Employment also plays a big role in the economic well-being of households with children headed by single parents versus those where a couple is present. Family structure also plays a part in the economic situation of single parents. When single parents do work, they would appear to have lower levels of job security than their counterparts in couples. Single parents are less likely to have health insurance, but, at the same time, are in poorer health than parents who are part of a couple. Only 61 percent of single parents report having any form of health insurance, of whom 35 percent receive health coverage from an employer or labor union.
Single parents are more likely to partake in risky health behaviors than parents in couples.
Twenty-one percent of single parents, but only 11 percent of parents in couples, have more than three drinks on the days they drank. In the CWHS, a sample of California adults will be interviewed annually about their employment, economic well-being, and health status. The principal and co-principal investigators for the CWHS are Edward Yelin, Ph.D. and Laura Trupin, M.P.H. of the Institute for Health Policy Studies and Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Irene Yen, Ph.D., of the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, assisted in the design of the survey. The project is funded by the Work and Health Initiative of The California Wellness Foundation.