The relationship between social support and stress in adolescent mothers

This study addressed the questions of whether younger and older adolescent mothers differ in type and amount of stress and social support and whether social support can reduce stress in this population. Research achieves were examined to identify mothers 18 years old and younger who attended a special well-baby clinic during a 1-year period when the Barth questionnaire, a measure of perceived stress, was being collected. There were 62 who had completed at least two or more questionnaires that included a measure of attitude toward the pregnancy, attitudes toward childrearing, attitudes toward the infant, and assessment of social support completed in early infancy. Of these, 47 also completed the Barth questionnaire and 48 had a measure of life event stress in the first year. Compared with senior (age 17 and 18) adolescent mothers, junior mothers (younger than age 17) had significantly more negative attitudes toward the pregnancy (p < .007), less current perceived stress after the baby was born (p < .02), and more social support (p < .002). Path analysis indicated that those who were more anxious during pregnancy got more support even after partialing out the effects of maternal age; but after birth, social support was associated with less stress. Hostile childrearing attitudes contributed to increased stress with a pattern suggesting that those with more hostile attitudes engaged in behavior that contributed directly to making their lives more stressful as well as less effective in obtaining the support they needed.