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Exercising Agency, Becoming a Single Mother

Abstract Single motherhood is on the rise and an increasing number of single mothers are never married. This has contributed to the crisis rhetoric surrounding the decline of the traditional family. A plethora of research has been conducted with a variety of subgroups of single mothers, but virtually no research has examined the lives of never married, single mothers, who are neither poor nor middle class, but economically fall in between. Drawing on data from qualitative interviews with this subgroup, the article examines their decision-making processes. The findings of this study reveal various factors that helped the women make decisions showing how the process is more complex than previously suggested in the literature. Interestingly, the women articulate a comfort zone of single motherhood that is unparallel to other groups of single mothers. Concepts of agency, autonomy, pride, and self-reliance are crucial to understanding their process of decision making.