courts) make important decisions regarding child physical custody arrangements post‐separation, and shared parenting arrangements are increasingly common in most developed countries. Shared arrangements may be differentially associated with parental satisfaction, and these associations may vary across countries. Using data from surveys of separated mothers in Wisconsin and Finland, the present study explores this possibili…
Poverty as a Driver of Stigma among Finnish Children during the Covid-19 Pandemic– Evidence from the 2021 Children’s Voice Survey
Stigma is a social problem that can have severe outcomes on both individuals and society. Previous research shows that children’s experiences of stigma may increase during times of stress and hardship such as the Covid-19 pandemic, but also that poverty and a lack of resources can create stigmatization. However, both stigma and poverty are multidimensional phenomena that have been investigated mainly among adults using single indicators. This art…
Single earners and carers during lockdown: Everyday challenges faced by Finnish single mothers during the Covid-19 pandemic
Purpose This article analyzes the challenges Finnish single mothers experienced in their everyday lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. In studies on challenges to family life during COVID-19 lockdowns, single-parent families remain a largely understudied group. Design/methodology/approach The authors apply triple bind theory and ask how did Finnish single mothers manage the interplay between inadequate resources, inadequate employment, and inadequ…
Joint physical custody of children in Europe: A growing phenomenon
Background: Large-scale cross-country comparisons of children’s physical custody (which parent the child lives with after separation) are dated and limited in the age range of children considered. Objective: We document the level of sole and joint physical custody (JPC, both equal and unequal) for children in European countries using data from 2021. Methods: This article uses a new module on the living arrangements of children from the European U…
Child support policy in middle- and low-income countries: Current Approaches and Policy Dilemmas
Little is known about government policies that regulate economic transfers between separated parents (child support) outside of high-income countries. This paper provides the first broad overview of child support policy and its outcomes in 37 middle- and low-income countries. Using a systematic literature review, we provide information on child support policies in these countries, considering institutional arrangements, procedures for determining…
Lone mothers and child support receipt in 21 European countries
With increasing trends in divorce, separation and multi-partner fertility, more families have become subject to child support policies. This paper explores child support receipt in 21 European countries using 2017–2018 European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions data. We investigated: (1) cross-country differences in the prevalence and amount of child support received and (2) the determinants of child support receipt among lone moth…
Types of Economic Abuse in Postseparation Lives of Women Experiencing IPV: A Qualitative Study from Finland
There is growing interest in economic abuse as a form of violence against women, but the research has largely addressed cohabiting couples thus far, with few detailed explorations of women's experiences of economic abuse in postseparation life. Using interviews with 11 women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV), this study investigates the types of economic abuse in the lives of these women. Inductive thematic analysis revealed four types…
Unequal but balanced: Highly educated mothers’ perceptions of work–life balance during the Covid-19 lockdown in Finland and the Netherlands
One year after the European work-life balance directive, which recognises the need for work-family policy support, measures to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic began shaping parents' work-life balance in significant ways. Academically, we are challenged to explore whether existing theoretical frameworks hold in this new environment with combined old and new policy frameworks. We are also challenged to understand the nuanced ways in which …
Child Support Policy across High-Income Countries: Similar Problems, Different Approaches
We provide an overview of child support policy in high-income countries, highlighting differences in institutional arrangements, the amount of child support due, and the amount of child support received. We show that the United States expects high levels of child support from nonresident parents when compared to other countries, that noncompliance is a problem across countries, and that most European countries deal with nonpayment of child suppor…
Is it Possible for Single Parents to Successfully Raise Children? Multilevel Analysis of Attitudes Toward Single Parents in 22 Welfare States
Drawing from the 2012 International Social Survey Programme’s data for 22 countries, this article analyses the variation in attitudes toward single parents and the determinants of those attitudes from a cross-national perspective. Findings indicated that the most positive attitudes toward single parents were in Nordic countries, except Finland. The attitudes were the most negative in Eastern European countries. At the individual level, women, you…
