Single Motherhood and Life Satisfaction in Comparative Perspective: Do Institutional and Cultural Contexts Explain the Life Satisfaction Penalty for Single Mothers?

Life satisfaction research regularly identifies single mothers as relatively unhappy. This comparative study refines this view by assessing how broader institutional and cultural contexts shape the life satisfaction of single mothers. Using data from the European Social Survey for 24 European countries, this study shows that generous family benefits, extensive child care provision, and high levels of gender equality are associated with smaller life satisfaction penalties for single mothers, whereas societal attitudes toward single motherhood are not related to the life satisfaction of single mothers. Overall, the life satisfaction gap between single mothers and childless singles is substantially smaller than that between single mothers and partnered mothers. Moreover, single women residing in countries with supportive family policies and high levels of gender equality report similar levels of life satisfaction than childless singles. This latter finding challenges the notion that single motherhood inevitably reduces women’s life satisfaction.