African-American teenage mothers and their mothers: An analysis of supportive and problematic interactions

Abstract

Although past theory and research have emphasized the beneficial effects of maternal support for teenage mothers, this study suggests that adjustment to motherhood may be strongly influenced by relationship problems. Problems in mother‐daughter relationships were negatively associated with psychological functioning and social adjustment. Age and economic strain were also related to psychosocial dysfunction. Those participants who were younger and who reported higher levels of economic strain reported higher levels of distress and adjustment difficulty. Contrary to expectations, maternal support was not significantly associated with the teenagers' psychosocial adjustment.

Teenage pregnancy, attachment style, and depression: A comparison of teenage and adult pregnant women in a Portuguese series

“…Good support and positive relationship with the partner can positively impact on the psychological adjustment of the pregnant adolescent (Apfel & Seitz, 1996;Davis & Rhodes, 1994;Osborne & Rhodes, 2001;Piccini, Rapoport, Centerano-Levandowski, & Royer-Voigt, 2002;Rhodes, Ebert, & Meyers, 1994), even more than on adult mothers (Schilmoeller, Baranowski, & Higgins, 1991). Teenage mothers frequently report more support from their family of origin than adult mothers (Piccini et al, 2002;Wasserman, Brunelli, & Rauh, 1990;Wasserman, Rauth, Brunelli, Garcia-Castro, & Necos, 1990).…”

“…Positive mother -grandmother relationships characterized by autonomy and mutuality are found to be as highly associated with good adjustment and parenting (Hess, Papas, & Black, 2002), as is positive relationship with the partner (Gee & Rhodes, 2003;Krishnakumar & Black, 2003). However, in some studies these adolescent mothers with more familial support show worse subsequent parenting of their babies (Contreras, Mangelsdorf, Rhodes, Diener, & Brunson, 1999;Davis & Rhodes, 1994;Spieker & Bensley, 1994;Unger & Cooley, 1992).…”

Intragroup Accounts of Teenage Motherhood: A Community Based Psychological Perspective

“…The general picture to emerge from this research is that social support may be beneficial, at times inconsequential, and occasionally detrimental (Chen, Telleen & Chen, 1995;Davis & Rhodes, 1994;Richardson, Barbour & Bubenzer, 1991;Thompson & Peebles-Wilkins, 1992). The work of Thompson and PeeblesWilkins (1992) is particularly interesting in that it is one of the few research studies to focus on the relative merits of societal support for black teenage mothers from disadvantaged communities.…”

Social Support, Negative Social Interactions, and Psychological Well‐Being

“…The negative side of social relationships has received considerably less attention. A small, but growing body of research Abramis, and Caplan 1985;Davis and Rhodes 1994). Other studies, however, report a stronger effect from positive interactions on psychological well-being (e.g., Okun and Keith 1998), whereas still others report equal effects of the two constructs (e.g., IngersollDayton, Morgan, and Antonucci 1997).…”

“…1993), problematic social interactions (Brenner, Norvell, and Limacher 1989;Davis and Rhodes 1994;Rhodes, Ebert, and Meyers 1994;Davis, Rhodes, Hamilton-Leaks 1997), problematic relationships (Horwitz, McLaughlin, and White 1998), problematic support (Revenson et al 1991), problematic social ties (Rook 1984), negative social ties (Finch et al 1989), negative social exchange (Ingersoll-Dayton et al 1997;Okun and Keith 1998), negative social interactions (Schuster, Kessler, and Aseltine 1990;Lakey, Tardiff, and Drew 1994;Rauktis, Koeske, and Tereshko 1995), negative social support (Ray 1992), negative network interactions (Siegel, Raveis, and Karus 1994), negative relations (Elder et al 1995), network upset (Fiore, Becker, and Coppel 1983;Pagel, Erdly, and Becker 1987;KiecoltGlaser, Dyer, and Shuttleworth 1988), unwanted or unneeded interactions (Stephens et al 1987), and social undermining (Gant et al 1993;Vinokur and van Ryn 1993;Vinokur, Price, and Caplan 1996). All of these terms represent a broad range of negative social interactions that cause an individual to experience an adverse psychological reaction.…”