Child Support in Shared Care Cases: Do Child Support Policies in Thirteen Countries Reflect Family Policy Models
Increasingly, parents in separated families equally share care of their children post-separation. In this article we extend a well-known family policy model to generate hypotheses about the level of child support to be paid by separated parents when children live primarily with their mother (‘sole custody’) in contrast to when children spend equal time with both parents (‘shared care’). We test these hypotheses with data collected from thirteen c…
Gendering boundary work: Experiences of work–family practices among Finnish working parents during Covid‐19 lockdown
In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak and governmental lockdowns changed the everyday lives of families with children worldwide. Due to remote work recommendations and the closing of school premises and childcare centers, work-family boundaries became blurred in many families. In this study, we examine the possibly gendered boundary work practices among Finnish parents during the COVID-19 lockdown in spring 2020 by asking, how do parents p…
Financial Stress and Subjective Wellbeing among Children -Evidence from Finland
In this article we analyse how subjective wellbeing amongst Finnish children is associated with experiences of financial stress, that is, worries about money and one’s financial situation. We focus on both affective and cognitive components of subjective wellbeing in order to receive a broader understanding on children’s subjective wellbeing. We use Finnish data from the International survey of children’s lives conducted by the Children’s Worlds …
How to Divide Paid Work and Unpaid Care between Parents? Comparison of Attitudes in 22 Western Countries
Sharing responsibilities for paid work and unpaid care between men and women is recognised as one of the challenges that Western countries face in the 21st century. This article examines attitudes towards sharing paid work and unpaid care responsibilities in 22 Western countries by addressing the following questions. (1) How do attitudes towards different earner-carer models vary across countries? (2) Which socio-demographic and country-level fac…
Gendering boundary work: Experiences of work–family practices among Finnish working parents during Covid‐19 lockdown
In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak and governmental lockdowns changed the everyday lives of families with children worldwide. Due to remote work recommendations and the closing of school premises and childcare centers, work-family boundaries became blurred in many families. In this study, we examine the possibly gendered boundary work practices among Finnish parents during the COVID-19 lockdown in spring 2020 by asking, how do parents p…
Contribution of child maintenance to lone mothers’ income in five countries
This study uses the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) data from 2013 to study (1) the contribution of child maintenance to the income packages of lone mothers, (2) the proportion of lone mothers receiving child maintenance and the level of child maintenance for those receiving it and (3) the extent to which child maintenance is helping families who may need it the most (those at the low end of the income distribution), compared with families with mod…
Child maintenance and child poverty: A comparative analysis
This paper uses the Luxembourg Income Study datasets from 2004 and 2005 to analyse the contribution that child maintenance makes to the reduction of child poverty. The countries compared are Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US), representing countries with different child maintenance schemes. Results show that the contribution that child maintenance makes in reducing overall child p…
Children’s Perceptions of Poverty
The antipoverty effectiveness of child support: Empirical evidence for Latin American countries
In this article we examine the role of child support in the economic well‐being of children in single‐parent families in Latin America. We use the Luxembourg Income Study wave IX and the 2012 Colombian Quality of Life Survey to answer three questions: (1) Are children in single‐parent families more likely to be poor than children in two‐parent families? (2) What is the relative importance of different income sources in the income packages of thes…
Joint physical custody of children in Europe: A growing phenomenon
Background: Large-scale cross-country comparisons of children’s physical custody (which parent the child lives with after separation) are dated and limited in the age range of children considered. Objective: We document the level of sole and joint physical custody (JPC, both equal and unequal) for children in European countries using data from 2021. Methods: This article uses a new module on the living arrangements of children from the European U…
Social Relationships, Child Poverty, and Children's Life Satisfaction
Child subjective well-being is determined by various personal, social, and contextual factors. Few studies have found reliable differences in the prediction power of these factors; however, the results vary especially when it comes to sociodemographic factors, such as the effect of child's socioeconomic background on life satisfaction. This paper examines how poverty and social relationships affect the perceived life satisfaction of Finnish schoo…
