Single Mothers' New Partners: Partnership and Household Formation in Germany

• Date: 01 August 2019
• Published date: 01 August 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12575

S B University of Bremen

Single Mothers’ New Partners: Partnership and

Household Formation in Germany

Objective: This article investigates single moth-

ers’ repartnering by analyzing two distinct

transitions: the formation of a partnership

with separate households and the subsequent

formation of a household with a partner.

Background: Previous research found

impacts of repartnering on the well-being

of single-mother families. However, detailed

investigations of single mothers’ repartnering

have been rare and have mostly failed to dif-

ferentiate the process of nding a partner from

the process of forming a household with him.

Method: Using pairfam data (www.pairfam

.de; Waves 1–3, 2008–2009, 2009–2010,

2010–2011), the study provides event history

analyses of a sample of 786 single mothers. It

investigates the durations between (a) becoming

a single-mother family and nding a new part-

ner and (b) nding a new partner and forming

a household or, alternatively, dissolving.

Results: Although a large proportion of the

women were living alone with their children

for several years, many maintained a relation-

ship in separate households. Neither educa-

tion nor employment status is found to affect

the likelihood of repartnering, which suggests

that socioeconomically disadvantaged mothers

are not able to use repartnering as a strategy

for quickly addressingtheir economic needs. The

SOCIUM–Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy,

University of Bremen, Mary-Somerville Street 9, 28359

Bremen, Germany (sbastin@bigsss-bremen.de).

Key Words: family dynamics, household formation, partner-

ship trajectories, repartnering, single mothers, stepfamily

formation.

mother’s age, the children’s ages, and the p art-

nership context at the time of entry into single

motherhood are shown to affect partnership for-

mation and household formation differently.

Conclusion: The results illustrate that when

investigating repartnering among single moth-

ers, it is necessary to separate the analysis

of partnership formation from the analysis

of household formation.

As a consequence of declining marriage rates,

high levels of union instability, and the dein-

stitutionalization of family forms in Western

societies, increasing shares of women are

experiencing episodes of single motherhood

(Cherlin, 2010). The economic and social disad-

vantages of single mothers are well established

(Organization for Economic Cooperation and

Development, 2014). Although some studies

have found that repartnering has a positive

impact on the well-being or the socioeconomic

status of single mothers (Amato, 2000), others

have shown that being in a partnership with

low relationship quality can lead to negative

outcomes for single mothers and their chil-

dren (Kiernan & Mensah, 2010; Langlais,

Anderson, & Greene, 2016). However, detailed

longitudinal investigations of single mothers’

partnership arrangements are rare (Anderson

et al., 2004; Bastin, 2016; Bzostek, McLanahan,

& England, 2012). Representative quantitative

studies often fail to distinguish between single

mothers without a partner and those who are

in a living-apart-together relationship. The lack

of information on a potential partner who lives

elsewhere may lead to an overestimation of the

duration of singlehood. Furthermore, when this

Journal of Marriage and Family 81 (August 2019): 991–1003 991

DOI:10.1111/jomf.12575