Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

This article empirically examines the factors associated with child support receipt among single mothers in Korea. Although there is growing concern about the high incidence of poverty among single-mother families in Korea, there is no nationally-representative statistics that estimate the proportion of minor children who live in these families in Korea. After the introduction of laws related to legalizing and enforcing non-custodial parents’ child support liabilities in the late 2000s and the establishment of a child support agency in Korea in 2015, Korea is now undergoing a critical period of developing policies intended to increase the child support received and address poverty among these households. Despite Korean policymakers’ growing focus on increasing the child support received by single-mother families, little empirical research has been conducted on this topic, and thus there is limited evidence available to facilitate policy development. While a significant body of research on child support has focused primarily on European and English-speaking countries, little research has been conducted on how policy and cultural contexts affect child support receipt in East Asian countries. The current study addresses these gaps by examining Korean single-mother families and their child support receipt.

This paper includes two important analyses regarding single-mother families in Korea. First, using data from a nationally representative census survey in 2010 and 2015, we provide first evidence that estimates the rate of minor children living in single-parent/mother families among all minor children in Korea. Second, using the Korean Survey of Single-Parents, which gathered information from a nationally representative sample of approximately 3,000 single mothers in Korea, we exploit exceptionally rich cross-sectional data (collected in 2012 and 2015) on custodial mothers’ demographic characteristics, social and economic characteristics, physical and mental health, relationships with their children, and public and social program participation, as well as information about non-custodial parents’ education, vocation, and contact with children. By simultaneously controlling for these measured variables, we produce empirical evidence pertinent to factors associated with child support receipt.

Difference-in-difference analyses of data from mothers who divorced before and after the implementation of child support policies (i.e., the passage of child support enforcement laws in 2007 and the establishment of a child support system in 2015) provided some evidence that child support enforcement had a positive effect on support receipt in Korea. The results suggest that welfare program participation might discourage child support receipt, perhaps because in Korea none of the child support received is disregarded in the determination of the receipt of welfare that guarantees a minimum income. Interestingly, noncustodial fathers with higher education levels provide less support compared with fathers with lower education levels (robust results regardless of model specifications), and additional analyses suggest evidence that multiple-partner fertility which is more prevalent among fathers with higher education (compared with fathers with lower education) is a related issue. Finally, the results show that some single mothers who are more disadvantaged (e.g., mothers with lower earnings) are more likely to receive support, perhaps because they have greater need. Research and policy implications are discussed.