Unequal but balanced: Highly educated mothers’ perceptions of work–life balance during the Covid-19 lockdown in Finland and the Netherlands
One year after the European work-life balance directive, which recognises the need for work-family policy support, measures to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic began shaping parents' work-life balance in significant ways. Academically, we are challenged to explore whether existing theoretical frameworks hold in this new environment with combined old and new policy frameworks. We are also challenged to understand the nuanced ways in which …
Child Support in Shared Care Cases: Do Child Support Policies in Thirteen Countries Reflect Family Policy Models
Increasingly, parents in separated families equally share care of their children post-separation. In this article we extend a well-known family policy model to generate hypotheses about the level of child support to be paid by separated parents when children live primarily with their mother (‘sole custody’) in contrast to when children spend equal time with both parents (‘shared care’). We test these hypotheses with data collected from thirteen c…
Shared Care and Child Maintenance Policies in Nordic Countries
The Nordic welfare model is referred to as the dual earner/dual carer model, where the explicit policy goal is to promote the equal sharing of the responsibility of care for children and paid work among men and women. However, how does the dual earner/dual carer model apply to parents who do not live together but who share care, ie, both parents spending substantial time caring for and living with their child? In this article, we compare child ma…
Does paying child support impoverish fathers in the United States, Finland, and the United Kingdom
The increased frequency of divorce, separation, and nonmarital childbearing over the past several decades has contributed to the rise of parents not living with their children in the same household. These nonresident parents are typically fathers, many of whom are obligated to share the economic responsibility for their children across households by paying child support. This study uses Luxemburg Income Study (LIS) datasets from the year 2013 to …
A Comparative Analysis of Child Maintenance Schemes in Five Countries
The aims of this special issue were twofold: to provide international research evidence of child maintenance schemes in five countries and to produce a comparative analysis of that research, to show how child maintenance outcomes differ across countries. The research data were collected using a vignette technique. This set up two fictional families, specifying sets of characteristics in order to explore how child maintenance schemes deal with key…
Child Support Policy across High-Income Countries: Similar Problems, Different Approaches
We provide an overview of child support policy in high-income countries, highlighting differences in institutional arrangements, the amount of child support due, and the amount of child support received. We show that the United States expects high levels of child support from nonresident parents when compared to other countries, that noncompliance is a problem across countries, and that most European countries deal with nonpayment of child suppor…
Children's Rights and Parents' Responsibilities: Child Maintenance Policies in Finland
Child maintenance schemes differ substantially from each other in terms of underlying philosophy, structure, rules and organisation, and in particular, in their very different outcomes. In Finland the principle is that every child has the right to be adequately provided for and that child maintenance is the right of the child. The main policy focus is on shared parenting and the emphasis in the scheme on contact between the child and the non-resi…
Family Policy and Shared Parenting in Nordic Countries
Increasing diversity in patterns of responsibility for the raising of children in families has presented serious challenges for welfare states. More complex family ties raise questions about the types of responsibility and obligation that should follow from different forms of private relationship, and the role the welfare state should play in governing family life. In this article, we compare how family policies in Finland, Norway and Sweden defi…
Shared residence and social security policy: A comparative analysis from 13 countries
Increasingly, children live in both parents' homes equally after parental separation, but little is known about whether social security policy supports these shared‐residence families. We propose that a determination of support for shared residence in various policies can be based on two criteria: whether both parents can receive benefits and whether the total amount received is greater than what would have been received if children lived with on…
Child support policy in middle- and low-income countries: Current Approaches and Policy Dilemmas
Little is known about government policies that regulate economic transfers between separated parents (child support) outside of high-income countries. This paper provides the first broad overview of child support policy and its outcomes in 37 middle- and low-income countries. Using a systematic literature review, we provide information on child support policies in these countries, considering institutional arrangements, procedures for determining…
