Are Neighbors and Neighborhoods Still Important? Examining the Impact of Neighbors and Neighborhood Environments on Mothers’ Parenting Stress

2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-343
Author(s):  
Soyoung Lee ◽  
Meejung Chin ◽  
Miai Sung

The contemporary neighborhood literature discusses the complex relationships among neighborhood environments, social support, and parenting. Grounded in the Person-Process-Context-Time (PPCT) model, we examined how different sources of social support interact with Korean mothers’ perception of disorder in their neighborhoods, and if social support increases or decreases their parenting stress in rural and metropolitan areas. Using STATA 14.0, we conducted multiple regression modeling including tests for interaction effects. Our sample (from the 8th Wave PSKC) included 1,300 mothers of seven-year-old children who were transitioning to first grade. The results showed that for metropolitan mothers, support from neighbors was important. Interestingly, receiving social support from friends/colleagues could increase or reduce their parenting stress depending on the type of residential neighborhood. Both rural and metropolitan mothers who reported negative impressions of their neighborhood environment experienced more parenting stress. However, these relationships disappeared when controlling for the interactions between mothers’ perception of disorder in their neighborhood and social support. These findings suggest that the social support that mothers receive from neighbors, and friends/colleagues, in general, play an important role in relieving parenting stress when raising first graders. However, living in disorganized, unsafe, or stressful neighborhood environments may restrict mothers’ parenting choices due to anxiety and limited outdoor space, resulting in increased parenting stress. Therefore, careful consideration of neighborhood characteristics is required to develop community-based parenting support services as part of family-friendly policies to effectively reduce the burden of parenting school-aged children in Korea.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivien Swanson ◽  
Leena Hannula

Abstract BackgroundBeing a new parent can be both joyful and stressful. Parenting stress is associated with poorer health and well-being for parents and infant, and increased psychological distress.For new mothers, physical and hormonal changes, expectations of mothering and demands of a new baby may cause additional stress. Breastfeeding is promoted as optimal for maternal and infant health, but can have both positive and negative psychological impacts. Formal and informal social support can offset parenting and breastfeeding stress. Source, content and context of support for new parents are important considerations. This study compares two countries with different parenting and breastfeeding contexts, Finland (more supportive) and the UK (less supportive), investigating the role of breastfeeding stress, self-efficacy and social support as predictors of stress and role strain for new mothers..MethodsA cross-sectional online survey was completed by 1550 breastfeeding mothers of infants up to 2 years old, recruited via social media platforms in Finland and the UK. Predictors of parenting stress and strain, including demograpic factors, childbirth experiences, breastfeeding and social support were investigated. Results We found fewer differences between countries than expected, perhaps due to demographic and contextual differences. Women in Finland reported better childbirth experiences, more positive breastfeeding attitudes, and more self-efficacy than in the UK. Levels of parenting stress were similar in both countries. Women in the UK reported more parental role strain, but fewer breastfeeding stressors. Participants accessed more informal than formal supports, including their partner for parenting, and facebook groups and family for breastfeeding. Analysis suggested breastfeeding stress and social support had significant direct effects – respectively increasing and reducing parenting stress and role strain, but no moderating effects of social supportsuggesting support did not change the relationship between breastfeeding and parenting stress. ConclusionsResults have important implications for the provision of breastfeeding and parenting support for new mothers.Simple interventions to manage stress for mothers in the postnatal period could be beneficial and are easily delivered by supporters. As shown elsewhere, socio-economic and cultural factors are crucial influences on parenting experiences.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Supreet Mann ◽  
Michael C Carter

BACKGROUND Online support forums allow users to seek advice, information, and emotional support on a variety of issues. Today’s parents navigate unique stressors both off- and on-line, and online forums can provide parents with the social support they need to address contemporary parenting issues. Increased social support can have a positive effect on mental health, including decreasing depressive symptomatology and acting as a buffer to stress. Online support forums may provide parents with increased anonymity to discuss sensitive topics and may provide minority parents with a larger social network for advice seeking. It is, therefore, critical that we examine online support forums to better understand the role that social support might play in these spaces and the way parent posts may influence response. OBJECTIVE Research examining social support processes in parenting forums is lacking. This study examines the interpersonal support process within the largest Reddit parenting forum, r/Parenting, to understand how anonymity plays a role in emotional self-disclosure of the parent-poster and subsequent commenter support. METHODS Comments and posts made to r/Parenting were collected using Reddit’s API in February of 2020 with a final sample of 118,277 posts and 697,095 comments. RESULTS Results suggest the use of throwaway accounts is an important factor in the way emotional self-disclosure occurs both in posts and comments. Our data evidenced that in an online forum for parents to seek advice, information, and support, the use of throwaway accounts was found to be an important factor in the degree of ESD included in both posts and comments. Additionally, there was a direct and positive relationship between the ESD of posts and ESD of comments. CONCLUSIONS This suggests that in contemporary society, online spaces may offer parents increased anonymity and greater affordances when it comes to connecting with others, and thus operate as critical venues for social support. We evidenced that one feature that affords users with a greater degree of anonymity online (i.e., pseudonyms) serve as critical component in online support seeking among parents, impacting both the process of support seeking and reception of social support over one of the most popular parenting support forums online, r/Parenting. This signals an evolution in the way’s parents seek social support from others. This paves the way for further research examining interpersonal processes and the impact online support has on family communication through parent support.


