Social Support and Relationships with Family and Friends

Social networks influence parenting by modelling what works, persuading their friends to persist when parenting gets tough, teaching knowledge and skills, and by giving emotional support within the context of community and neighborhood. The influences of social networks on parenting are explained from the Developmental Psychopathology interdisciplinary field of human development, and specifically the theories of Urie Bronfenbrenner, Jay Belsky, John Bowlby, Mary Ainsworth, and Albert Bandura.