Challenges: The Life and Hardship of Single Mother

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In Partial Fullfillment of the Requirements of the Subject Research for Daily life:
Pratical Research

Presented to:

Claudia J. Abenoja

Subject Teacher

Presented by:

Albarico, Beverly H.

Almendras, Ridel G.

Corneja, Rusched G.

Dolauta, Alexa Marie L.

Estrella, Daniela Jean D.

Flores, Emmanuel M.

Legaspi, Shine Saye C.

Inawayan Nationa High Shool

June 2023

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Table of Contents

Background of the Study 1

Theoretical Lens 5

Research Objectives 9

Related Literature 12

Related Studies 12

Research Procedure

Sampling 14

Research Questions 14

Data Gathering 15

Data Analysis 16

References 17

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Background of the Study

A single mother also referred to as a “single mom” is an unmarried

female aka single parent who has little to no support from the child/children’s

father. Single mothers are doing their best to provide all of the needs of their

children even without father’s help, they are doing the role of being a mother and

father to their children’s. A single mom typically provides over 50% of the costs

to raise and care for the dependent and can typically be considered head of

household on taxes and can claim child when filling. Being a single mother is not

easy because you have to be patient to fulfill the needs of your child, you need to

be wise in making decisions and you are also the pillar of the home. The mother’s

force is stronger when the child is taken by his father because his mother raised

him, worked hard, and stood up as a mother and father.

Single mother has to endure a lot of problems and face the biggest

challenge in their life; to be a single parent who must be able to hold multiple

roles, that is as a father who works for a family living and as a mother who

nurtures and educate her children. As a mother, she is required to be able to

manage everything by herself; some of them include financial management, jobs,

and nurture time for her children. (Indrayanti,, Suminar, J.R., Siswadi, A.G.P. and

Setianti, Y. 2018) Being a single parent who nurtures and educates her children

presents a single mother with the toughest struggle of her life. She must be able to

handle everything on her own because of her responsibilities as a mother,

including taking care of her children and managing her finances. They need to

fight in life to fulfill everything. It is not

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easy to find a job and to gain money just to give the needs of the children’s

especially when you are the only one looking for a livelihood.

Hard-working women of the world who do the heavy lifting of raising

kids with strength and courage on their own. (Rebekah Lowin 2022).Mothers

work hard to support their children. There is an emotional challenge that single

mothers go through, a sense of loneliness and depression when mothers cannot

share the good and bad experiences with someone or have a partner to share the

work with. Lack of financial support, single mothers often feel guilty for not

providing enough for their kids.

Single parent’s problems include having to adapt to a drop in income, a

compromised lifestyle, and even a change in house or neighborhood. Challenges

of single parenting, especially being a single mother, are overwhelming. It

requires a single parent to combine the roles of two people with raising the

children and running the house. ( Sylvia Smith, 2022 ) The mother becomes the

father especially if you are alone in caring and must find for the child’s needs.

They felt overwhelmed, tired and stressed out because there’s no one else around

to help them with their obligations. It can cause depression for those mothers who

cannot control their emotions.

Single parent families are at high risk of financial hardship which may

impact on psychological wellbeing. This study explored the impact of financial

hardship on wellbeing on 15 single parents. Semi-structured interviews were

conducted and analyzed using constructivist thematic analysis. Participants

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described food and fuel poverty, and the need to make sacrifices to ensure that

children’s basic needs were met. In some cases, participants went without food

and struggled to pay bills. Isolation, anxiety, depression, paranoia, and suicidal

thoughts were described. However, participants reported that psychological

services not able to take the needs of single parents in to account. Support for

single parents must acknowledge the impact of social circumstances and give

more consideration economic drivers of distress. ( RJ Stack, A. Meredith 2018)

All the trials are faced by mothers for their children’s, they don’t let that they have

a deficiency in their child. They do everything just to protect and be a good

mother even if there is nothing left for them, they don’t mind about themselves

because they pour everything for their children.

Being a single mom, you want to be happy and provide a safe home but

usually, don’t know how to keep yourself feeling positive, don’t really believe you

will be happy and don’t know how to deal with providing for everything you

know you need for your kids. The hardest part about being a single mom is

knowing that hope and dreams are possible even in the face of tremendous fear.

(Laura Bonarrigo, 2018) A single mothers can bring up strong emotions, including

relief, excitement, anger, fear and sadness. Being a single mother can be a time for

learning about yourself and find a new directions.

Time management is very important to every single mother they need to

stay up just to give what’s the best for their family. The hardest part of being a

single mom is prioritizing time and focus on self-care. ( Tunajina, 2022) Time

management is the most important for single mothers, they need to estimate the

time for their obligations as a mother and father for their child. They will

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prioritize motherhood over their children’s then they will do the duty of a father

by finding a livelihood.

