The parenting practice of single mothers in Turkey: Challenges and strategies Serap Kavas a, ⁎, Ayse Gündüz-Hoşgör b a Suleyman Sah University, Department of Sociology, Hayriye Dumankaya Yerleşkesi, Atalar Mah. No: 44 34865 Kartal, Istanbul, Turkey b Department of Sociology, Middle East Technical University, 06800 Çankaya, Ankara, Turkey article info synopsis Available online 1 June 2013 Drawing on 24 interviews with single mothers in Turkey, this qualitative study examines various cultural and structural factors facing single mothers in a patriarchal society. It identifies strategies single mothers devise to handle the hardship of bringing up a child alone and stand up for themselves as single parents. Results demonstrate that single mothers in this study face numerous challenges, including the difficulty to maintain authority in their new family setting; the struggle to keep the sense of a complete family; and the experience of negative attitudes toward single mothers and their children. We argue that through the strategies they have devised, these mothers strive to rebuild their families in line with the traditional Turkish family system. We draw on the literature on boundary ambiguity as a theoretical framework for understanding these women's single parenting experiences. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction Numerous studies have shown that the number of single parent families has increased in recent decades and in many countries, western and nonwestern. Across the industrialized world, more children than ever before live in single-parent families. The number of lone parent families is notably high in the United States. In 2006 alone there were 12.6 million such families with dependent children (US Bureau of the Census). The numbers are relatively fewer in some European countries; for instance, in France single parent families with dependent children made up 1.7 million in 2009 (National Institute of Statistics & Economic Studies, (INSEE), 2009) while the figure of lone parents in the UK has grown steadily from 1.7 million in 2001 to 2.0 million in 2011(Office for National Statistics, 2011). In Turkey the proportion of children who will spend some time living in a single parent family is growing; in 2010 there were 1.5 million single parent family units with dependent children (Turkish Statistical Institute (Turkstat) Income & Living Conditions Survey, 2006–2010). Given the rising rate of single parenting and the high rate of poverty and child delinquency associated with single parent families, such families receive particular attention in social science literature. Most of the literature views single parenting as a social problem contributing to societal ills such as delinquency (Rankin & Kern, 1994), poverty (Garfinkel & Mclanahan, 1986) and income insecurity (Duncan & Hoffman, 1985). With respect to its effects on child development, the literature reports single parenting as a risk factor for school failure (Astone & McLanahan, 1991), dropout (Zimiles & Lee, 1991), susceptibility to peer pressure (Steinberg, 1987) drug abuse (Emery, 1988), and emotional and behavioral problems (Lee, Burkam, Zimiles, & Ladewski, 1994). Moreover, when assessed in view of the parent–child relationship, single parenting in general is viewed as “diminished parenting” due in part to lower parental involvement and inconsistent parenting style (Astone & McLanahan, 1991; Fauber, Forehand, Thomas, & Wierson, 1990; Patterson, 1986; Steinberg, 1987). Although most research focuses on consequences of single parenting for children (see for instance Amato, 1987; Furstenberg, Morgan, & Allison, 1986; Garfinkel & Mclanahan, 1986; Hetherington & Arasteh, 1988; Krein & Beller, 1988; Peterson & Zill, 1986; Steinberg, 1987; Weiss, 1979), there are Women's Studies International Forum 40 (2013) 56–67 ⁎ Corresponding author. 0277-5395/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2013.05.004 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Women's Studies International Forum journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wsif