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

摘要

The purpose of this comparative study was to determine if there was a differencein 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.