Social networks and social support of primigravida mothers and fathers.

Most researchers have examined the effects of stress and social support on pregnancy outcomes without identifying the relationship between social support and social network factors. While the type and amount of support have been shown to be related to pregnancy outcomes, the sources of that support and the influence of network structure on a person's supportive resources have not been defined. Network factors, in fact, may predict perceived support or may explain more of the variance in pregnancy outcomes than social support does alone. The objectives of this study were to describe the social networks of primigravida women and their husbands; to determine if there are any differences in social networks based on gender, education, or income; and to examine the relationships among network characteristics, demographic characteristics, and perceived availability of support from network members. The 54 couples who composed the sample for this study were recruited through local physicians who provided the names of all clients who were primigravidas, living with the father of the child, and residing within 25 miles of Ann Arbor, Michigan. During the third trimester of pregnancy, couples were interviewed in their homes, and each parent completed a Social Network Inventory (SNI). The SNI obtained information about the size of the network, role relationships, frequency of contact, percent of uniplex relationships, and degree of overlap with spouse's social network. In addition, parents were provided with definitions of each of House's (1981) four types of social support and asked to indicate which forms of support they received from each network member. Both individual variables (age and educational level) and network structure variables (size, percent kin, percent females, frequency, and density) were significantly associated with the amount of perceived social support. For each type of support, the independent variables associated with support were different for men and women.