استرس، رضایت زناشویی و مراقبت از کودکان مادران نوجوان ارائه شده توسط مادران: ملاحظات به هنگام ارائه خدمات

When communities provide parenting service programs for adolescent women, many times the mothers of the adolescent mothers become involved in the intervention sessions. Many service providers acknowledge the mothers knowing they influence their daughters' parenting practices. However, very few programs or studies know much about the mothers of the adolescent mothers (MaMs); few studies have interviewed them directly. In this descriptive study, MaMs reported demographics, stress, marital satisfaction, and child care support given to their daughters. The sample's mean age is 41 years, most were Caucasian, and half had incomes below federal poverty levels. Most reported marital satisfaction lower than a national sample; and over half provided child care weekly or daily for grandchildren. Stress and marital satisfaction related negatively to amount of child care MaM provided. Provision of child care related negatively to their daughters' parenting attitudes. Age of adolescent mother did not differ between groups of high and low child care support. Implications are discussed for community parenting service programs.

Adolescent mothers are at-risk for difficulties in parenting due to the multiple demands and distress of confronting adolescence and parenting simultaneously (Hess et al., 2002 and Sadler et al., 2001). One specific matter which influences adolescent parenting is the complex relationship between the adolescent and her mother (Caldwell et al., 1997, East, 1999, Leadbeater & Way, 2001, Paskiewicz, 2001 and See et al., 1998). The literature on the effects of mothers of adolescent mothers (MaMs) providing support to their adolescent daughters varies from positive to negative effects (Logsdon, Birkimer, Patterman, Cahill, & Cahill, 2002). In some studies, MaMs are a positive source of support for many adolescent mothers (Brooks-Gunn & Chase-Lansdale, 1995, Klaw et al., 2003, Nath et al., 1991, Spieker & Bensley, 1994, Voight et al., 1996 and Way & Leadbeater, 1999). This may be especially true for younger adolescents (Voran & Phillips, 1993) even though older adolescent mothers receive similar amounts of emotional support from MaM and peers (Davis, 2002). Support ranges from keeping the teen and baby in their home, providing child care, buying materials and food, giving advice, giving money when needed, and supporting decisions to go back to school. By keeping their daughters in their homes, MaMs promote fewer transient relationships with men (Unger & Cooley, 1992), a better chance of staying in school (Leadbeater & Way, 2001, Paskiewicz, 2001 and Trent & Harlan, 1994) and better child developmental outcomes (Committee on Adolescence and Committee on Early Childhood, Adoption, and Dependent Care, 2001). On the other hand, positive child attachment and feeding interactions were found in adolescents who were not living with MaM yet were getting high amounts of support from her such as material aid, feedback, physical assistance, intimate interaction, and child care (Spieker & Bensley, 1994). In other studies, adolescent mothers do not always perceive the support from MaMs as a positive event, nor is the outcome always positive. Crockenberg (1987) found that support from MaM related to angry toddler–mother interactions when the child was 2 years of age. Recent research finds that children of adolescent mothers living with MaM had no fewer behavioral and developmental difficulties than preschool children who did not live with MaM, adding that the MaMs' presence does not moderate, and in cases of maternal depression or child maltreatment, MaMs' presence exacerbated negative developmental outcomes for the children (Black et al., 2002). For many adolescent mothers, especially older ones, living with their mothers during this time is related to increased mother–daughter conflict (Brooks-Gunn & Chase-Lansdale, 1995 and East & Felice, 1996), decreased daughter economic independence (Unger & Cooley, 1992), poor adolescent mother parenting outcomes (East & Felice, 1996), and decreased daughter sense of independence and self sufficiency (Brooks-Gunn, 1990 and Unger & Cooley, 1992). MaM support and involvement typically vary with culture and ethnicity (Coley & Chase-Lansdale, 1998 and Rosman & Yoshikawa, 2001) where the value of the parenting role in the family may differ (Sadler et al., 2001). For instance, living with MaM has been related to child behavior problems among Caucasian families and less adolescent maternal warmth in African American families (Unger & Cooley, 1992). On the other hand, East and Felice (1996) found that not living with MaM but receiving assistance from MaM are associated with better child outcomes and less aggression in the children among a sample of mostly Hispanic and African American adolescent mothers. The results of these research studies regarding adolescent mothers, their children, and MaMs are often counterintuitive and yield conflicting results. Most adolescent mothers are living with their families when they give birth and continue to do so for approximately one year afterwards (Leadbeater & Way, 2001 and Rosman & Yoshikawa, 2001). Living with MaM may allow the developmental stage and tasks of adolescence to continue (East & Felice, 1996), though there is a risk that the MaM may supply more support for her daughter's ongoing adolescent role than for her developing maternal role (Black et al., 2002). The Committee on Adolescence (2001) suggests that other caregivers should pursue and model the most advantageous path for infant development while assisting the adolescent mother to achieve her own developmental landmarks. However, as would be expected, not all adolescent mothers are willing learners where parenting is concerned compared to older mothers (Culp, Culp, Blankemeyer, & Passmark, 1998). MaM's contribution to the care of the infant may improve the mother's transition to parenthood by providing child care instruction and assistance and at the same time may complicate the adolescent's crucial move to parenthood with the establishment of an independent home (Committee on Adolescence, 2001). Nurturant parenting by MaM is estimated to appear in only 10% of the adolescent mom/MaM relationships (Apfel & Seitz, 1991). Nevertheless, other research concurs that adolescent mothers profit from support if the support encourages independence as responsible parents (Black et al., 2002 and Sadler et al., 2001), is contingent on clear expectations (Leadbeater & Way, 2001) and stresses the belief that the adolescent mothers' parenting is primary even when others are actively involved in caregiving (Committee on Adolescence, 2001). As can be seen, the literature concerning MaM support and coresidence with the adolescent mother is sometimes contradictory. The role of the MaM has similarly been reported as both a supportive role and a conflictual role, yet in many of the articles cited, very little information was given about the MaMs themselves. Although they did not interview the MaMs directly, East and Felice (1996) collected data on MaM from the adolescent mothers and described the MaM's influence on the young mother's parenting skills as pervasive, and in fact, “To have excluded the grandmother's role would have missed a critical influence for many key dimensions of adolescent mother's parenting and their children's adjustment” (p. 99). Although it should also be mentioned that MaMs who assume responsibility for grandchildren may be more open to helping interventions (Poehlmann, 2003), too much care provided by MaM, perhaps removing the responsibilities and consequences of parenthood, is strongly associated with the risk of the adolescent mother becoming pregnant again within 18 months (East & Felice, 1996). The intergenerational relationships involved here are both complex (Poehlmann, 2003) and crucial to all concerned (Sadler et al., 2001). Yet, recent research continues to find the MaM's parenting (Leadbeater & Way, 2001) and the adolescent mom/MaM relationship (Paskiewicz, 2001) to be underexplored and underrepresented in the literature. The current study asked MaMs about characteristics of their lives (age at first birth, stress, marital satisfaction, and amount of child care they provide). In addition, the study explored the relationship between the MaM characteristics and their daughter's parenting attitudes.