Being a working mom is hard. Being a single mom is hard. Being a single,

working mom has its own set of challenges and there are days (a lot of them!) that

are downright hard. You’re the breadwinner, the child-rearer, the chef-on-demand,

the housekeeper, the family accountant, the keeper of the calendar, the on-call taxi

service and, on top of it all, you’re expected to literally and figuratively show up

for work. The pressure to juggle it all is huge. You’re not alone. There are nearly

15 million single moms in our country. The U.S. has the highest rate of single-

parent households. 78% of single moms are employed in some way, and 2/3 of

these women are working outside the home. (Kristin Bustamante, 2021). Juggling

multiple roles. Single, working moms often find themselves balancing numerous

responsibilities. They have to fulfill the role of the primary caregiver, manage

household tasks, handle financial matters, and maintain a career. This juggling act

can be physically, emotionally, and mentally demanding. Breadwinning

responsibility, As the sole provider for their families, single moms bear the

financial burden of supporting their children. They are responsible for earning

income, which adds additional pressure and stress to their daily lives.

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Theoretical Lens

Social learning theory

The main focus of social learning theory is to observe and imitate the

behaviors, emotions and attitude of others. Hence, it focuses on learning by means

of observing and modeling. Children do their initial interaction with their families,

observe and learn the actions of care givers. In single parenting the child has only

one parent to look at and copy its actions. It is very important and vital to have

both parents so that children may not fall in Oedipus complex.(Albert Bandura

1977) According to Bandura, children learn behaviors from their families. If

parents are irresponsible in some manner the child will learn same. If parent

haven’t built trustworthy relationship with their children, there are higher

probabilities that children will face difficulties in forming good relationship with

their surroundings. Thus, a positive result can be accomplished only if parents

demonstrate the kind of behavior which they want their children to learn

Psychosocial Theory

Psychosocial theory was given by famous psychologist Erik Erikson. This

theory consists of eight stages that cover up all the stages of individual’s life, i.e.

from infancy to late adulthood. These stages are trust versus mistrust, autonomy

versus shame / doubt, initiative versus guilt, industry versus inferiority, identity

versus identity confusion, intimacy versus isolation, generativity versus stagnation

and integrity versus despair.(Erik Erikson 1950) All these stages contain conflict

that leaves positive and negative impacts on individual’s personality. Erikson

called these conflicts as crisis that need to be resolved before moving to next

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stage. There is a chance that the child of single parent experience crisis on all

stages. For instance, in the initial stage of infancy, the child wants their caregiver

to be approachable to feed them, relieve their anxiety and make them laugh.

However, single parent cannot fulfill their needs and expose them to crisis. All

these dissatisfactions may lead to hopelessness and other psychological problems

like depression.

Operant conditioning theory

Operant conditioning which means changing of behavior by providing

reinforcement after desirable behavior was presented by Skinner. Reinforcement

and punishments are most important aspects of learning. Parents use these

methods to strengthen the desired behavior and weaken the undesired one. For

example, if a child is being provided with his favorite toy by his or her mother for

doing assignment on time, then there is highest probability that he will repeat this

behavior because of reinforcement.(B.F. Skinner 1937) On the other hand, if the

child was scolded by her mother for not doing assignment on time then he will

learn that such behavior only earns condemnation and therefore he modifies his

behavior accordingly. In general, single parent focuses on earning and providing

basic necessities of life to their children and tends to ignore child’s unwanted

behavior that can create problem for children in future. So, it is very important for

parents to reward desirable behavior and punish them for undesired behavior so

that they can learn which behavior is good and which is not good.

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Feminist Theory

The theoretical lens that can be applied to understand the life and hardship

of a single mother is the feminist theory. Feminist theory emphasizes gender

inequality and oppression that women face in patriarchal societies. The experience

of a single mother is an intersection of various forms of oppression, including

sexism, economic inequality, and discrimination based on marital status. Single

mothers face multiple challenges, such as financial instability, lack of emotional

support, social stigma, and unbalanced or limited work-family options. In many

cases, they have to manage the household and ensure the well-being of their

children with insufficient financial resources and limited support systems. This

situation is particularly challenging in societies where women’s roles are primarily

considered to be in the domestic realm and childcare and housekeeping are

considered a woman’s inherent responsibility. Feminist theory contends that the

notion of women's inferiority and men's superiority within a patriarchal society

has led to women's marginalization and exclusion from many resources,

opportunities, and decision-making positions. This marginalization and exclusion

of women can be seen in societal norms that are deemed feminine, such as caring

for children and running a household, being devalued and under-compensated. A

single mother's experience can be analyzed through the lens of feminist theory,

which helps in understanding the role of society in constructing the experiences of

women. The lens also enables the identification of the barriers that single mothers

face and the need to address inequality and gender discrimination in society. The

feminist theory can be used to challenge gender roles, policies, and social

structures that perpetuate inequalities for single mothers and other women.

