ABSTRACT
This chapter examines relationships between social network support and adjustment among low-income, single mothers of young children. It highlights the role of ethnicity as a potentially important context for understanding women's social network ties. Social networks are potential lifelines for impoverished, single-parent families. The availability of social support has been associated with psychological well-being in Black and White single mothers and with individual differences in their parenting experiences and competencies. In contrast with results for African American mothers, background characteristics were mostly unrelated to self-ratings of coping among Euro-American women. Family background characteristics were related to variations in parenting behavior among African American mothers. Older mothers tended to engage in higher levels of warm, accepting care-giving behavior than younger mothers. Single mothers in poverty are often portrayed as a homogeneous group, perhaps in part because they have been contrasted with more advantaged groups of women.