Types of Economic Abuse in Postseparation Lives of Women Experiencing IPV: A Qualitative Study from Finland
There is growing interest in economic abuse as a form of violence against women, but the research has largely addressed cohabiting couples thus far, with few detailed explorations of women's experiences of economic abuse in postseparation life. Using interviews with 11 women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV), this study investigates the types of economic abuse in the lives of these women. Inductive thematic analysis revealed four types…
Financial Stress and Subjective Wellbeing among Children -Evidence from Finland
In this article we analyse how subjective wellbeing amongst Finnish children is associated with experiences of financial stress, that is, worries about money and one’s financial situation. We focus on both affective and cognitive components of subjective wellbeing in order to receive a broader understanding on children’s subjective wellbeing. We use Finnish data from the International survey of children’s lives conducted by the Children’s Worlds …
Gender Equality Prior to and Following Separation: Nordic and Liberal Policy Inconsistencies
We compare family policy in Australia and Finland, focusing on child support as interrogating how gender equality ideals and realities play out when families diverge from the dual-parent model. Despite Finland’s de-gendered leave and employment policy, a gender wage gap continues to position mothers as primary carers. In Australia, pre-separation policies are gendered in that leave benefits position mothers as primary carers. In both countries, c…
Child Poverty, Child Maintenance and Interactions with Social Assistance Benefits Among Lone Parent Families: A Comparative Analysis
In many developed countries lone parent families face high rates of child poverty. Among those lone parents who do get child maintenance there is a hidden problem. States may retain all, or a proportion, of the maintenance that is paid in order to offset other fiscal costs. Thus, the potential of child maintenance to alleviate poverty among lone parent families may not be fully realized, especially if the families are also in receipt of social as…
Factors Associated with the Joint Physical Custody of European Children
Understanding patterns of children’s living arrangements (physical custody) in separated families and the factors related to joint physical custody are crucial as custody patterns have significant implications for the well-being of children and parents. In this study we use the 2021 European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions Survey (EU-SILC) to provide new evidence of children’s post-separation living arrangements in Europe. Our sa…
Single earners and carers during lockdown: Everyday challenges faced by Finnish single mothers during the Covid-19 pandemic
Purpose This article analyzes the challenges Finnish single mothers experienced in their everyday lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. In studies on challenges to family life during COVID-19 lockdowns, single-parent families remain a largely understudied group. Design/methodology/approach The authors apply triple bind theory and ask how did Finnish single mothers manage the interplay between inadequate resources, inadequate employment, and inadequ…
Introduction to Child Maintenance Schemes across Five Countries
Child maintenance and child poverty: A comparative analysis
This paper uses the Luxembourg Income Study datasets from 2004 and 2005 to analyse the contribution that child maintenance makes to the reduction of child poverty. The countries compared are Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US), representing countries with different child maintenance schemes. Results show that the contribution that child maintenance makes in reducing overall child p…
Family Policy and Shared Parenting in Nordic Countries
Increasing diversity in patterns of responsibility for the raising of children in families has presented serious challenges for welfare states. More complex family ties raise questions about the types of responsibility and obligation that should follow from different forms of private relationship, and the role the welfare state should play in governing family life. In this article, we compare how family policies in Finland, Norway and Sweden defi…
Introduction to Child Maintenance Schemes across Five Countries
Children's Rights and Parents' Responsibilities: Child Maintenance Policies in Finland
Child maintenance schemes differ substantially from each other in terms of underlying philosophy, structure, rules and organisation, and in particular, in their very different outcomes. In Finland the principle is that every child has the right to be adequately provided for and that child maintenance is the right of the child. The main policy focus is on shared parenting and the emphasis in the scheme on contact between the child and the non-resi…
A Comparative Analysis of Child Maintenance Schemes in Five Countries
