Parents' stressful life events and social networks: Relations with parenting and children's competence.

This paper focuses on relations between parents' stressful life events and social networks, parent-child interactions, and children's competence in preschool, in a sample of 30 normally functioning, two-parent families. It presents data relevant to several serious shortcomings in the current literature on stress and social networks. (1) Because research in this area has focussed on mothers and infants in maltreating families, it is unclear whether reported trends hold for fathers, families with older children, and families characterized by adequate parenting and low levels of stress. (2) Few reports distinguish between support from spouse, friends, and relatives. (3) Social networks, parenting, and children's behavior have seldom been examined concurrently, making it impossible to distinguish direct and mediated effects. In this study, mothers and fathers reported on stressful life events and social networks; family interactions were assessed by home observations, observer ratings, and parent self reports; and children's competence in preschool was assessed by teacher ratings. Stress was not strongly linked with parenting, although loss (deaths of relatives and friends) was associated across methods with decreased warmth for both parents. Structural and functional differences emerged for social support from spouse, kin, and friends. In addition, aspects of mothers' and fathers' social networks were each associated with the others' parenting. Partial correlation analyses were consistent with the view that effects of parental stress on child behavior were mediated by parent-child interactions, while social networks influenced children directly. Stress, Parenting, and Children's Competence, page 3 Parents' Stressful Life Events and Social Networks: Relations with Parenting and Children's Competence While there is an extensive literature on how parenting influences children's behavior (e.g., Maccoby & Martin, 1983), there is relatively little research on factors that influence parenting. The most important contextual factors are generally thought to be work environments, social networks, levels of experienced stress, and quality of the marital relationship (Belsky, 1984; Bronfenbrenner, 1986). The impact of work in the present sample (as assessed by demographic variables and socio-economic status) has been discussed in an earlier article (Roberts, 1987). This paper focuses on relations between parents' stressful life events and social networks, parent-child interactions, and children's competence in preschool. Social networks Social networks have been linked to aspects of parenting which have been linked to children's dysfunctional or competent behavior. For example, a number of studies have reported that deficiencies in social networks (either in size or support) are related to abuse or neglect of infants and toddlers (e.g., Belsky, 1984; Crittenden, 1985; Garbarino, 1976; Smith, Hansen, & Noble, 1980), and maltreated children are known to have a variety of deficits in social skills (George & Main, 1979; Main & George, 1985). In families that are not maltreating but are at risk to do so, deficiencies in social networks have been associated with higher levels of parental hostility and indifference and lower levels of behavioral responsiveness (Bronfenbrenner, 1986), while larger, more supportive social networks have been associated with less restrictive and more nurturant parenting (Belsky, 1984; Weinraub & Wolf, 1983). All these aspects of parenting have been linked to social and instrumental competence in children (Baumrind, 1971; Maccoby & Martin, 1983; Roberts, 1986; Roberts & Strayer, 1987). Stress, Parenting, and Children's Competence, page 4 In addition to relations with parenting, it has been proposed that social networks directly influence children's behavior (Cochran & Brassard, 1979). This is thought to occur because larger, more varied networks allow participation in more diverse experiences and also provide greater opportunities for modelling. There are, however, serious shortcomings in the literature just reviewed. (1) The almost exclusive focus on mothers and infants in maltreating families and "at-risk" populations (Bronfenbrenner, 1986) leaves open the question of whether findings reported for these groups hold for families characterized by adequate parenting (Belsky, 1984), for father-child interactions or for families with older children, or whether mothers' and fathers' social networks have different relations to children's behavior. (2) Although it is thought that social support from spouse, relatives and friends may affect family interactions and child outcomes in different ways, few studies have distinguished between these sources of support (Bronfenbrenner, 1986). (3) Finally, few studies have concurrently assessed stress and social networks, parenting, and children's behavior (Belsky, 1984; Bronfenbrenner, 1986), making it impossible