The Importance of Social Capital Development and Trust in Single Parent Families: A Study Focused on Single Mothers

Year 2022, Volume: 7 Issue: 2, 248 - 262, 30.12.2022

Melike Boztilki

Abstract

Social capital is the collection of values enabled by access to resources and opportunities through social relations and thus has a potential protective effect against poverty. Developing social capital at the individual level primarily depends on the feeling of security in close relationships as well as in society at large. This study focuses on single-mother families which make up the majority of single-parent families where poverty is common and examines the trust of women with single-mother status in social groups. The aim of this research is to get an idea about their social capital development potential. The study, whose sample consisted of 668 single mothers from different regions of Turkey and predominantly from low socioeconomic status, determines that the trust level of single mothers towards secondary social groups is higher than their trust level towards primary social groups (such as immediate family, relatives, and friends). The findings show that single mothers have the highest trust in healthcare professionals, and the lowest in their ex-spouses, who are in many cases the fathers of their children; while the level of trust towards their immediate family is well below the trust in the family throughout the society. The results reveal that single mothers living in Turkey do not trust society in general, especially their close social circles, thus their potential to strengthen their social capital is low.

Keywords

Single parent family, Single mother family, Poverty, Social capital

Tek Ebeveynli Ailelerde Sosyal Sermaye Gelişimi ve Güvenin Önemi: Yalnız Anneler Odaklı Bir Çalışma

Abstract

Sosyal sermaye, sosyal ilişkiler sayesinde kaynak ve fırsatları erişimi mümkün kılan, dolayısıyla bireyleri yoksulluktan koruyucu etki oluşturması beklenen değerler toplamıdır. Bireysel düzeyde sosyal sermayenin geliştirilmesi ise öncelikle, kişilerin kendilerini yakın ilişkilerinde ve üyesi oldukları toplum içinde ‘güven’de hissetmelerine bağlıdır. Tek ebeveynli ailelerin büyük çoğunluğunu oluşturan ve yoksulluk sorununun yaygın görüldüğü yalnız anneli ailelere odaklanan bu çalışmada, yalnız anne statüsündeki kadınların sosyal gruplara duydukları güven incelenmekte; böylelikle sosyal sermaye geliştirme potansiyelleriyle ilgili fikir edinilmesi amaçlanmaktadır. Örneklemini Türkiye’nin farklı şehirlerinde yaşayan ve ağırlıklı olarak düşük sosyoekonomik düzeyden 668 yalnız annenin oluşturduğu araştırma sonucunda yalnız annelerin birincil sosyal gruplara (kök aile, akrabalar, arkadaşlar gibi) yönelik güven düzeylerinin, ikincil sosyal gruplara (sağlık çalışanları, güvenlik güçleri ve sosyal hizmet çalışanları) yönelik güven düzeylerinden düşük olduğu belirlenmiştir. Araştırma bulguları yalnız annelerin en yüksek güveni sağlık çalışanlarına, en düşük güveni ise çocuklarının babası olan eski eşlerine duyduklarını; kök ailelerine yönelik güven düzeylerinin ise toplumun genelinde aileye duyulan güvenin altında kaldığını göstermektedir. Bu sonuçlar Türkiye’deki yalnız annelerin yakın sosyal çevrelerine ve toplumun geneline yönelik güven düzeylerinin ve dolayısıyla sosyal sermayelerini güçlendirme potansiyellerinin düşük olduğunu ortaya koymaktadır.  

