Single Mothers’ Poverty Risks, Income Changes, and Union Formation around Childbirth: Differences between Women Who Conceived Spontaneously and Those Who Used Assisted Reproduction

Denise Musni , DEMO-UCLouvain
Christine Schnor, DEMO-UCLouvain

Over the last decade in Belgium, rates of childbearing while single remained stable, and a small but increasing number of single women bore children via medically-assisted reproduction (MAR). Childbirth is associated with income loss for women, and for single mothers, (re-)partnering may help recover such losses. While some studies investigated the “motherhood penalty” comparing partnered and single women, few studies examined heterogeneity among single mothers. This study investigates pre- and post-birth poverty risks and yearly (individual and household) income trajectories of women who had their first child while single, distinguishing between women who conceived spontaneously and those who conceived via MAR. We also examined how getting into a partnership post-birth relates to single mothers’ poverty risks and income trajectories. Combining birth records and other administrative data sources, we analyze a sample of >17,000 women in Belgium who had their first child while single (2010 to 2014). Initial findings through mixed-effects logistic and linear regression reveal that all single mothers faced higher poverty risks and decreased household income a year after childbirth. Spontaneous conceivers consistently had higher poverty risks than MAR conceivers, but the former’s individual and household incomes increased faster over time. Partnering post-birth was linked to lower poverty risks and a 30% increase in household income for all single mothers, yet 70% of MAR conceivers remained single up to five years after childbirth. For spontaneous conceivers, partnership is linked to a 3% reduction in post-birth individual income, while partnership had no statistically significant association with MAR conceivers’ individual income.

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 Presented in Session 58. Single Parenthood and Complex Partnership Contexts