Moving beyond survival: coping behaviours of low-income single mothers.
The purposes of this study were to describe the psychosocial and environmental contexts affecting the lives of low-income, single mothers and to explore their everyday coping strategies. Nine mothers of preschool children participated in multiple, unstructured and semi-structured in-home interviews. Traumatic childhood experiences including death of a parent and abuse contributed to the mothers' depression and to their coping strategies for survival. The women used creative economic survival strategies such as bartering to meet their families' basic needs. Social isolation, downward social comparison, conflict avoidance, and self-reliance were the emotional self-protective survival strategies used. Strategies to move up economically and emotionally related to the women's desire for a better life for themselves and their families.
Sachs
B
B
Hall
L A
LA
Pietrukowicz
M A
MA
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D018585:Battered Women / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D011203:Poverty; D012648:Self Care; D015406:Single Parent / Q000523:psychology*