Keywords

Tek ebeveynli aile, Yalnız anneli aile, Yoksulluk, Sosyal sermaye, Single parent family, Single mother family, Poverty, Social capital

References

• Adler, P. S., & Kwon, S. (2000). Social Capital: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. In E. L. Lesser (Ed.), Knowledge and Social Capital: Foundations and Applications (pp. 89–115). USA: Butterworth - Heinemann.
• Ahrne, G. (2014). The society between us. On friendship, love, relationships and organizations. Stockholm: Liber.
• Aile ve Sosyal Politikalar Bakanlığı (2014). Türkiye Boşanma Nedenleri Araştırması, Ankara.
• Aktaş, Ö. (2011). Boşanma nedenleri ve boşanma sonrasında karşılaşılan güçlükler. Yayınlanmamış yüksek lisans tezi. İzmir: Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi.
• Albeck, S., Kaydar, D. (2002). Divorced Mothers. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 36(3-4), 111–138.
• Algan, Y., & Cahuc, P. (2014). Trust, growth, and well-being: New evidence and policy implications. In Handbook of economic growth. 2,49-120.
• Alsarve, J. (2020) Friendship, reciprocity and similarity: Lone mothers and their relationships with friends. Community, Work & Family, 23:4, 401-418.
• Arıcan, B. (2019). Tek Ebeveynli Kadınların Sosyal Psikolojik Sorunları ve Bu Sorunlarla Baş Etme Yöntemleri. Yayınlanmamış yüksek lisans tezi. İstanbul: Sabahattin Zaim Üniversitesi.
• Armsden, G. C., & Greenberg, M. T. (1987). The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment: Individual differences and their relationship to psychological well-being in adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 16(5), 427–454.
• Avan, E. (2019). Boşanma sürecindeki kadınların sosyo-ekonomik özellikleri, sosyal destek ve umutsuzluk düzeyleri ile ilişkili faktörlerin tanımlanması. Yayımlanmamış yüksek lisans tezi. Manisa: Celal Bayar Üniversitesi.
• Berggren, N., Jordahl, H. (2006). Free to trust: Economic freedom and social capital. Kyklos, 59: 141–69.
• Bergh, A., Bjørnskov, C. (2014). Trust, welfare states and income equality: Sorting out the causality, European Journal of Political Economy, 35, 183-199.
• Bernardi, L., Larenza, O. (2018) Variety of Transitions into Lone Parenthood. In: Lone Parenthood in the Life Course. Life Course Research and Social Policies. SPRINGER, 93-108.
• Briggs, X. (1998). Brown kids in white suburbs: housing mobility and the many faces of social capital, Housing Policy Debate 9(1): 177–221.
• Brinig, M.F. (2011). Belonging and Trust: Divorce and Social Capital. BYU J. Pub. L., 25, 271.
• Burton, L.M, Cherlin, A., Winn, D.M., Estacion A., Holder-Taylor C. (2009). The role of trust in low-income mothers' intimate unions. Journal of Marriage and Family, 1;71(5):1107-1124.
• Campbell, M., Thomson, H., Fenton, C., & Gibson, M. (2016). Lone Parents, Health, Wellbeing and Welfare to Work: A Systematic Review of Qualitative Studies. BMC Public Health, 16(1): 1-10.
• Chang, L., Mcbride-Chang, C., Stewart, S. M., & Au, E. (2003). Life satisfaction, self-concept, and family relations in Chinese adolescents and children. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 27(2), 182–189. https://doi.org/10.1080/01650250244000182
• Ciabattari, T. (2007). Single mothers, social capital, and work–family conflict. Journal of Family Issues, 28(1), 34–60.
• Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94, 95-120.
• Coleman, J. S. (1990). Foundations of Social Theory. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
• de Saint-Laurent, C. (2018). Memory acts: A theory for the study of collective memory in everyday life: Erratum. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 31(3), 342.
• Devor, C. S., Stewart, S. D., & Dorius, C. (2018). Parental divorce, social capital, and postbaccalaurate educational attainment among young adults. Journal of Family Issues, 39(10), 2806–2835. doi:10.1177/0192513x18760349.
