Maternal Coping Adaptations, Social Support and Transition Difficulties to Parenthood of First-Time Civilian and Military Mothers

Abstract

The purpose of this comparative study was to determine if there was a difference in transition difficulty, social support, and maternal coping adaptation among military mothers and civilian mothers, 20-29 years old, at three months post birth. There is little research on the transient nature of the military family, whether this contributes to transition difficulty to parenthood, and what support systems are likely to be utilized. This research was designed to fill the gap by describing these differences. Family systems theory provided the framework for the study. The Modified Transition Difficulty Scale (TD), (Steffensmeier, 1982; Twiss, 1989), the Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation Scale (F-COPES), (McCubbin et al., 1987) and the Social Support Index (SSI), (McCubbin, et al., 1982) were administered. Data were collected by mailed survey from a convenience sample of 54 first-time mothers, 25 military mothers and 29 civilian mothers at three months following delivery.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1992
Accession Number
ADA265347

Entities

People

  • Jeanette M. Splonskowski

Organizations

  • Air Force Institute of Technology

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Cognition
  • Data Analysis
  • Employment
  • Families (Human)
  • Health Care
  • Health Services
  • Institutional Review Board
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military Families
  • Military Medicine
  • Military Personnel
  • New York
  • Patient Care
  • Personnel Management
  • Psychology
  • Social Psychology

Readers

  • Gender and Food Studies
  • Psychological Intervention/Treatment for Stress, Anxiety, PTSD, and Related Emotional and Cognitive Health Symptoms.