KWDI Korean Women’s Development Institute

This study examines how single mothers(unwed mothers) occurred in terms of contextual dynamics of Korean's perspective on sexual behaviors. And this study analyzes how single(unwed) mothers accept their lives as a single mom and what is their motivation to decide to give birth and raise a child. In addition, this study examines how pregnancy and childbirth change single(unwed) mother's life and further how their changed life affect their decision of child rearing. Not only analyzing social support for single mothers with various characteristics but also reviewing the social provision for single mothers of the inside and outside of the country, this study suggests an efficient policy for social integration of single(unwed) mothers.

Throughout conducting literature review, in-depth interview and focus group interview, this study compares each welfare regime's policy for single mothers. And also, in order to produce relevant policy issues for Korean society, the experts conference and the facility personnel workshop were arranged. One on one in-depth interview was based on semi-structured survey questions. In-depth interviews were conducted with 45 of single mothers and 5 of single fathers. Survey questionnaires were developed by KWDI.  The survey for single mothers was divided into two groups-child rearing single mother and single mother with no child rearing responsibility so that respondents could answer the survey depending on their current situation. Total 603 surveys were returned and among them 571 surveys were used for this analysis. In order to suggest an efficient policy, based on the attitude toward sexuality and family, four countries were selected by the different perspectives of social support for single parents. And, the study reviewed their unique characteristics of support policy for single mothers. Throughout  this comparison and examination, this study suggests a possible policy for the betterment of the future policy for single parents.

The following are the results of this study.

First, the number of single mothers is currently increasing. According to their age, the level of education, and the types of the family, the results show that they have more different family backgrounds compared to the past. Especially, they have different levels of education and different age groups. In addition, the child rearing ratios of single mothers are growing as well.

Second, single mothers experience the change in their lives and social networks due to their pregnancy and childbirth.  Even though most of them got pregnant by their boyfriend, most of their pregnancies were an unwanted pregnancy. As a result of the pregnancy and childbirth, many single mothers experience school dropouts and career interruptions. In addition to that, single mothers experience severe social prejudice and discrimination.

Third, after exploring determinants of adoption and child rearing decision, the findings of this study show that child rearing decision of single mothers are the result of their voluntary and active decision making. Also, the factors such as their own intention to have a baby, their social characteristics, the family support, and the support of the baby's father significantly influence on the single mother's decision making.

Fourth, this study examines single mother's desires for self-support  plan and the public policy for single mothers. The results show that single mothers' desires are very different depending on their age and the types of their situation. In the future, the types of support policy for single mothers should consider not only their common needs and desires, but also internal diversity of single mothers.

Fifth, this study suggests that it is necessary to point out institutional improving standards to impose responsibility on the baby's father. The policy for single mothers needs to focus on the difficulty of single mothers and the psychological and emotional conflicts that have been neglected frequently in the past. This study confirms that it is important to established the new father figure and the new man images that emphasize the father's responsibility and the role as a father regardless of their marital status.

Sixth, this study points out that the future policy for single mothers should be provided from the perspective of universal family policy. The future policy needs to reflect single mothers' internal diversity and characteristics. In other words, it is impossible to have consensus of universal support policy for unwed mom under the society that still impose stigma and social prejudice on unwed mother. Therefore, current policies for single mothers should be improved to include individualistic approaches that reflect the diversity and the characterist ics of unwed mothers.