Resilience in the Face of Socioeconomic Adversity: A Study of Motherhood in the Early Postpartum
Open Access
- Author:
- Santucci, Jessica
- Area of Honors:
- Human Development and Family Studies
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Douglas Michael Teti, Thesis Supervisor
Alyssa Ann Gamaldo, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Socioeconomic Risk
Risk and Resilience
Early Postpartum - Abstract:
- Introduction: Much of society is financially strained, so more value is being placed on “free” support resources. Becoming a mother is stressful, let alone for the financially strained, bringing the utilization of “free” support resources to the forefront of research. This study evaluates the well-being of at-risk mothers to determine if support from broad and/or intimate support resources buffer the negative effects of living in low socioeconomic circumstances. Methods: This cross-sectional study uses data from the larger Project SIESTA, supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Predictors of maternal well-being were availability of maternal attachment figures, marital quality, and quality of positive coparenting. The outcome variables were maternal distress and quality of mothering at daytime or bedtime. Pearson correlations and linear regressions were conducted to explore whether social and intimate support measurements relates to maternal distress and quality of mothering. Results: Correlations revealed that support from the broader ecological environment was not significantly associated with any measure of well-being, except for quality of daytime mothering. All measures of intimate partner support were significantly associated with maternal distress/quality of daytime mothering; no measures were significantly associated with quality of bedtime mothering. Linear regressions also showed support from intimates was a better predictor of maternal well-being than support from the broader environment. Discussion: The results support existing literature in exemplifying the positive effects of support from intimate partners on buffering the negative effects of stress on mental health during the transition to parenthood. To bring the field forward, this study builds on existing literature by including mothers that are at socioeconomic risk.