EMPOWERMENT OF LOW INCOME MOTHERS

SOCIAL SUPPORT NETWORKS: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

The empowerment of women has been defined by Lapierre, Perreault and Goulet (1995) who characterize women's empowerment as the extent to which women have the power to get their physical, psychoemotional and psychosocial needs met. Over the years there has been a good deal of research that has examined for factors that assist the empowerment of women in general. One of the factors that has been found to be empowering is a woman's social support network defined as the number of one's family members, friends and relatives available and able to provide emotional support (Sue, Sue & Sue, 1994).

Regarding social support networks and female empowerment, several findings have been observed. For example, social support networks have been found to empower women by strengthening their psychological and/or psychoemotional status (Sue, Sue & Sue, 1994).

Also, social support networks have been found to be help women meet various needs consequent upon their making certain developmental role transitions such as entering middle or late adulthood, getting divorced, etc. (Arber & Ginn, 1995). In addition, social support networks have been found to empower women to more fully socialize within their communities and so more fully meet their psychosocial needs (Suitor & Keeton, 1997).

There is, however, some limitation on the effects of social support netw

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e extent mothers had high quality social support networks, they suffered from fewer psychosomatic symptoms and experienced more intimacy in their relationships generally than did mothers with low quality social support networks. Thus, high quality social support networks can be said to have empowered these women by more effectively meeting their relational and psychoemotional needs. The psychoemotional needs of new mothers also appears to be related to their social support networks. In this regard, Gjerdingen and Chaloner (1994) examined changes in women's mental health over the first postpartum year. Subjects were 436 White women who completed questionnaires at 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months postpartum. Analyses revealed significant changes in mothers' general mental health, depression, and anxiety over the first postpartum year, with least favorable outcomes at one month and most favorable outcomes at 12 months postpartum. Poor mental health was related to work factors, such as longer work hours and maternity leave of less than 24 weeks, and to variables often associated with recent childbirth, such as maternal fatigue, loss of sleep, concerns about appearance, and infant illnesses. Both the number and the severity of postp
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Approximate Word count = 2564
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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