Social Support, Parenting Competence, and Parenting Satisfaction Among Adolescent, African American, Mothers

• Published in: Western journal of nursing research Vol. 40; no. 4; p. 502
• Main Authors: Brown, Sara G, Hudson, Diane B, Campbell-Grossman, Christie, Kupzyk, Kevin A, Yates, Bernice C, Hanna, Kathleen M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.04.2018
• Subjects: Adolescent; Black or African American - psychology; Female; Humans; Male; Mothers - psychology; Parenting - psychology; Personal Satisfaction; Pregnancy; Pregnancy in Adolescence - psychology; Social Support; location of care; methods; nurses as subjects; parenting/families; adolescence; population focus; Black; nursing practice; community; nursing education; statistical analysis; nurses
• DOI: 10.1177/0193945916682724

This secondary analysis explored how social support changed during the first 6 months postpartum and examined the relationships among social support, parenting competence, and parenting role satisfaction. Single, low-income, adolescent, new mothers ( N = 34) completed measures of perceived parenting competence, parenting role satisfaction, and four types of received social support (emotional, informational, tangible, problematic) from the entire social network at 1 week, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months postpartum. Results indicated that social support did not change over time. Emotional, informational, and tangible social support were significantly correlated, concurrently and predictively, with perceived competence and satisfaction at most data collection points. Future social support intervention studies using social support as a modifiable variable with this high-risk group of African American adolescent new mothers are advocated. Health care professionals are encouraged to examine existing social support within these mothers' identified family units.