The XXXX of sole mothers in Australia.

@entity1 @entity308 @entity458
OBJECTIVE: To determine the psychological wellbeing of sole mothers in Australia. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analyses of survey data from The Australian Longitudinal Study on @entity1 's Health. @entity1 : 9689 younger @entity1 (aged 22-27 years) surveyed in 2000 and 12 338 mid-age @entity1 (aged 47-52 years) surveyed in 1998. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Demographic characteristics and economic status; prevalence of suicidal thoughts, self-harm, and psychoactive medication use; @entity308 (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale) and @entity458 (the Mental Health Component Score of the Medical Outcome Short Form Health Survey [SF-36]). RESULTS: Among the younger @entity1 , sole mothers were more likely than other @entity1 to have experienced suicidal thoughts (odds ratio [OR], 2.18; 95% CI, 1.45-3.27) and self-harm (OR, 3.25; 95% CI, 1.97-5.38). Among the younger and mid-age @entity1 , sole mothers were the group most likely to have used medication for @entity308 (ORs, 2.75 [95% CI, 1.76-4.30] and 2.29 [95% CI, 1.56-3.37], respectively). They were more than twice as likely to have experienced @entity308 , and had significantly poorer @entity458 (P < 0.001). After adjusting for economic status, only @entity308 and @entity458 remained significantly associated with sole motherhood, and the strength of these relationships was reduced. CONCLUSIONS: Economic status partly accounts for the relatively poorer @entity458 of sole mothers. Sole mothers are more likely than other @entity1 to experience debilitating @entity458 .
