A Single Mother’s View on Christianity as Support Hannah Kaiser & Caitlin Lennartson Advised by: Dr. Susan Wolfgram University of Wisconsin-Stout Research Problem Single mothers have turned to Christianity as a resource for their children’s psychological health, parenting, and their own personal psychological security (Petts, 2012; Sorenson, Grindstaff, & Turner, 1995; Sullivan, 2008). Previous research has focused on poor urban teenage single mothers, therefore limiting the demographic (Broussard, 2012; Sorenson, Grindstaff, & Turner, 1995). Definition of Christianity An important and essential definition in this study was Christianity which is, “the religion derived from Jesus Christ, based on the bible as sacred scripture, and professed by Eastern, Roman Catholic, and Protestant bodies” (Christianity, n.d.). Research Question What is a single mother’s attitude towards Christianity as means of coping and support? Purposes of This Study Create a qualitative interview protocol in order to investigate the lived experience of one adult single mother who comes from the upper middle class in a Midwest suburban region, and her attitude towards Christianity as a coping and support resource. Expand the lens of the literature that is already out there about single mothers, and attitudes towards Christianity as means of coping and support. The results of this study would increase the knowledge of practitioners working with single mothers and to build more research on this topic for future researchers. Review of the Literature Broussard et al. (2012) identified the stressors and coping mechanisms in a single mother’s life, and specifically those living in poverty. The results showed that two of the women specifically talked about how their faith in God was a stress reliever, and how their church was also a means of positive social support for them. They mentioned how they would have given up a long time ago if it were not for God and Petts (2012) studied single mothers and how attending church services made a difference in their children’s behavior as well their psychological health. The results showed that single mothers who attended church believed their faith was valued in their home, overall felt less parental pressure, were actively involved in their children’s lives, their children were better behaved demonstrating less internal and external behavior, and participated less in spanking as a form of punishment, compared to the single mothers who did not go to church. Petts (2011) studied children’s psychological security based on their parents’ religious beliefs, similarity in religious beliefs, and the differences in family structure. The results found that overall, being a single mother and the only parent practicing their faith was linked to poor children’s health outcomes. Sullivan (2008) studied how religion can be a resource to poor and urban single mothers. The study found that mothers did not necessarily attend church regularly because they felt that there was a stigma or a judgment about them not being married that they felt whenever they would attend a service. Most turned to prayer quite often when they were stressed with parenting or dealing with anxiety or depression. Sorenson et al. (1995) studied how religious beliefs and values played a role in teenage mothers’ psychological security. It was found that teenage mothers who identified themselves as following no faith or Protestant, had the lowest levels of depression. Teenage unmarried mothers who identified themselves as Catholic or Other had higher levels of depression than the teenage mothers who identified themselves as Protestants or those with no particular faith. Teenage mothers who attended church activities felt greater n. Theoretical Framework Family Ecology Theory The basic idea of this theory is that it focuses on the importance of the family being intertwined with the different ecological systeic levels encompassed within human development (Brofenbrenner 1979; Lerner, R. M., Lewin-Bizan, S., & Warren, A. A. n.d.; as cited in Bornstein and Lamb, 2011). As applied to this study… The Family Ecological Theory would predict that a Christian single mother would view Christianity as a form of support within every aspect of her environment (Brofenbrenner 1979; Lerner, R. M., Lewin-Bizan, S., & Warren, A. A. n.d.; as cited in Bornstein and Lamb, 2011). Her Christian values and beliefs wiould be directly involved in the way that she deals with everyday life. Methods Participant Sampling Types Purposive and Snowball Purposive sampling method was used because the researchers could go to someone they know personally to obtain the information needed to for the study and would be willing to share their personal lived experiences. The snowball sampling method can also be applied, as the researcher was an insider for the participant. This individual, from the discernment of the researcher, possesses a personal and intimate perspective of being a Christian single mother, and has the personal experience of using Christianity as a means of coping and support. Research Design: Phenomonology The qualitative approach used in this study was phenomenology. According to Patton, phenomenology is the study of lived experience (2002). The lived experience can come from multiple contexts including emotions, culture, relationships, jobs, and programs. The interview brings the researcher closer to understanding the participant’s experiences. Method and Rationale An interview was used for data collection (Meho, 2006). The underlying reason for this method is that , rather than a face-to-face interviews, was deemed most appropriate when under time restrictions and for convenience when compared with a mailed questionnaire Data Analysis Plan Thematic Content Analysis (Kvale, 1996) The interview responses were conducted by the researcher and themes were identified to exhaustion, as determined by the responses of the participant. No follow-up calls or s were needed for the purpose of clarification. The researcher wrote down what she thought the overall ideas were. The responses were read by the advisor and the researcher separately to gain a general idea of the answers given by the participant. These were compared to one another’s, the advisor and the researcher had an inter-rater reliability of 100% on the themes identified by the participants’ responses. The researcher identified representative quotes from the interview for each of the themes found in the responses (Patton, 2002). Participant Demographics of Research Participant Age: 64 Gender: Female State of Residence: Minnesota Number of Children: 2 Yearly Income: $200,000 Number of years raising children as a single mother: 24 years Christian Denomination: Covenant Church Selected Findings Faith in God -Faith was a constant support throughout her divorce, and being a single mother. “My faith was my comfort. My faith was my rock. My faith in the Bible was my counselor.” Never feeling alone -God was the constant partner in her life now. “I can truly say that I have never been lonely because of my faith walk. Yes, I am alone and no longer in a marriage relationship, but being alone and being lonely are two different things.” Working through the stigma -Finding a way to overcome the stigmas attached to being a single, Christian mother. “I felt like I had to prove myself as a “good mom”. I felt like I wanted/needed to justify that the divorce was necessary because there were implied conversations that you “just keep working at it” or “once married, always married”. But I decided I would not look backwards, but only forward.” God as the head of the household -The head of the household was no longer both parents or one parent, but rather God. “I prayed that the Lord would now be the head of my household and He would protect me and my children.” Implications Implications for Practitioners -Single mother’s from all socioeconomic statuses need support and coping mechanisms to deal with the struggles that come with being a single mother. -Important for anyone working with single mothers to find out what a single mother uses as a support system and coping mechanism. -Important to find out if religion or spirituality is a part of their life. -Important to understand what type of religion or spirituality a single mother turns to for coping and support. -To understand that for some single mothers, “God” can fill in for the absent role of a spouse as the “head of the household” - For churches to reach out to single mothers within the community. Implications for Future Research We collected data based on one single mothers lived experience with Christianity in an upper middle class suburban Midwest area. A recommendation for future research would be to have a larger number of participants, and participants varying in demographics such as region and socioeconomic status. This would allow for a wider perspective on what it’s like to be a single, Christian mother in terms of support and coping. To enhance generalizability future researchers may want to do a mixed method of surveys supplemented with qualitative interviews. Conclusion The information from this study will be beneficial to single mothers and practitioners alike in terms of support and coping for single mothers. Allowing for limitations that have been stated, we believe that Christianity is a positive coping and support resource for single mothers. Spirituality and religion have provided single mothers with a resource that allows them to have a partner in life and in parenting. “Even though I am the ultimate planner, I realize that in many stages of my life, I had to respond to circumstances as they came my way. If I tried to meet those challenges on my own accord, I failed miserably. However, if I was on my knees and consulted the Lord, my head of household, He always came through with the best solution for me and my family.”