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Ethnicity and Social Support During Pregnancy
Author(s) -
Sagrestano Lynda M.,
Feldman Pamela,
Rini Christine Killingsworth,
Woo Grace,
Dunkel-Schetter Christine
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
american journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.113
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1573-2770
pISSN - 0091-0562
DOI - 10.1023/a:1022266726892
Subject(s) - social support , ethnic group , psychology , health psychology , family support , pregnancy , marital status , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , social psychology , demography , public health , medicine , population , sociology , nursing , biology , anthropology , genetics , physical therapy
Data from two multi‐ethnic prospective studies of African American, Latina, and non‐Hispanic White pregnant women were used to examine the influence of contextual factors on social support processes during pregnancy. Multiple types of support (perceived support, received support, support satisfaction, network support) and sources of support (baby's father, family, friends) were assessed. The role of ethnicity in social support was examined after controlling for the contribution of related contextual factors (SES, marital status, age, parity, employment) to these processes. The impact of ethnicity and related contextual factors differed across sources of social support. Ethnic differences in support from family and friends, but not from the baby's father, emerged. However, marital status was a consistent predictor of support from the baby's father, and SES was a consistent predictor of support from friends. Overall, the findings of two studies suggest that although ethnicity is associated with support from friends and family, other contextual factors, such as marital status and SES, influence support processes during pregnancy.