Lone Parents' Mental Health and Employment
Researcher: Susan Harkness (PI)
Funder: Nuffield Foundation
Duration: October 2010 - May 2012
Collaborating institutions: Gingerbread
Summary:
This research project explores a set of crucial issues around lone parents’ participation in paid employment and mental health. There are three core questions:
- Does employment alleviate depression among lone parents?
- To what extent does job quality matter?
- How does current employment policy affect mental health outcomes?
Although there is a large body of research on lone parent employment, and a substantial literature on employment and mental health, there is a gap in research that connects the two. This project seeks to address that by using quantitative research methods to analyse the relationship between work and depression, drawing on a number of existing large surveys. The research will be followed up by a small-scale qualitative survey to conduct a preliminary exploration of the findings on the relationship between work and depression that arise from the quantitative analysis.
Nuffield Foundation project page
Conference papers:
Royal Economic Society conference, Cambridge, 28th March 2012: 'The Influence of Employment on Depression: a Study of British Single and Partnered Mothers'
Media coverage here
Population Association of America annual meeting, San Francisco, 4th May 2012: 'The Influence of Employment on Depression: A Study of Partnered and Single Mothers in the United Kingdom'
Resources:
Project outline (PDF)
Web resources on mental health and employment
Advisory Committee:
| Sonia Bhalotra | University of Bristol, Department of Economics |
| Jed Boardman | Centre for Mental Health and Royal College of Physicians |
| Kate Davies | HM Treasury, Labour Market Policy |
| Laura Dewar | Single Parent Action Network |
| Karen Elsmore | Department for Work and Pensions, Child Poverty and Analysis Directorate |
| Bob Grove | Centre for Mental Health |
| Marcia Gibson | Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, Medical Research Council |
| Lizzi Holman | Reed |
| Kitty Stewart | London School of Economics, Department of Social Policy, Centre for the Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE) |
| Sally Wilson | Institute for Employment Studies |