Single parenthood in a life course perspective

Identifying what « single parent household » are becomes a challenging task in an era of new family forms and related legislations regulating the care and responsibilities of children. Official statistics hardly reflect a composite reality of households between which children circulate and where parental relationships with biological and non-biological parents change during the life course. On the basis of an explorative qualitative study in Switzerland, we focus of the blurry borders of single parent households and on the life course pattern of individuals living as solo parents. We analyze the life course of individuals whose entry to the single parent state fits one of these two patterns: a) becoming single parent as the consequence of a couple project which got interrupted (separation, divorce, or widowhood) ; b) single parent in the absence of a couple project (contraceptive failure, partner non acceptance of parenthood, single parenthood as a life choice). We propose a multidimensional definition of single parents that takes into account both the objective life trajectories of parents and children and subjective dimension of individuals categorized as single parents. We highlight the importance of a longitudinal perspective on single parent households to understand their dynamics and to develop better-adapted policies to