Informal and formal supports and maternal child-rearing practices in at-risk and non at-risk psychosocial contexts

Abstract

This study investigated two questions. First the differences between the social networks call on to solve problems of at-risk and non at-risk mothers. Second, how the risk status and source of support influence the relation between the mothers' social support and their parental practices. Self-report data about the sources and support satisfaction of the informal and formal networks, and the reported use of negligent, coercive and inductive practices were obtained from a sample of 481 mothers, 235 referred by the Social Services and 246 non-referred mothers. Results of discriminant analyses indicated that the social support for non at-risk families relied heavily on the partner and the school. For at-risk families, a supplementary network emerged, consisting of the social services, voluntary associations, neighbours, friends, police and the child protection agency. The relation between support satisfaction and child-rearing behaviour depended on the risk status and the source of support. Specifically, there were beneficial effects of satisfaction with grandparent and school support on positive and negative parental behavior no matter the risk status. There was also a beneficial effect of satisfaction with partner support on positive parental behavior. However, a detrimental effect of satisfaction with partner support as well as with aunt/uncle support and social services support was observed on negative parental behavior in the at-risk group.