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Social network characteristics of mothers in abusing and nonabusing families and their relationships to parenting beliefs
Author(s) -
Corse Sara J.,
Schmid Kathleen,
Trickett Penelope K.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6629(199001)18:1<44::aid-jcop2290180107>3.0.co;2-f
Subject(s) - psychology , openness to experience , developmental psychology , scale (ratio) , child rearing , positive parenting , social psychology , intervention (counseling) , psychiatry , physics , quantum mechanics
This study compares the social networks of mothers in families identified as abusive and mothers in control families and looks at the relationships between social networks and parenting beliefs and practices. Participants were mothers from 52 families who were part of a larger investigation of child‐rearing in physically abusing versus nonabusing families. Mothers were interviewed about their social networks and completed the Family Environment Scale (Moos & Moos, 1981) and the Child‐Rearing Practices Q‐Sort (Block, 1981). Mothers in abusing families were found to be more socially isolated than were those mothers in nonabusing families. They had fewer peer relationships, more troubled relationships with relatives, and more limited contact with the wider community. A pattern linking social support and parenting beliefs emerged, suggesting that the presence of peers in the network is related to greater enjoyment of and openness in parenting.