Does employment improve the health of lone mothers?

In Britain the government is currently proposing legislation that will enco urage welfare recipients to gain employment. A central tenet of this 'welfa re to work' policy is that employment will not only reduce the poverty of w elfare recipients, but also improve their health. This research assessed th e extent to which the movement from 'welfare to work' is likely to benefit the mental and physical health of lone mothers with preschool children. The sample was 719 lone mothers and a comparison group of 8779 women with part ners drawn from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood (ALS PAC). Data collected by self completion questionnaire at 33 months postpart um provided information about average weekly take home family income and th e mother's employment status. The health outcomes measured were general wel l being, both minor and major depression (using the Edinburgh Postnatal Dep ression Scale), self report of respiratory symptoms (cough/cold, wheeze, in fluenza) from 18-33 months postpartum and self report of symptoms common in the childbearing years (backache, haemorrhoids) also from 18-33 months pos tpartum Lone mothers who were not employed were the poorest group in the sa mple; 94% of this group (402) had a family income of less than pound 200 pe r week, compared with 72% (188) of lone mothers who were employed, 25% (905 ) of partnered women who were not employed and 12% (466) of partnered women who were employed. Lone mothers were significantly more likely than women with partners to report poorer well being (chi(2) = 11.7, df = 3, P = 0.01) , to have a major depressive disorder (chi(2) = 92.6, df = 1, P = 0.0001) a nd to report wheeze (chi(2) = 31.1, df = 1, P = 0.0001), but significantly less likely to report cough/cold (chi(2) = 9.9, df = 1, P = 0.0001) or haem orrhoids (chi(2) = 16.6, df = 1, P = 0.0001). Lone mothers who were unemplo yed and living on less than pound 100 per week were significantly more like ly to be depressed (chi(2) = 3.9, df = 1, P = 0.05) than those who were emp loyed and living on pound 200 or more per week, and significantly less like ly to report cough/cold (chi(2) = 3.8, df = 1, P = 0.05). Logistic regressi on analyses showed no significant independent association between employmen t and better health for lone mothers. Rather, when compared with lone mothe rs who were not working, those who were employed were more likely to report minor respiratory symptoms such as cough/cold (OR = 1.51, 95% CI = 1.00,2. 31). Overall, the results suggested that the movement from 'welfare to work ' is unlikely to improve the health of lone mothers. (C) 1999 Elsevier Scie nce Ltd. All rights reserved.