RELATIONSHIPS AMONG SOCIAL SUPPORT DIMENSIONS, MATERNAL AGE, AND MOTHER-INFANT INTERACTIONS IN ADOLESCENT MOTHER-INFANT DYADS (PARENTING, TEENAGERS).
Contributors: Catholic University of America.
Published: 1986
Number of pages: 179
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Sociology, Individual and Family Studies.
Description: The purpose of this study was three-fold: (a) to determine the relationships among social support dimensions, maternal age, and mother-infant interactions in black adolescent mother-infant dyads, (b) to determine differences in the relationships between social support dimensions and mother-infant interactions in older (17 to 19 years) and younger (15 to 16 years) adolescent mothers and their infants, and (c) to determine how selected demographic variables related to the major study variables.

Barnard's (1978) Parent-Child-Environment Interaction Model, which proposes that characteristics of the parent, child, and environment affect the quality of parent-child relationships, provided the conceptual framework for this study. A descriptive correlational design was used. The sample consisted of 45 older and 45 younger single, black adolescent mothers and their infants aged four to ten months at the time of data collection. Data were collected from the subjects in well-child clinics during a nine month period using the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire (NSSQ), the Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scale (NCATS), the Hollingshead Four Factor Index of Social Status (FFISS), and a Demographic Questionnaire. Statistical analyses included Pearson's correlation coefficients, partial correlation coefficients, z-tests, and t-tests.

In the total sample, maternal age was positively related to affirmation and affect support and inversely related to network loss as measured by the NSSQ. No statistically significant relationships were found between maternal age and mother-infant interactions measured by the NCATS, or between social support measured by the NSSQ and mother-infant interactions measured by the NCATS in the total sample. For older adolescent mother-infant pairs, no significant relationships were found between social support and mother-infant interactions. However, for younger mother-infant pairs, infant interactive behaviors were positively related to several of the network subscales on the NSSQ. Several of the demographic variables were significantly related to the major study variables.

Findings suggest that at least for younger adolescent mother-infant pairs, a supportive social network is related to adaptive infant interaction behaviors. In addition, the older the adolescent mother, the more affirmation and affect support she receives from network members. Replication of this study using a problem-focused measure of social support and a longitudinal design are suggested.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-04, Section: B, page: 1486.

Thesis (D.N.SC.)--THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA, 1986.

School code: 0043.