2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 294-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Giurgescu ◽  
Shannon N. Zenk ◽  
Thomas N. Templin ◽  
Christopher G. Engeland ◽  
Barbara L. Dancy ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
pp. 85-92

Background: Resilience is one of the factors that can prevent psychological problems among young people and adolescents. The purpose of the present study was to design and explain a psychological resilience model based on the feeling of social support through hardiness among high school students in Sari, Iran. Materials and Methods: The present descriptive-correlational study was carried out on a total of 280 first-grade students in the high schools of Sari selected using multistage cluster sampling. Resilience questionnaire, social support questionnaire, and problem-solving questionnaire were employed for data collection. The Pearson’s correlation coefficient and structural equation modeling were utilized to analyze the data using SPSS.22 and AMOS.22. Results: The mean age values of the male and female students were reported as 13.4±2.4 and 13.8±2.5 years, respectively. The obtained results of the current study showed that there was a positive relationship between social support with resilience and hardiness. Hardiness also mediated the relationship between social support and resilience. Among the components of social support, the most influential factor was related to family support, and the most effective factor in resilience was the notion of competence and acceptance of love. In addition, the most effective factor in hardiness was the component of commitment. Conclusion: The results of the present study revealed that hardiness and resilience increased with the enhancement of social support. The impact of social support on resilience also increased partially as a result of increased hardiness.


1995 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 224-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Lesar ◽  
Michael M. Gerber ◽  
Melvyn I. Semmel

This study examined the relationships of family functioning, parenting stress, and social support of caregivers who are parenting children with HIV infection. A family adaptational model integrated the concepts of stress, coping, and ecological systems for understanding the impact of an HIV-infected child on family adaptation and functioning. Data were collected from 48 caregivers of HIV-exposed children. Hierarchical multiple-regression analysis showed that a number of factors contributed significantly to the prediction of parenting stress and family functioning. Results showed significant relationships among parenting stress, children's developmental delay status, children and caregivers' HIV status, and caregiving burden.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 440-440
Author(s):  
Midori Takayama ◽  
Yoshiko Ishioka ◽  
Ikuko Sugawara

Abstract Existing research has found effects of neighborhood environment on well-being. However, it is still not clear what features of neighborhood environments affect well-being for older adults and whether the impact of the environment varies depending on the health and economic conditions. In this study, we examined the relations between 4 physical and social neighborhood-context factors, that is, the availability of neighborhood physical resources (e.g. community centers and libraries), the walkability and accessibility, the availability of social resources (e.g. culture and recreation programs, and social care services), and the social inclusion (e.g. participation in decision making, and positive social attitude toward older adults), and individual-level well-being. Moreover, we examined the health and economic disparities of effect of neighborhood environments on well-being. We used data from locally representative longitudinal study of older Japanese aged 74 to 86 (N = 1388). Results from multi-level linear regression showed that after controlling individual variables having inhibitory/facilitatory effects of well-being, the availability of physical resources was associated with higher well-being score. Especially among older adults who had financial strains, the availability of physical environment had a positive effect on well-being more strongly. For older adults who had better physical functions, accessibility and walkability were associated with higher well-being score. The social inclusiveness was associated with higher well-being score among those who had no financial strain. These important findings demonstrate the need for more research exploring the underlying mechanisms. The potential benefits of this approach provide a basis for developing models of maintaining well-being for older adults.


Author(s):  
Anil Boz Semerci ◽  
Thierry Volery

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand parenting stress of entrepreneurs and to attempt to extend the empirical evidence on the predictors and consequences of parenting stress for entrepreneurs. Design/methodology/approach This study draws on data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey. The quantitative research method was used. Drawing on the data of 2,051 entrepreneurs, a model was tested using structural equation modeling. Findings The results reveal that social support is a strong predictor of parenting stress and that there is a direct effect between parenting stress and family to work interference (FWI). In addition, parenting stress partially mediates the relationship between social support and FWI. Adding a direct path from social support to FWI substantially improves the validity in a revised model. No effects of gender stereotypes are found. Originality/value This study attempts to extend previous work on parenting and vocational behavior by investigating the perceptional and stereotypical antecedents of parenting stress and examining the impact of parenting stress on FWI. To the challenges of parenting, many entrepreneurs face constant pressure to achieve a positive return in their business venture and work hard, for long hours. Therefore, a better understanding of entrepreneurs’ parenting roles and stress can shed some light on the challenges faced by self-employed individuals and contributes to the vocational behavior and career development literature and practical experiences.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-214
Author(s):  
Ilana Reife ◽  
Sophia Duffy ◽  
Kathryn E. Grant

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