Social networks and advice for new mothers: The importance of grandmothers' embeddedness

• Published date: 01 April 2022
• Author: Benjamin Cornwell,Xuewen Yan,Rebecca F. Carlin,Linda Fu,Jichuan Wang,Rachel Y. Moon
• Date: 01 April 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12609

ORIGINAL RESEARCH

Social networks and advice for new mothers: The

importance of grandmothers’embeddedness

Benjamin Cornwell

1

|Xuewen Yan

1

|Rebecca F. Carlin

2,3

|

Linda Fu

2,3

|Jichuan Wang

4,5

|Rachel Y. Moon

6

1

Department of Sociology, Cornell University,

Ithaca, New York, USA

2

Children’s National Health System, Goldberg

Center for Community Pediatric Health,

Washington, District of Columbia, USA

3

Department of Pediatrics, George

Washington University School of Medicine

and Health Sciences, Washington, District of

Columbia, USA

4

Children’s National Health System, Center

for Translational Science, Washington, District

of Columbia, USA

5

Department of Epidemiology and

Biostatistics, George Washington University,

Washington, District of Columbia, USA

6

Department of Pediatrics, University of

Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

Correspondence

Benjamin Cornwell, Department of Sociology,

Cornell University, 342 Uris Hall, Ithaca, NY

14853.

Email: btc49@cornell.edu

Funding information

National Institute on Minority Health and

Health Disparities, Grant/Award Number:

1R01MD007702

Abstract

Objective: We examine whom, among her social network

members, a new mother ranks as her most important

source of advice for infant care practices and how the

ranking of a network member depends on their connected-

ness to a mother’s other network members.

Background: Previous research points to the influence of

personal networks members’advice on parental practices.

However, to design effective interventions that facilitate

safe and healthy infant and childcare practices, it is impor-

tant to understand who, in parents’social circles, they turn

to most for advice.

Method: We recruited 402 Black and White new mothers

in Washington, DC. We analyze the importance rank they

assign to their 1,791 network members using nested, dyad-

level rank-ordered logit models.

Results: Connectivity to a mother’s other network mem-

bers and being the mother’s mother (i.e., the baby’s mater-

nal grandmother) emerged as positive and significant

predictors of being ranked as the most important sources

of advice. Additionally, the effect of being a grandmother

is stronger among grandmothers who are well connected

to mothers’other network members.

Conclusion: Network members who are well embedded in

mothers’own networks are usually viewed by mothers as

key sources of advice. Embeddedness is an especially sig-

nificant condition for new mothers when ranking babies’

maternal grandmothers as main advisors.

Implications: We encourage future research on mothers’

network members as potential targets for infant and

childrearing-related interventions.

Received: 15 December 2020Accepted: 6 May 2021

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12609

© 2021 National Council on Family Relations.

804 Family Relations. 2022;71:804–820.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare

KEYWORDS

alter embeddedness, grandmother, infant sleep practices, parenting

practice, rank logit model, social networks, sudden infant death

syndrome (SIDS)

There is increasing interest in understanding how new parents make decisions regarding infant and

childrearing practices. The notion that parents respond to information from health-related experts

(e.g., nurses, pediatricians) and institutions has led to public messaging campaigns, such as the

“Back to Sleep”campaign of the mid-1990s, to reduce risk of sudden infant death syndrome. How-

ever, scholars recognize that parents’adherence to the advice of people who are not health profes-

sionals can also lead to practices that are inconsistent with health care providers’recommendations.

Thus, there has been a shift in the focus of research toward understanding more informal channels

of influence on parents—namely, parents’personal social networks (see Moon et al., 2019).

A personal social network comprises the focal individual (ego) and the interpersonal contacts

they are connected to (alters). There are several reasons why informal social contacts influence a

parent’s infant and childcare practices, even when parents have received professional advice to the

contrary. One’s social network members provide a reference group (Merton, 1968) by which one

perceives and defines norms of common and acceptable behavior (e.g., Schultz et al., 2007). A given

person’s network members have the capacity to informally socially sanction behavior that falls out-

side the boundaries of these norms, especially when those network members are connected to each

other (see Coleman, 1998). They also serve as role models to whom people look when deciding how

to behave in uncertain situations. Social network members constitute sources of advice about best

practices and other behaviors. Moreover, one’s network members are often embedded in a broader

community that exercises certain cultural practices, some of which may involve unsafe or unhealthy

health practices (Moon et al., 2016). Thus, social network members appear to influence a wide vari-

ety of important health outcomes and health-related behaviors, including obesity (Christakis &

Fowler, 2007; De la Haye et al., 2010), risky sexual behavior (Choi & Gregorich, 2009; Schneider

et al., 2013), alcohol consumption (Polonec et al., 2006; Reifman et al., 2006), and needle-sharing

among drug users (Davey-Rothwell & Latkin, 2007).

Social networks and their norms also influence parenting practices, such as breastfeeding

initiation and continuation (Swanson & Power, 2005) and child vaccination (Brunson, 2013; Fu

et al., 2019). Parents’infant sleep practices tend to parallel the beliefs and practices of their net-

work members. A recent study of mothers in Washington, DC, showed that those whose net-

work members reportedly advocated supine (back) positioning, room-sharing without

bedsharing, and avoidance of soft bedding were themselves substantially and significantly more

likely to engage in these practices (Moon et al., 2019). With regard to advice about sleep prac-

tices, some mothers consider their social networks to be an even more trustworthy resource than

medical providers (Colson et al., 2005, 2006; Epstein & Jolly, 2009; Oden et al., 2010). Thus, it

appears that when the norms of the social network are contrary to recommendations, they can

be major barriers to safe and healthy infant and child care practices.

Although some research suggests that advice from personal network members and health

professionals alike can have a synergistic effect on one’s own health-related behaviors

(e.g., Shin & Shim, 2019), factors that shape from whom parents take that advice in the first

place are less clear. Practically speaking, this has direct implications for efforts to design inter-

ventions that attempt to target parents’sources of information. Research suggests that (expec-

tant) mothers tend to follow advice regarding infant care from both health professionals and

their social network members (e.g., McLorg & Bryant, 1989; Schölmerich et al., 2016), but

there is also reason to believe that this tendency will depend on the broader social environment

in which new parents’networks are embedded. This article explores one particular aspect of

advice support that highlights the importance of this environment: the interconnectedness of

one’s network members with each other.

SOCIAL NETWORKS AND ADVICE FOR NEW MOTHERS805