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Through advocacy, social action, and policy changes, feminist theory can support

single mothers to achieve greater equality, security, and autonomy.

Attachment theory

Attachment is a basic human need for secure relationship between children

and care giver. A child psychiatric John Bowlby gave theory of attachment which

clearly explains that how children and parent relationship emerges and how it

influences the emotional and social development of child. Four stages of

attachment were designed by Bowlby. These stages begin from infancy. Theses

stages are pre-attachment, attachment in making, clear cut attachment, and

formation of reciprocal relationship. All these stages build a bond and this bond

binds parents and children emotionally.(John Bowlby 1969) Another three stages

were described by the colleague of John Bowlby that are experienced when

children are being separated from their care givers. These stages are detachment,

protest, and despair . In case of single parenting, parent is not able to build

stronger relationship then there are higher chances that children will face some

problems, they may suffer from psychological disorders, social difficulties and

irretrievable developmental consequences, such as decrease intelligence, increase

anger and violent behavior.

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Research Objectives

This study aims to know the challenges and hardship’s they faced in life as

a single mother.

Specially;

1) where they get their child’s daily needs

2) where they get the courage to get up every day

3) their difficulties

Related Literature

Pertinent of information is presented in this section to provide a strong

framework of references of the variables under study: Challenges: The life and

hardship of single mothers.

Local Literature

Single Mothers are fast-growing segment of the population. According to a

study by the Department of Health and the University of the Philippines-National

Institute of Health (2023), Philippines, 95% of whom are women. One of the

biggest Challenges Single Moms face is having to provide and care for a family

on just one salary-that’s if they’re lucky enough to be employed. Fortunately,

there are laws in place that offer support for single mothers. Whether it’s through

seeking financial support from the child’s biological father, or know rights and

what benefits are available to you.

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Foreign Literature

Single parenthood affects women mostly, and 85% of single-parent

households in Europe are headed by women (Nieuwenhuis & Maldonado, 2019).

Single parenthood often comes with social risks like poverty, material deprivation

and challenging work-life balance. Single parenthood also comes with concerns

about the next generation suffering possible disadvantage due to the

developmental and well-being challenges for the children (Nieuwenhuis &

Maldonado,2019) as such, it is no surprise that single parents are often at the

center of policy debates and can be considered as a “litmus test” of efficient social

protection (Horemans & Marx,2018) According to the Statistic Sweden, (2016),

158.000 single mothers in Sweden had a low-income standard in 2011. This

within a social policy context where there is financial support such as availability

of child allowance, paid leave when children are sick and child care support etc.,

something that does not exist in many countries. Another factor that can be of

importance for single mothers in many parts of the world is stigmatization.

Stigmatization is often associated with children of single mothers, and at times

exposes these children to a greater risk of being bullied, which may affect their

academic performance ( Ajzenstadt, 2009). The level of stigma may vary between

different contexts and can affect children differently depending on the country.

Single parent families, especially, those headed by single mothers are

becoming increasingly common around the world especially in Malaysia. Single

mothers generally suffer from poorer mental health, job discrimination, abuse and

neglect. Hence, they often experience high anxiety, depression, and stress. This

calls for research to empower their mental wellbeing. The present study examined

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the effectiveness of creative group counselling in increasing self-compassion, and

decreasing depression, anxiety and stress among single mothers.

According to the Brown, George & Patricia Moran(1997,ret. 2023)Single

and married mothers were followed up over a 2-year period during which time

rates of psychosocial risk factors, onset of depression and experience of chronic

episodes were measured. Risk of onset was double among single mothers. Single

mothers were twice as likely as their married counterparts to be in financial

hardship, despite being twice as likely to be in full-time employment. Both of

these factors were independently associated with onset in single mothers. The link

between them and onset was via their association with humiliating or entrapping

severe life events. Single parents were at a much raised risk of experiencing these

events. Onset was also more likely to follow such an event when women had poor

self-esteem and lack of support, both of which were more common among single

mothers. These risk factors were more frequently found among those in financial

hardship. Financial hardship was also related to risk of having a chronic episode

(lasting at least a year), of which single parents were also at greater risk. The

majority of chronic episodes among single mothers had their origins in prior

marital difficulties or widowhood and rates of chronicity reduced with length of

time spent in single parenthood. Results are discussed in terms of an aetiological

model of onset in which financial hardship probably influences outcome at a wide

variety of points.