to separate direct and mediated relations between contextual factors and children's behavior. Stress Not only do maltreating and "at-risk" families tend to be embedded in smaller, less supportive social networks, they typically experience many types of stressful life events. These stresses are reported to have a negative impact on mother-child relationships (Vaughn, Egeland, Sroufe, & Waters, 1979), maternal warmth and responsiveness (Belsky, 1984), and children's competence (Garmezy, Masten, & Tellegen, 1984). Because these negative effects are thought to be most apparent at relatively high levels of stress, it is unclear whether such trends hold in families characterized by low levels of stress and adequate levels of income and social support. Stress, Parenting, and Children's Competence, page 5 Parenting and Children's Competence Parenting. The aspects of parenting mentioned above lie along two fundamental, if complex, dimensions (Maccoby & Martin, 1983; Roberts, 1986). The first is warmth, which includes both affection and behavioral responsiveness. For a wide range of families, parental responsiveness has been linked to secure attachments in infancy and to social and task competencies in preschool (Ainsworth & Bell, 1974; Arend, Gove, & Sroufe, 1979; Matas, Arend, & Sroufe, 1978). Warmth as affection has also been associated with children's competence in early and middle childhood (Maccoby & Martin, 1983; Roberts, 1986). The second dimension of parenting, control, includes both demandingness and the assertion of power to obtain compliance. Control has also been identified as an important determinant of children's competence (Baumrind, 1971). Competence. Despite differences in theoretical orientations, there is a consensus in the socialization literature that competence for young children entails abilities to set and achieve goals (both individual and cooperative), to be planful, and to initiate and sustain positive social interactions with peers and adults (Ainsworth & Bell, 1974; Baumrind, 1971; Block & Block, 1980; Roberts, 1986). Competence is also thought to be accompanied by positive affect (Matas et al., 1978; Roberts & Strayer, 1987). These domains of behavior are all clearly important, and deficits in them have been noted in the social networks and stress literature discussed earlier. Causality The causal relations between contextual factors, parenting, and children's competence are complex and probably bidirectional. For example, it has been suggested that well-functioning families attract large and supportive social networks (Bronfenbrenner, 1986); that well-functioning individuals make good parents and good marriage partners (Belsky, 1984); that social networks may have direct as well as indirect effects on children (Cochran & Brassard, Stress, Parenting, and Children's Competence, page 6 1979); and that socially competent, purposive children are easier for parents and other adults to like and control. These suggestions are usually contrasted with the causal model that has commonly guided research in the field: that contextual variables influence parenting, that parenting influences children's competence, and that the associations between contextual variables and children's behavior are mediated by parent-child interactions. These suggestions and models are most plausibly viewed as complimentary rather than mutually exclusive. A comprehensive causal model would incorporate (and indicate the strength of) bidirectional influences, both linear and nonlinear. (See Roberts, 1986, for a discussion of nonlinear relations between parenting and competence.) While the research presented here does not compare causal models, its design makes its findings relevant to questions of causality. Because contextual factors, parenting, and children's competence are assessed concurrently, direct and mediated associations can be distinguished. In addition, because sources of social support are differentiated, these data can give some indication of the relative importance of these sources for family processes and child outcomes. Methods Subjects and Procedures Thirty-five two-parent families volunteered for the study in response to letters distributed through day care centers and preschools in the metropolitan Vancouver area. Among the 30 families who completed the study, the average age of the 19 girls and 11 boys was 4.3 years (range, 3.0 to 5.8); 21 had at least one sibling, usually younger. The mean age of fathers was 34, of mothers, 32 (range for both, 24 to 45). Mothers reported an average of 14 years of school, while fathers reported 16 (range for both, 9 to 21). Mean family income ($36,000) was 20% above the national average (range: $14,000 to $77,000). The Duncan Socio-Economic Index ranged from 11 to 92, with a mean of 59. Stress, Parenting, and Children's Competence, page 7 Each family was seen four times. Questionnaires on stress, social networks and parenting were dropped off and picked up on the first two visits. Home observations comprised the third v