• Erikson, E. H. (1963). Childhood and society (2nd Ed.). New York: Norton.
• Ermisch, John and Gambetta, Diego, (2010), Do strong family ties inhibit trust? Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 75(3): 365-376.
• Evans, A.M., Calseyde, P. (2018). The Reputational consequences of generalized trust. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 44(4) 492–507.
• Fritzell, S., Burstrom, B. (2006). Economic Strain and Self-Rated Health Among Lone and Couple Mothers in Sweden During The 1990’s Compared to the 1980’s, Health Policy. Elsevier, 79(2-3): 253-264.
• Fukuyama, F. (1996). Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity. Simon and Schuster, New York.
• Gee, L. K., Jones, J., Burke, M. (2017). Social networks and labor markets: how strong ties relate to job finding on Facebook’s social network. Journal of Labor Economics, 35(2), 485–518.
• Ghadimi, A.R, Emami S.A, Bostani Khalesi Z, Kazemnezhad Leiili E. (2021). Relationship between Social Exclusion and Post-Divorce Adjustment in Iranian Women. Health Education and Health Promotion, 9(1):73-78.
• Gobin, R. L., & Freyd, J. J. (2014). The impact of betrayal trauma on the tendency to trust. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 6(5), 505–511.
• Gould, E., Hijzen, A. (2016). Growing Apart, Losing Trust? The Impact of Inequality on Social Capital. IMF Working Papers.
• Gray, A. (2003). Towards a Conceptual Framework for Studying Time and Social Capital. Families and Social Capital ESRC Research Group Working Paper No.3. London: South Bank University.
• Hansen, T. (2012). Parenthood and happiness: A review of folk theories versus empirical evidence. Social Indicators Research, 108, 29–64.
• Hardin, R. (2001). The normative core of rational choice theory. in Uskali Mäki (ed.), The Economic World View: Studies in the Ontology of Economics. Cambridge University Press. 62-57.
• Harknett, K. S., & Hartnett, C. S. (2011). Who lacks support and why? An examination of mothers’personal safety nets. Journal of Marriage and Family,73, 861–875.
• Helliwell, J., Putnam, R.D. (2004). The social context of well-being. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 359: 1435–46.
• Herreros, F. (2008). The State and the creation of an environment for the growing of trust. Ration Soc;20: 497–521.
• Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture's consequences: International differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
• House, J. S. and Kahn, R. L. (1985) Measures and Concepts of Social Support. (In): Cohen, S. and Syme, S.L., (Eds)., Social Support and Health, Academic Press, New York, 83-108.
• Institute for Family Studies, Wheatley Institution, and Social Trends Institute. (2019). World Family Map 2019 Mapping Family Change and Child Well-Being Outcomes. Charlottesville, VA: Institute for Family Studies. https://ifstudies.org/reports/world-family-map/2019/executive-summary.
• Johnson, J.A. Honnold, J.A., Threlfall, P. (2011). Impact of social capital on employment and marriage among low income single mothers. The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, 38(4).
• Jones, K. (1996). Trust as an affective attitude. Ethics, 107(1): 4-25.
• Jovanovi, V. (2016). Trust and subjective well-being: The case of Serbia. In Personality and Individual Differences, 98, 284-288.
• KHÜ. (2019). Türkiye’de Toplumsal Cinsiyet ve Kadın Algısı Araştırması. Toplumsal Cinsiyet ve Kadın Çalışmaları Araştırma Merkezi, İstanbul: Kadir Has Üniversitesi.
• Keim, S. (2018). Are Lone Mothers Also Lonely Mothers? Social Networks of Unemployed Lone Mothers in Eastern Germany. (In): Bernardi, L., Mortelmans, D. (eds) Lone Parenthood in the Life Course. Life Course Research and Social Policies,8.