The aims of this special issue were twofold: to provide international research evidence of child maintenance schemes in five countries and to produce a comparative analysis of that research, to show how child maintenance outcomes differ across countries. The research data were collected using a vignette technique. This set up two fictional families, specifying sets of characteristics in order to explore how child maintenance schemes deal with key…
Fatherhood in the Nordic Welfare States: Comparing care policies and practice
The five Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, are well-known for their extensive welfare system and gender equality which provides both parents with opportunities to earn and care for their children. In this topical book, expert scholars from the Nordic countries, as well as UK and the US, demonstrate how modern fatherhood is supported in the Nordic setting through family and social policies, and how these contribute to…
Children’s Perceptions of Poverty
Contribution of child maintenance to lone mothers’ income in five countries
This study uses the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) data from 2013 to study (1) the contribution of child maintenance to the income packages of lone mothers, (2) the proportion of lone mothers receiving child maintenance and the level of child maintenance for those receiving it and (3) the extent to which child maintenance is helping families who may need it the most (those at the low end of the income distribution), compared with families with mod…
The antipoverty effectiveness of child support: Empirical evidence for Latin American countries
In this article we examine the role of child support in the economic well‐being of children in single‐parent families in Latin America. We use the Luxembourg Income Study wave IX and the 2012 Colombian Quality of Life Survey to answer three questions: (1) Are children in single‐parent families more likely to be poor than children in two‐parent families? (2) What is the relative importance of different income sources in the income packages of thes…
How to Divide Paid Work and Unpaid Care between Parents? Comparison of Attitudes in 22 Western Countries
Sharing responsibilities for paid work and unpaid care between men and women is recognised as one of the challenges that Western countries face in the 21st century. This article examines attitudes towards sharing paid work and unpaid care responsibilities in 22 Western countries by addressing the following questions. (1) How do attitudes towards different earner-carer models vary across countries? (2) Which socio-demographic and country-level fac…
Perceptions of Household Income and Subjective Well-Being of Children in China
Shared Care and Child Maintenance Policies in Nordic Countries
The Nordic welfare model is referred to as the dual earner/dual carer model, where the explicit policy goal is to promote the equal sharing of the responsibility of care for children and paid work among men and women. However, how does the dual earner/dual carer model apply to parents who do not live together but who share care, ie, both parents spending substantial time caring for and living with their child? In this article, we compare child ma…
Does paying child support impoverish fathers in the United States, Finland, and the United Kingdom
The increased frequency of divorce, separation, and nonmarital childbearing over the past several decades has contributed to the rise of parents not living with their children in the same household. These nonresident parents are typically fathers, many of whom are obligated to share the economic responsibility for their children across households by paying child support. This study uses Luxemburg Income Study (LIS) datasets from the year 2013 to …
Social Relationships, Child Poverty, and Children's Life Satisfaction
Child subjective well-being is determined by various personal, social, and contextual factors. Few studies have found reliable differences in the prediction power of these factors; however, the results vary especially when it comes to sociodemographic factors, such as the effect of child's socioeconomic background on life satisfaction. This paper examines how poverty and social relationships affect the perceived life satisfaction of Finnish schoo…
Financial Stress and Subjective Wellbeing among Children -Evidence from Finland
In this article we analyse how subjective wellbeing amongst Finnish children is associated with experiences of financial stress, that is, worries about money and one’s financial situation. We focus on both affective and cognitive components of subjective wellbeing in order to receive a broader understanding on children’s subjective wellbeing. We use Finnish data from the International survey of children’s lives conducted by the Children’s Worlds …
Gender Equality Prior to and Following Separation: Nordic and Liberal Policy Inconsistencies
We compare family policy in Australia and Finland, focusing on child support as interrogating how gender equality ideals and realities play out when families diverge from the dual-parent model. Despite Finland’s de-gendered leave and employment policy, a gender wage gap continues to position mothers as primary carers. In Australia, pre-separation policies are gendered in that leave benefits position mothers as primary carers. In both countries, c…
Child Poverty, Child Maintenance and Interactions with Social Assistance Benefits Among Lone Parent Families: A Comparative Analysis
