What future? The long term implications of sole motherhood for economic wellbeing

Sole mothers form o substantial proportion of the Australian population. In 2003, 20% of Australian families with children under 15 years of age were headed by a sole mother and around 27% of 18 year olds had spent a period of their childhood in a family headed by a sole mother (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS] 2003a; de Vaus & Gray 2003). Moreover, the ABS (2004a) hos predicted that the number of sole parent families will increase by between 30% and 66% from 1996 to 2021. Therefore, it is important to understand the economic situations of sole mother families, and to determine the potential long term impact of sole motherhood on economic wellbeing.