Single Mothers
The philosophy of the American dream is for every citizen to have the opportunity for success through hard work. Although the United States portrays it’s society to have these values, only certain citizens receive an invitation to achieve this dream. For families in poverty, their opportunities are limited by the side effects or disadvantages of being in this status. One of the most vulnerable groups within communities of poverty are single-mothers, whose family relies on the mother’s progress. Poverty is a reflection of these disadvantages, which induces poor mental health among single-mothers; hindering the individual and the family further. For these families, the mother’s progress and health are key to maintaining basic necessities — like food, electricity, or shelter. Without a healthy mother the family will spiral deeper into poverty adding difficulty for younger generations to progress in society.
Imagine being a financially stable parent with the urge to begin a new hobby. While scheduling the class, you have to consider that your child needs someone to pick them up from school and take them to their activities. Coupled or married parents are able to work out a schedule and decide who will be there during those times, or they can hire a babysitter on the days of the classes. If those options are not available, the parent can postpone their desire for a new hobby without it affecting the well being of the child or the parent. For single-mothers it is common to rationalize scenarios as the one given, but with necessities that affects the welfare of the family.
In the Atlantic, Alana Semuels interviews Brandi Davis who is a single-mother living on minimum-wage. Davis recognizes she would have better opportunities for work with a degree and attempted to obtain one. Unfortunately raising a family, working multiple jobs, and going to school is too difficult and adds stress on the families finances for necessities (http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/12/how-poor-single-moms-survive/418158/ ).
Another cause for single-mothers having limited access to ideal wage jobs is the community they live in. In Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life, Annette Lareau observes the Brindles family’s community and nearby businesses: “About five minutes away on foot from the residences are small stores, including an ice cream store, a twenty-four hour convenience store, a hardware store, and a gas station… The nearest grocery store, however, is about a twenty-minute bus ride away” (Lareau 2011:84). Like most communities of poverty, it is common to identify businesses who pay minimum wage — such as Target, Walmart, and many fast food industries. For single-mothers who cannot travel due to limited resources are likely to accept positions of minimum-wage because it is close to home and their child. Despite easy access, minimum-wage jobs limit single-mothers from progressing outside of work and forces them to live pay check to pay check; creating a system that cycles families into poverty.
Many argue that single-mothers in poverty have programs to receive government assistance, such as welfare; assuming it will aid in their lack of finances. Sonya Stanford’s and Sandra Taylor’s “Welfare Dependence or Enforced Deprivation? A Critical Examination of White Neoliberal Welfare and Risk” argue the faults in the Australian welfare system, which is overwhelmingly similar to the United States program. With the program being created with the perspectives of white elites, the government assistance will not benefit those who are receiving it. With the inaccurate idea of minimum monthly or annual finances needed to live by government programs, many participants express the difficulty in transitioning from aid to self-dependency. As a result, participants become welfare dependent and elites who create these programs benefit from their dependency because they are the individuals who fulfill positions with cheap pay to maximize their profits. Due to the hardships of poverty and the ineffectiveness of welfare, twenty percent of single-mothers who receive this aid have had a psychiatric disorder (Mental Health Problems among Single Mothers: Implications for Work and Welfare Reform by Rukmalie Jayakody and Dawn Stauffer).
Single-mothers in poverty experience strain from the lack of resources and opportunities available due to their position in society. Without the resources and ability to progress, single-mothers are chained to living and raising their families in unsuitable conditions. The constant strain to progress in society and care for their children causes stress among single-mothers, which overtime leads to additional factors that hinders the family more. According to the film Unnatural Causes: place Matters, “When stress is chronic, when we’re endlessly worried about our bills, our job, our children’s safety, the body pumps out cortisol and adrenaline”. Overproduction of cortisol and adrenaline causes chemical imbalances in the brain which leads to many mental health issues, such as depression, anger issues, bipolar disorder, and memory loss.
With potential mental illnesses arising from stress, the judgement and awareness of single-mothers does not function properly. Therefore stress makes single-mothers vulnerable to negative behaviors or influences them to make poor decisions, such as theft, abuse, drugs, or not realizing other options to aid their situations.