The role of single parent is challenging one especially when the family is

headed by a women. Problem of single mother are linked with the up bringing of

children, their future and setting down in life. Till the time children get married

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and or get jobs they are dependent on the single parent. After that the problems are

considerably reduced. The present study like, to study the problems faced by

single mothers i.e. social, emotional and economic, a sample of 50 single mothers

were selected by snowball sampling technique. The results of the study revealed

that financial problem was the main stressor for majority of the single mothers.

The emotional life of the single mother was also affected by their single status.

Majority of the single mother reported that they felt lonely, helpless, hopeless,

lack of identity and lack of confidence. In social sphere majority of single mothers

tried to avoid attending social gatherings and had changed their dressing style due

to depression they had develop poor food and eating habits. Majority of the single

mothers found it hard to maintain discipline among the children due to absence of

male members. The mothers complained about loneliness, traumatic and

depression and found it difficult to handle the responsibility of childcare and to

establish a routine for her children.

Related Studies

According to the study of Ndirangu Ngunjiri(2019) Single motherhood,

particularly its causes and consequences, has not received considerable

attention in Kenya. The challenges facing single mothers are daunting,

high levels of unemployment and extreme poverty place many mothers in

precarious positions struggling to pay for food, shelter, and other basic

necessities critical for the health and well-being of their children. Children living

in such contexts require high levels of supervision as the environment is fraught

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with extraordinary dangers stemming from poor sanitation, accidents,

violence, drug sand alcohol abuse.

Based on the study conducted by (Indrayanti and Jenny Ratna et al., 2018)

Result showed that frequency and intensity play important role in creating

openness, empathy, supportive attitude, positive attitude, and equality as well as

automatically able to form inclusion, control, and affection between mother and

children. The expected final result is the discovery of an ideal way of single parent

role for their children.

The seven major themes recorded were: Absence of A Partner, Conflicting

Responsibilities, Child Care, Social Support, Willing Endurance, Spiritual

Guidance, and Self-Care. These themes were gathered from the respondents who

on the averaged have been solo mothers for 10 years already. Solo mothers used

both problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies, but the nature of the

problem dictates the strategy to be employed. Solo mothers make sure to look

after themselves to be able to take care of their children in the future. Given the

reality of struggles of solo parenting, solo mothers as a sector must be provided

with support programs and policies by the government to strengthen their stand on

raising their children well.(Del Mundo Jocelyn C. And Ma. Jannie Addie

Macanlalay et al., 2019)

Mine Kühn(2018) concluded in her previous research that single mothers

experience disproportionately higher rates of physical and mental illness

compared to partnered mothers. In this video, moving beyond that comparative

focus, MINE KÜHN analyzes how the transition into and length of single

motherhood impacts health and wellbeing, as well as the factors that determine

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those impacts. By investigating changes in single motherhood over time using

German panel data, Kühn finds that expanded employment correlates strongly

with improved health and wellbeing for single mothers. Her findings highlight the

vital importance of policies which enable single mothers to return to work, such as

institutional childcare provision.

Research Procedure

Sampling

In this study, the researchers will use a Purposive Sampling to obtain the

samples.Using this Sampling Technique, the researchers will be able to set out and

identify those single mothers who will fit into the sample population.

Research Questions

This research entitled “ Challenges: The Life and Hardship of Single

Mothers” is designed primarily to answer and investigate some questions

regarding this problems, its affect and coping strategies of people who belong to

single mothers. Specially, this study sought to answer the following questions:

1. What are the problems you encountered being a single mother?

2. What is the most difficult role of a single mother?

3. Is the father of your child still support you? In what way?

4. In what way have been most helpful to you as a single mother?

5. What advice do you have for other single mothers?

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Data Gathering

There are several research methods that we used for qualitative research on

the life and hardship of single mothers. In-depth interviews: This method involves

conducting one-on-one interviews with single mothers to gather detailed

information about their experiences, challenges, and coping strategies. The

interviews can be structured or unstructured, and can be conducted in person, over

the phone, or online. Focus groups: This method involves bringing together a

group of single mothers to discuss their experiences and perspectives on a

particular topic. The group discussion can be moderated by a researcher, and can

provide insights into shared experiences and perspectives. Participant observation:

This method involves observing and interacting with single mothers in their

natural setting, such as their homes, workplaces, or community centers. The

researcher can gain a deeper understanding of their daily lives and challenges by

observing their behaviors, interactions, and routines. Document analysis: This

method involves analyzing documents such as diaries, letters, or social media

posts written by single mothers. The documents can provide insight into their

thoughts, feelings, and experience over time. Case studies: This method involves

conducting an in-depth analysis of a single mother’s life and experiences. The

researcher can gather data from multiple sources, such as interviews, observations,

and documents, to create a detailed and nuanced portrait of the individual’s life.

These methods can be used alone or in combination to provide a rich and

comprehensive understanding of the life and hardship of single mothers.

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Data analysis

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being-a -single-parent/

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