Abstract
We examined the relationship between lone mothers’ repartnering and
health in three welfare contexts: the dual-earner, market-oriented, and
general family policy model. Drawing on the resources and crisis models,
we applied mixture modeling for spell data of the Harmonized Histories
data set. We uncovered six distinct repartnering trajectories that varied
regarding the timing, type, and stability of higher-order unions for different
cohorts of lone mothers. Unstable repartnering was more frequent in
market-oriented contexts, while contexts with more comprehensive
family support fostered more stable repartnering. Although repartnering
trajectories were overall not associated with health, these associations
differed by welfare context. Mothers experiencing repartnering, though
unstable, reported enjoying better health if living in market-oriented
contexts rather than in general or dual-earner contexts. Altogether, our
findings suggest that even if higher financial needs in less-generous welfare
may translate in more unstable repartnering histories, this seems to have
positive spillover effects on mothers’ health.