SOCIAL SUPPORT AND PREGNANCY - I - FACTORIAL STRUCTURE AND PSYCHOSOCIAL CORRELATES OF PERCEIVED SOCIAL SUPPORT

In a questionnaire survey among 1329 first-trimester pregnant women, s ocial support providers were divided by factor analysis into husband, `premarital network' (parents and friends) and 'postmarital network' ( children and mother-in-law), while social support contents were divide d into 'given' (emotional, informational and instrumental support) and 'giving' (nurturing opportunity and general confiding). The husband w as most frequently nominated by the woman as the support provider in b oth of these categories. Multiple regression analyses revealed that a husband's poor 'given' support was predicted by the presence of premen strual irritability, a lower level of the woman's own education, her s moking habits and past experience of pregnancy termination, while a hu sband's poor 'giving' support was predicted by current older age, smok ing habits and past experience of delivery.