• Khaile, F. T., Roman, N. V., October, K. R., Van Staden, M., Balogun, T. V. (2022). Perceptions of trust in the context of social cohesion in selected rural communities of South Africa. Social Sciences, 11(8), 359.
• Kim, S.H., Kim, S. (2021). Particularized trust, institutional trust, and generalized trust: an examination of causal pathways, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 33(4): 840–855.
• Kitson, G.C. (1992). Portrait of divorce: Adjustment to marital breakdown. New York: Guilford Press.
• Klinenberg, E. (2012). Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone. New York: The Penguin Press.
• Korpi, T. (2001). Good Friends in Bad Times? Social Networks and Job Search among the Unemployed in Sweden. Acta Sociologica, 44(2), 157–170.
• Krumrei-Mancuso, E.J., Coit, C., Martin, S., Fogo, W. (2007). Post-Divorce Adjustment and Social Relationships. Pepperdine University, All Faculty Open Access Publications, 169.
• Kruse, J.A., Low, L.K, Seng J.S. (2013). Validation of alternative indicators of social support in perinatal outcomes research using quality of the partner relationship. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 69(7):1562-73.
• Kucur, F., Kelebek, Ö. (2021). Boşanmış kadınların boşanma aşaması, süreci ve sonrasında yaşadıkları zorluklar: Esenler SHM örneği. Sosyal Siyaset Konferansları Dergisi, 80, 231-266.
• Levine, J. (2013). Ain’t No Trust: How Bosses, Boyfriends, and Bureaucrats Fail Low-Income Mothers and Why It Matters. Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Lewis, J. D., & Weigert, A. (1985). Trust as a Social Reality. Social Forces, 63(4), 967–985.
• Lipman EL, Offord DR, Boyle MH. (1997). Single mothers in Ontario: Sociodemographic, physical and mental health characteristics. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 1;156(5):639-45.
• Luthar, S.S., Ciciolla, L. (2015). Who mothers mommy? Factors that contribute to mothers’ well-being. Developmental Psychology, 51, 1812–1823.
• Manhal-Baugus, M. (1998). The self-in-relation theory and women for sobriety: female-specific theory and mutual help group for chemically dependent women. Journal of Addictions & Offender Counseling, 18(2), 78–85.
• Meier, A., Musick, K., Flood, S., & Dunifon, R. (2016). Mothering experiences: how single parenthood and employment structure the emotional valence of parenting. Demography, 53(3), 649–674. doi:10.1007/s13524-016-0474-x
• Meral, B. F. (2014). Kişisel İyi Oluş İndeksi-Yetişkin Türkçe Formunun Psikometrik Özellikleri. The Journal of Happiness & Well-Being, 2:119-131.
• Meverson, E. M. (1994). Human Capital, Social Capital and Compensation: The Relative Contribution of Social Contacts to Managers’ Incomes. Acta Sociologica, 37(4), 383–399.
• Mironova, A. (2015). Trust as a factor of subjective life satisfaction. SSRN Electronic Journal. 10.2139/ssrn.2674119.
• Mishra, P., Thamminaina, A., Mishra, N. (2021). Single mothers: strategies of family management and support systems in relation to health. Journal of International Women's Studies, 22(5), 393-406.
• Mueller, G.P. (2009). Trust and Life Satisfaction in Eastern and Western Europe. In: Møller, V., Huschka, D. (eds) Quality of Life and the Millennium Challenge. Social Indicators Research Series, 35. Springer, Dordrecht.
• Murry, V. M., Bynum, M. S., Brody, G. H., Willert, A., Stephens, D. (2001). African American single mothers and children in context: A review of studies on risk and resilience. Clinical Child and Family Psychology, Review,4, 133–155.
• Nahapiet, J., & Ghoshal, S. (1998). Social capital, ıntellectual capital and the organizational advantage. The Academy of Management Review, 23(2), 242.
• Nawaz, S. (2015). Understanding The Lives and Labours of Lone-Mother Students. Unpublished Dissertation. Liverpool: Liverpool John Moores University.
• Nieuwenhuis, R., & Maldonado, L. C. (2018). Single-parent families and in-work poverty. In Handbook on in-work poverty. Edward Elgar Publishing.
