Neighborhood Influences on Perceived Social Support and Parenting Behaviors

Objectives The aim of our study is to explore the relationships between neighborhood context, perceived social support, and parenting for low-income mothers with young infants. Methods Data were collected during the first three time points from the Kids in Columbus Study, a 5-year longitudinal study on low-income families. Mother-child dyads (n = 228) were recruited from five Women, Infants, and Children Centers located in a Midwestern Metropolitan area. Data for the present study represents mother-child dyads that had completed time point 1 (infant age birth to 3-months), time point 2 (infant age 4 to 7 months), and 3 (infant age 9- to 12-months old). Results Social support and neighborhood quality were associated with both maternal perceptions and observed parenting outcomes. Social support positively predicted maternal perceptions of self-efficacy whereas neighborhood quality was positively related to parent involvement. Discussion Overall, social support and neighborhood quality were related to aspects of parenting in the first year of children's lives. There was no evidence that the association between social support and parenting varied as a function of neighborhood quality. This finding suggests the neighborhood qualities captured in our study do not influence mothers' ability to access social support during infancy.