Peer Relationships as a Source of Support for Adolescent Mothers

Friend Support and the Parenting of Latina Adolescent Mothers: The Moderating Role of Maternal Age

OBJECTIVES

This study examined the role of maternal age in the relation between social support from friends and parenting adjustment in a sample of young Latina mothers and their 18-month-old children (N=168).

METHODS

Hierarchical multiple regression analyses tested friend social support types (emotional, socializing, child care) as differential predictors of maternal behavior (sensitivity, cognitive growth-fostering, detachment) displayed during mother-child play interactions. To consider maternal development, the moderating role of maternal age on these associations was tested.

RESULTS

The relations between friend emotional and child care support and parenting were moderated by maternal age. Emotional support was related to the use of more growth-fostering parenting behaviors for older (≥ 19.5 yrs.), but not for younger Latina mothers. Child care support from friends was related to the display of more detachment and less cognitive growth-fostering behaviors among the younger (≤ 18.7 yrs.) mothers only. Immigrant mothers reported significantly less overall friend support and emotional support than mothers born in the mainland U.S.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings emphasize the importance of assessing the types of friend support as separate measures in an ecological context that takes into account mothers' generational and developmental level.

Developmental Differences in the Association of Peer Relationships with Traumatic Stress Symptoms

Although childhood trauma exposure has a high incidence, traumatic stress often goes untreated in children and youth. We investigated peer relationship quality as a prevention strategy for reducing traumatic stress across different developmental periods. We analyzed longitudinal data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Wellbeing (NSCAW I) using a time-varying effect model (TVEM) to investigate the association between peer relationship quality and traumatic stress symptoms across ages 8-17 years. We controlled for a robust set of confounders identified through a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG). The unique association between peer relationship quality and traumatic stress symptoms was negative and significant from ages 8 to 8.5 years, and again from ages 9.4 to 10.9 years and at age 16.4 to 16.8 years, with maximum associations of - 1.45 T score points at age 8.5 years (95% CI = [- 2.87, - 0.40]), - 1.57 at age 9.4 years (95% CI = [- 3.13,- 0.01]), and - 1.89 at 16.7 years (95% CI = [- 3.70, - 0.09]). Peer relationship quality protected against traumatic stress during specific times during adolescent development. Our results suggest that helping youth establish and maintain positive peer relationships may be a useful prevention approach for helping them cope with trauma experiences.

Younger and Older African American Adolescent Mothers’ Relationships with Their Mothers and Female Peers

This study examined differences in younger (ages 14 to 16) and older (ages 17 to 19) African American adolescent mothers’ receipt of maternal and peer support and associations among economic strain, maternal and peer support, maternal problems, and depressive symptomatology. Findings indicate that (a) both younger and older adolescent mothers receive significantly more support from mothers than from peers, (b) higher levels of maternal problems are associated with higher levels of depression for all adolescent mothers, and (c) under conditions of lowmaternal support, younger adolescents appear to be at greater risk for depression when peer support is higher, whereas older adolescents may be at greater risk when peer support is lower. Findings are interpreted within the context of existing research on adolescent parenting and adolescent development. Implications for future research are discussed.

Assessing the Qualities of Social Relationships in Clinical and Nonclinical Individuals

This study highlights the use of a semistructured interview to explore essential positive and negative qualities of current and historic significant relationships. This approach allows for identifying who (or what) comprises each respondent's significant social network and for conducting a qualitative analysis of those positive and negative qualities that affect participant's lives. Using a self-psychology perspective, it was hypothesized that four bipolar qualities-availability, reliability, empathy, and non-intrusiveness-would emerge, with clinical individuals emphasizing the negative pole and nonclinical individuals emphasizing the positive. Both clinical and nonclinical individuals identified friends and family, with clinical individuals incorporating therapists, mentors, and organized groups into their significant social influences. As expected, empathy, reliability, and availability emerged, and clinical individuals had overall fewer positive themes and greater negative themes, including lack of reciprocity and feeling devalued by others. Future research must begin understanding the determinants of perceptual and relational response styles and the ways in which formal and informal sup-port influences the life adaptation process.

Parenting stress and parent support among mothers with high and low education

Current theorizing and evidence suggest that parenting stress might be greater among parents from both low and high socioeconomic positions (SEP) compared with those from intermediate levels because of material hardship among parents of low SEP and employment demands among parents of high SEP. However, little is known about how this socioeconomic variation in stress relates to the support that parents receive. This study explored whether variation in maternal parenting stress in a population sample was associated with support deficits. To obtain a clearer understanding of support deficits among mothers of high and low education, we distinguished subgroups according to mothers' migrant and single-parent status. Participants were 5,865 mothers from the Growing Up in Scotland Study, who were interviewed when their children were 10 months old. Parenting stress was greater among mothers with either high or low education than among mothers with intermediate education, although it was highest for those with low education. Support deficits accounted for around 50% of higher stress among high- and low-educated groups. Less frequent grandparent contact mediated parenting stress among both high- and low-educated mothers, particularly migrants. Aside from this common feature, different aspects of support were relevant for high- compared with low-educated mothers. For high-educated mothers, reliance on formal childcare and less frequent support from friends mediated higher stress. Among low-educated mothers, smaller grandparent and friend networks and barriers to professional parent support mediated higher stress. Implications of differing support deficits are discussed.

Integrating cultural values, beliefs, and customs into pregnancy and postpartum care: lessons learned from a Hawaiian public health nursing project

Determining the elements of culturally competent health care is an important goal for nurses. This goal is particularly integral in efforts to design better preventive health care strategies for pregnant and postpartum women from multiple cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Learning about the values, beliefs, and customs surrounding health among the targeted groups is essential, but integrating this knowledge into the actual health care services delivery system is more difficult. The success of a prenatal and postpartum program developed for native Hawaiian, Filipino, and Japanese women in Hawaii has been attributed to the attention on training, direct care giving, and program monitoring participation by local cultural and ethnic healers and neighborhood leaders living in the community, with coordination by public health nurses. This article profiles central design elements with examples of specific interventions used in the Malama Na Wahine or Caring for Pregnant Women program to illustrate a unique approach to the delivery of culturally competent care.

Hopefulness, self-esteem, and perceived social support among pregnant and nonpregnant adolescents

The concepts of hope, self-esteem, and social support have been identified as important factors in understanding a wide range of adolescent behaviors. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the relationship of perceived hopefulness, self-esteem, and social support with pregnancy status. Employing a cross-sectional design, a sample of pregnant (n = 58) and nonpregnant (n = 91) adolescents between the ages of 14 and 18 completed the Hopefulness Scale for Adolescents (HSA), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), and the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire (NSSQ). Multiple regression analyses were used to assess the association of pregnancy status with hopefulness, self-esteem, and social support while controlling for age and socioeconomic status (SES). The effects of pregnancy status on each psychosocial variable were examined independently. Findings revealed pregnancy status was not associated with hopefulness, self-esteem, or perceived social support when age and SES were controlled.