• OECD. (2016). Patterns of Employment and The Distribution of Working Hours for Single Parents. Social Policy Division. Directorate of Employment, Labour and Social Affairs.
• Pahl, R., & Spencer, L. (2010). Family, friends, and personal communities: Changing models- in- the- mind. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 2(3), 197-210.
• Paxton, P. (1999). Is social capital declining in the United States? A multiple indicator assessment. American Journal of Sociology, 105 (1): 88-127.
• Pieters, J. (2016). Single Parents Lead Big Rise in Netherlands Welfare Reliance. NL Times, https://nltimes.nl/2016/01/26/single-parents-lead-big-rise-netherlands-welfare-reliance.
• Pinillos-Franco, S., Kawachi, I. (2018). The relationship between social capital and self-rated health: A gendered analysis of 17 European countries. Social Science and Medicine, 219:30-35.
• Pollmann-Schult, Matthias (2017): Sons, daughters, and parents’ division of paid work and housework. Journal of Family Issues. 38 (1), 100-123.
• PRI Policy Research Initiative. (2005). Social capital as a public policy tool (Project Report). Canada.
• Putnam R.D. (2000). Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster.
• Putnam, R. D. (1995). Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital. Journal of Democracy, 6 (1), 65-78.
• Rotenberg, K. (2010). The conceptualization of interpersonal trust: A basis, domain, and target framework. Interpersonal Trust During Childhood and Adolescence. 8-27.
• Rothstein, B. (2000). Trust, social dilemmas and collective memories. Journal of Theoretical Politics, 12(4), 477–501.
• Rotter, J. (1967). A new scale for the measurement of interpersonal trust. Journal of Personality, 35, 651-665.
• Rotter, J. B. (1971). Generalized expectancies for interpersonal trust. American Psychologist, 26(5), 443–452. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0031464
• Soygan, H., Gedik, E. (2019). Kocasız yaşam: Yozgat’ta boşanmış kadınların deneyimleri. Turkish Studies, 14(7), 3953- 3966. 10.29228/TurkishStudies.37043
• Switek, M. (2012). Internal migration and life satisfaction: Wellbeing effects of moving as a young adult, IZA Discussion Papers, 7016
• Taylor, Z. E., Conger, R. D. (2017). Promoting strengths and resilience in single‐mother families. Child Development, 88(2), 350–358.
• Trujillo-Alemán, S., Tjulin, Å., Pérez, G., & Hagqvist, E. (2022). Social capital and self-perceived health in lone mothers: a multilevel cross-sectional study across Europe. Journal of Family Issues, 43(3), 612–640.
• TÜİK, (2020). Ulusal Eğitim İstatistikleri Veri Tabanı.
• Uğur, S. B. (2014). Günümüzde kadının boşanma deneyimleri: Akademisyen kadınlar üzerine bir araştırma. Mediterranean Journal of Humanities, 4(2), 293-326.
• Uyar, N., Yıldırım, İ. (2022). Kadınların boşanma sonrası yaşama uyum deneyimleri: nitel bir çalışma. Anadolu Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 22(2):405-434. DOI: 10.18037/ausbd.1136314.
• Ünal, V. (2013). Geleneksel geniş aileden çekirdek aileye geçiş sürecinde boşanma sorunu ve din. Uluslararası Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, 6(26), 588-601.
• Welch, M., Allan, R.R., Yonkoski, J., Conway, B., Lupton, P., Giancola, R. (2005). Determinants and consequences of social trust. Sociological Inquiry, 75: 453–47.
• Widmer, E. D. (2004). Couples and their networks. (In) M. Richards, J. Scott, and J. Treas (eds.), Blackwell companion to the sociology of families (pp. 356–373). London: Blackwell.
• Trends, C. (2013). Mapping family change and child well-being outcomes. World Family Map, 72.
• Yamagishi, T. (2011). Trust: The evolutionary game of mind and society. Springer Science & Business Media.
• Yüksel, İ., Çavlin, A., Ergöçmen, B. (2015). Türkiye’de Kadına Yönelik Aile İçi Şiddet Araştırması. Hacettepe Üniversitesi Nüfus Etütleri Enstitüsü, Ankara.