Mapping lone-motherhood in Vietnam and its educational outcomes for children - de Loenzien, Myriam
This paper examines lone parenthood in Viet Nam, a phenomenon poorly documented that concerns mostly women. Using micro-date from the 2009 census, we first identified four distinct situations of lone motherhood among women aged 15-49 years cohabiting with at least one child under 18 years: married mothers living without their husband (6.1% of the total), unmarried mothers (0.5%), divorced and separated mothers (2.0%) and widowed mothers (2.4%). These four groups are compared with the reference category composed of mothers residing with their husband in order to highlight their specific social, demographic and geographic characteristics. We finally investigated whether the educational attainment of children living with a lone-mother differs from that of children brought up by both parents. Preliminary results show that single and widowed mothers are more numerous in rural parts of the country, have a lower level of education and a higher level of impairment whereas married lone-mothers live more frequently in urban areas, have a higher level of instruction and live in richer households. Results from logistic regression models show that children of lone-mothers display a lower level of education and school attainment. Among children aged 10-17, the risk of not completing primary school is higher when the mother is single (OR = 1.315), widowed (OR = 1.335), divorced or separated (OR = 1.454) than when she is temporarily alone but remains married (OR = 1.105). The variations are even stronger regarding the risk of not attending school for children aged 7-17, for single mothers (OR = 1.566), divorced or separated mothers (OR = 1.721) or widowed mothers (OR = 1.587), than when she is temporarily alone but remains married (OR = 1.106). All these results are controlled for age, ethnicity, and other socioeconomic variables. In a context where marriage is a strong social norm, and welfare system still limited, this study provides insights on some of the specific vulnerabilities of lone mothers and their children in Viet Nam.
Keywords: conferencePaper