In many developed countries lone parent families face high rates of child poverty. Among those lone parents who do get child maintenance there is a hidden problem. States may retain all, or a proportion, of the maintenance that is paid in order to offset other fiscal costs. Thus, the potential of child maintenance to alleviate poverty among lone parent families may not be fully realized, especially if the families are also in receipt of social as…
Is it Possible for Single Parents to Successfully Raise Children? Multilevel Analysis of Attitudes Toward Single Parents in 22 Welfare States
Drawing from the 2012 International Social Survey Programme’s data for 22 countries, this article analyses the variation in attitudes toward single parents and the determinants of those attitudes from a cross-national perspective. Findings indicated that the most positive attitudes toward single parents were in Nordic countries, except Finland. The attitudes were the most negative in Eastern European countries. At the individual level, women, you…
Child Support in Shared Care Cases: Do Child Support Policies in Thirteen Countries Reflect Family Policy Models
Increasingly, parents in separated families equally share care of their children post-separation. In this article we extend a well-known family policy model to generate hypotheses about the level of child support to be paid by separated parents when children live primarily with their mother (‘sole custody’) in contrast to when children spend equal time with both parents (‘shared care’). We test these hypotheses with data collected from thirteen c…
Gendering boundary work: Experiences of work–family practices among Finnish working parents during Covid‐19 lockdown
In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak and governmental lockdowns changed the everyday lives of families with children worldwide. Due to remote work recommendations and the closing of school premises and childcare centers, work-family boundaries became blurred in many families. In this study, we examine the possibly gendered boundary work practices among Finnish parents during the COVID-19 lockdown in spring 2020 by asking, how do parents p…
Lone mothers and child support receipt in 21 European countries
With increasing trends in divorce, separation and multi-partner fertility, more families have become subject to child support policies. This paper explores child support receipt in 21 European countries using 2017–2018 European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions data. We investigated: (1) cross-country differences in the prevalence and amount of child support received and (2) the determinants of child support receipt among lone moth…
Types of Economic Abuse in Postseparation Lives of Women Experiencing IPV: A Qualitative Study from Finland
There is growing interest in economic abuse as a form of violence against women, but the research has largely addressed cohabiting couples thus far, with few detailed explorations of women's experiences of economic abuse in postseparation life. Using interviews with 11 women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV), this study investigates the types of economic abuse in the lives of these women. Inductive thematic analysis revealed four types…
Unequal but balanced: Highly educated mothers’ perceptions of work–life balance during the Covid-19 lockdown in Finland and the Netherlands
One year after the European work-life balance directive, which recognises the need for work-family policy support, measures to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic began shaping parents' work-life balance in significant ways. Academically, we are challenged to explore whether existing theoretical frameworks hold in this new environment with combined old and new policy frameworks. We are also challenged to understand the nuanced ways in which …
Child Support Policy across High-Income Countries: Similar Problems, Different Approaches
We provide an overview of child support policy in high-income countries, highlighting differences in institutional arrangements, the amount of child support due, and the amount of child support received. We show that the United States expects high levels of child support from nonresident parents when compared to other countries, that noncompliance is a problem across countries, and that most European countries deal with nonpayment of child suppor…
Maternal satisfaction with joint and sole child physical placement arrangements following separation in Wisconsin and Finland
Families (and sometimes courts) make important decisions regarding child physical custody arrangements post‐separation, and shared parenting arrangements are increasingly common in most developed countries. Shared arrangements may be differentially associated with parental satisfaction, and these associations may vary across countries. Using data from surveys of separated mothers in Wisconsin and Finland, the present study explores this possibili…
Economics (26 works) · Political science (24 works) · Psychology (23 works) · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving (21 works) · Family Dynamics and Relationships (18 works) · Demographic economics (17 works) · Sociology (17 works) · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics (15 works) · Economic growth (12 works) · Medicine (12 works)