[Characteristics of the social support for pregnant women in Japan--according to concept of four kinds of social support].

The qualities of the social support and social network for pregnant women influence their mental and physical states during pregnancy and childcare period. We adopted Cronenwett's conceptual framework and the four kinds of the social support (emotional, material, information and comparison support) based on House's definition to examine the qualities of them. As for support resources, pregnant women's family, friend and husband's family provided most of the social support for pregnant women. Among of them, husband, mother, sisters, and husband's mother were especially important members, providing satisfactory support for pregnant women. The pregnant woman's and her husband's families were the main resources of emotional and material support. Friend was the that of information and comparison support. The pregnant women most perceived emotional support with the largest supportive members. Material support was perceived the most clear and independent kind from other three ones of supports.