Network Financial Transfers and Psychological Distress Among Unmarried Mothers

Abstract

Almost 50% of single-mother households live below 200% of the poverty line. In addition to material needs, mothers living in poverty have higher levels of psychological distress. Although some forms of network support (e.g., perceived support, welcomed support) promote well-being, how do financial transfers relate to unmarried mothers’ levels of distress? Drawing from support mobilization, social inequity, and reciprocity theories, this study used The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) (n = 3,117 mothers and 10,676 observations) and longitudinal mixed-effects models to examine financial transfer behavior stability and its relationship to maternal psychological distress. Results indicate that, net of extensive controls, mothers commonly participated in giving or receiving money despite their disadvantaged, volatile circumstances, and engagement, regardless of direction, related to more symptoms of distress. This connection is problematic given the weakening public cash safety net and U.S. economic uncertainty.

Keywords

financial transfers informal financial support network support low-income mothers psychological health psychological distress

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Aneshensel

C. S.

(2002). Answers and questions in the sociology of mental health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 43(2), 236–246. https://doi.org/10.2307/3090199.

Bank

Dishion

Skinner

Patterson

G. R.

(1990). Method variance in structural equation modeling: Living with “glop. In Patterson

G. R.

(Ed.), Depression and Aggression in Family Interaction (pp. 247–279). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Barrera

(1986). Distinctions between social support concepts, measures, and models. American Journal of Community Psychology, 14(4), 413–445. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00922627.

Bates

Mächler

Bolker

Walker

(2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67(1), 1–48. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v067.i01.

Belle

D. E.

(1983). The impact of poverty on social networks and supports. Marriage & Family Review, 5(4), 89–103. https://doi.org/10.1300/j002v05n04_06.

Broussard

C. A.

(2010). Research regarding low-income single mothers’ mental and physical health: A decade in review. Journal of Poverty, 14(4), 443–451. https://doi.org/10.1080/10875549.2010.518003.

Choi

J.-K.

Pyun

H.-S.

(2014). Nonresident fathers’ financial support, informal instrumental support, mothers’ parenting, and child development in single-mother families with low income. Journal of Family Issues, 35(4), 526–546. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513x13478403.

Cohen

McKay

(1984). Social support, stress and the buffering hypothesis: An empirical review. In Baum

Singer

J. E.

Taylor

S. E.

(Eds.), Handbook of psychology and health (Vol. 4, pp. 253–267). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Cohen

Underwood

L. G.

Gottlieb

B. H.

(Eds.), (2000). Social support measurement and intervention: A guide for health and social scientists. New York: Oxford University Press.

10.

Cohen

Wills

T. A.

(1985). Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98(2), 310–357. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.98.2.310.

11.

Cross

C. J.

Nguyen

A. W.

Chatters

L. M.

Taylor

R. J.

(2018). Instrumental social support exchanges in African American extended families. Journal of Family Issues, 39(13), 3535–3563. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X18783805.

12.

Domínguez

Watkins

(2003). Creating networks for survival and mobility: Social capital among African-American and Latin-American low-income mothers. Social Problems, 50(1), 111–135. https://doi.org/10.1525/sp.2003.50.1.111.

13.

Dunbar

Ford

Hunt

(1998). Why is the receipt of social support associated with increased psychological distress? An examination of three hypotheses. Psychology and Health, 13(3), 527–544. https://doi.org/10.1080/08870449808407308.

14.

Edin

Kissane

R. J.

(2010). Poverty and the American family: A decade in review. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72(3), 460–479. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00713.x.

15.

Edin

Lein

(1997). Making ends meet: How single mothers survive welfare and low-wage work. New York: Russel Sage Foundation.

16.

Edin

Shaefer

H. L.

(2015). $2.00 a day: Living on almost nothing in America. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

17.

Ertel

K. A.

Rich-Edwards

J. W.

Koenen

K. C.

(2011). Maternal depression in the United States: Nationally representative rates and risks. Journal of Women’s Health, 20(11), 1609–1617. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2010.2657.

18.

Evans

W. N.

Garthwaite

C. L.

(2014). Giving mom a break: The impact of higher EITC payments on maternal health. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 6(2), 258–290. https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.6.2.258.

19.

Garrett-Peters

Burton

L. M.

(2016). Tenuous ties: The nature and costs of kin support among low-income rural black mothers. Women, Gender, and Families of Color, 4(1), 4–35. https://doi.org/10.5406/womgenfamcol.4.1.0004.

20.

Gottlieb

Pilkauskas

Garfinkel

(2014). Private financial transfers, family income, and the Great Recession. Journal of Marriage and Family, 76(5), 1011–1024. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12134.

21.

Gouldner

A. W.

(1960). The norm of reciprocity: A preliminary statement. American Sociological Review, 25, 161-178.

22.

Gupta

A. E.

Huston

A. C.

(2009). Depressive symptoms and economic outcomes of low‐income women: A review of the social causation, social selection, and interactionist hypotheses. Social Issues and Policy Review, 3(1), 103–140. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-2409.2009.01012.x.

23.

Halpern-Meekin

Edin

Tach

Sykes

(2015). It’s not like I’m poor: How working families make ends meet in a post-welfare world. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

24.

Harknett

(2006). The relationship between private safety nets and economic outcomes among single mothers. Journal of Marriage and Family, 68(1), 172–191. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2006.00250.x.

25.

Holahan

C. J.

Moos

R. H.

Holahan

C. K.

Cronkite

R. C.

(1999). Resource loss, resource gain, and depressive symptoms: A 10-year model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(3), 620–629. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.77.3.620.

26.

Jayakody

Chatters

L. M.

Taylor

R. J.

(1993). Family support to single and married African American mothers: The provision of financial, emotional, and child care assistance. Journal of Marriage and Family, 55(2), 261–276. https://doi.org/10.2307/352800.

