ABSTRACT
Our purpose in this chapter is to examine the ways that parenting beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors are influenced by parents’ networks of social relationships. Of primary concern are the various kinds of support and assistance provided to parents, both in meeting everyday responsibilities and in promoting the optimal development of their children. We use social networks as a framework for charting the structure and content of parents’ relations as well as for tracing the lines of influence into the family from larger social systems and institutions. Guided by an ecological perspective, we consider how social relationships serve different functions and carry different meanings for familieswith differing life circumstances, needs, expectations, and resources. Throughout the chapter, as in the Handbook as a whole, “parenting” is defined broadly: grandparents, aunts and uncles, close friends, neighbors, childcare providers, and baby-sitters all have relationships with children (other than their own) that include or require some parenting activities.
