Employed Mothers’ Worker Ideology and Social Support Network Composition

Abstract

The purpose of this ethnographic study was to examine employed mothers’ social support network composition in relation to their orientation to worker ideology. A reanalysis of data from two longitudinal, interview studies was conducted. Ecomaps were developed to depict women’s social support network composition, revealing five types of support sources: household family, nonhousehold family, friends and neighbors, workplace, and formal services. A typology of diverse, restricted, and mixed networks, reflecting patterns in availability, consistency, and types of support sources, was identified and analyzed in relation to women’s orientation to worker ideology. Women with innovator or conformist orientations to worker ideology tended to have mixed or diverse networks. Women with a conformist orientation did not utilize formal services but tended to have a supportive workplace. Most of the women who transitioned into an innovator orientation had available, consistent support, most notably from household family.