Qualitative research on single mother's daily strategies and children's lives

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K18595
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Sociology and related fields
• Research Institution: Nihon Fukushi University
• Principal Investigator: Suemori Kei 日本福祉大学, 社会福祉学部, 教授 (70387744)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 小平 英志 日本福祉大学, 子ども発達学部, 教授 (00442228)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-06-30 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 生活戦略 / シングルマザー / 子ども / 仕事生活 / 家族生活

Outline of Final Research Achievements

There are three main findings of this study: first, the findings regarding single mothers' life strategies for work life and family life. Specifically, it was found that single mothers implemented life strategies related to work life with high frequency, such as changing jobs in about half of the cases, and that there were unintended consequences of not increasing income after changing jobs to regular employment.
The second finding concerns the career paths of single mothers' children. It was revealed that many households "leave the specific career choices of their children to their children.
The third finding is related to the parent-child relationship between children of single mothers and their parents. It was revealed that single-parent households may maintain their relationship by not stepping in each other's affairs.

Free Research Field

家族社会学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

学術的な意義は近年貧困を中心に語られがちなシングルマザーの具体的な生活状況を仕事生活と家族生活の生活戦略という視点を用い、かつ縦断的調査を用いて明らかにできたことである。
社会的な意義は、シングルマザーの生活状況を縦断的調査を用いて明らかにできたことにより、今後の支援実践や政策を考える際の基礎資料を提供できた点である。