Social Support, Relationship Problems and the Psychological Functioning of Young African-American Mothers

Although extended social networks are considered to be an extremely important resource in the African-American community, the potentially negative aspects of these networks have not been systematically examined. The influence of the helpful and problematic aspects of young African-American mothers' social relationships was assessed in this study. Problems in relationships were negatively related to the psychological functioning of the young women. These results were evidenced with overall support and within various subgroups of providers. In addition, significant interactions between relationship problems and economic strain were found. Whereas past theory and research have emphasized the stress-buffering effects of social support, these findings point to the stress-potentiating effects of relationship problems for young African-American mothers.