Social Work Commons^™

The Triple Bind Of Single-Parent Families: Resources, Employment And Policies (Chapter One), Laurie C. Maldonado, Rense Nieuwenhuis

Faculty Works: SW (2011-2020)

The days when Tolstoy opened Anna Karenina with ‘Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way’, to reect a dominant discourse on the nuclear family as the singular form of happiness and wellbeing, are long gone. Alongside the second demographic transition – women gaining economic independence and better control over their fertility, improvements in gender equality and changing norms on family and gender – a diversity of family forms emerged. Wellbeing and happiness, as well as unhappiness, can be found in all families, regardless of family structure. This challenges the assertion that any one …