27.

Kessler

R. C.

Andrews

Mroczek

Ustun

Wittchen

H.-U.

(1998). The World Health Organization composite international diagnostic interview short‐form (CIDI‐SF). International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 7(4), 171–185. https://doi.org/10.1002/mpr.47.

28.

Knowlton

A. R.

Latkin

C. A.

(2007). Network financial support and conflict as predictors of depressive symptoms among a highly disadvantaged population. Journal of Community Psychology, 35(1), 13–28. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.20131.

29.

Lakey

Orehek

(2011). Relational regulation theory: A new approach to explain the link between perceived social support and mental health. Psychological Review, 118(3), 482–495. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023477.

30.

Light

McGarry

(2004). Why parents play favorites: Explanations for unequal bequests. American Economic Review, 94(5), 1669–1681. https://doi.org/10.1257/0002828043052321.

31.

Lin

Ensel

W. M.

(1999). Social support and depressed mood: A structural analysis. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 40(4), 344–359. https://doi.org/10.2307/2676330.

32.

Mazelis

J. M.

Mykyta

(2020). I might stay to myself: Activation and avoidance of assistance from kin. Journal of Marriage and Family, 82(5), 1479–1494. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12680.

33.

Meadows

S. O.

(2009). Is it there when you need it? Mismatch in perception of future availability and subsequent receipt of instrumental social support. Journal of Family Issues, 30(8), 1070–1097. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513x09333759.

34.

Meadows

S. O.

McLanahan

S. S.

Brooks-Gunn

(2008). Stability and change in family structure and maternal health trajectories. American Sociological Review, 73(2), 314–334. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240807300207.

35.

Moffitt

R. A.

(2015). The deserving poor, the family, and the U.S. welfare system. Demography, 52(3), 729–749. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-015-0395-0.

36.

Nelson

M. K.

(2005). The social economy of Single motherhood: Raising children in rural America. Philadelphia: Routledge.

37.

Norris

F. H.

Kaniasty

(1996). Received and perceived social support in times of stress: A test of the social support deterioration deterrence model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71(3), 498–511. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.71.3.498.

38.

Nurullah

A. S.

(2012). Received and provided social support: A review of current evidence and future directions. American Journal of Health Studies, 27(3), 173–188.

39.

Offer

(2012). The burden of reciprocity: Processes of exclusion and withdrawal from personal networks among low-income families. Current Sociology, 60(6), 788–805. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392112454754.

40.

Pilkauskas

N. V.

Campbell

Wimer

(2017). Giving unto others: Private financial transfers and hardship among families with children. Journal of Marriage and Family, 79(3), 705–722. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12392.

41.

Radey

Brewster

(2013). Predictors of stability and change in private safety nets of unmarried mothers. Journal of Social Service Research, 39(3), 397–415. https://doi.org/10.1080/01488376.2013.775090.

42.

Radey

McWey

Cui

(2020). Psychological distress among low-income mothers: The role of public and private safety nets. Women & Health, 60(6), 692–706. https://doi.org/10.1080/03630242.2019.1700586.

43.

Radey

Padilla

Y. C.

(2009). Kin financial support: Receipt and provision among unmarried mothers. Journal of Social Service Research, 35(4), 336–351. https://doi.org/10.1080/01488370903110837.

44.

Reichman

N. E.

Teitler

J. O.

Garfinkel

McLanahan

S. S.

(2001). Fragile Families: Sample and Design. Children and Youth Services Review, 23(4–5), 303–326. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0190-7409(01)00141-4.

45.

Ryan

R. M.

Kalil

Leininger

(2009). Low-income mothers’ private safety nets and children’s socioemotional well-being. Journal of Marriage and Family, 71(2), 278–297. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2008.00599.x.

46.

Sarkisian

Gerstel

(2004). Kin support among Blacks and Whites: Race and family organization. American Sociological Review, 69(6), 812–837. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240406900604.

47.

Schwarzer

Leppin

(1991). Social support and health: A theoretical and empirical overview. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 8(1), 99–127. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407591081005.

48.

Singer

J. D.

Willett

J. B.

(2003). Applied longitudinal data analysis: Modeling change and event occurrence. New York: Oxford University Press.

49.

Sommet

Morselli

(2017). Keep calm and learn multilevel logistic modeling: A simplified three-step procedure using Stata, R, Mplus, and SPSS. International Review of Social Psychology, 30(1), 203–218. https://doi.org/10.5334/irsp.90.

50.

Stack

C. B.

(1974). All our kin: Strategies for survival in a black community. New York: Basic Books.

51.

Stack

C. B.

Burton

L. M.

(1993). Kinscripts. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 24(2), 157–170. https://doi.org/10.3138/jcfs.24.2.157.

52.

Thoits

P. A.

(2011). Mechanisms linking social ties and support to physical and mental health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 52(2), 145–161. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022146510395592.

53.

Uehara

E. S.

(1995). Reciprocity reconsidered: Gouldner’s moral norm of reciprocity and social support. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 12(4), 483–502. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407595124001.

54.

Umberson

Williams

Anderson

(2002). Violent behavior: A measure of emotional upset? Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 43(2), 189–206. https://doi.org/10.2307/3090196.

55.

U.S. Census Bureau . (2020). Table POV02. People in primary Families by family structure, age, and sex: 2019. Current population survey, 2020 annual social and economic supplement. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/cps-pov/pov-02.html#below200.

56.

Walster

G.W.

Berscheid

(1978). Equity: Theory and research. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

57.

Wang

Gruenewald

(2019). The psychological costs of social support imbalance: Variation across relationship context and age. Journal of Health Psychology, 24(12), 1615–1625. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105317692854.