The purpose of this study is to describe the psychological functioning and adjustment of 144 seropositive, low income, post-partum, African American women and their families during the first year of life of the newborn baby. A quasi-experimental design is employed by including a comparison group of 144 seronegative African American women and their families. The variables under investigation have been organized into a predictor/moderator/outcome model that serves as the theoretical framework for the proposed study. Predictor variables are demographic, stressors, perceived control, premorbid psychiatric functioning, and early parental bonding. Moderators are coping, perceived social support, and family functioning as measured in ahistorical interactional patterns. Outcome variables are health maintenance behaviors, current risk behaviors, mother-infant interaction, and mother's distress. Two time periods within the first post-partum year serve as snapshots of adjustment: (1) four to eight weeks after the birth; and (2) the twelfth month of age. This study will gather information on presumed predictor, moderator and outcome. We believe this information can assist us in formulating a model that in turn, will lead to the development of relevant interventions that utilize family-based social support to help this population cope with the stresses of seropositivity and concurrent new motherhood.
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