Network Structure Support: Its Relationship to the Psychosocial Development of Black Females

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Abstract
People's attitudes toward self and others are a product of the type of interactions experienced in their social environment. Consistent with this reasoning, the object of this study was to ascertain the relative influence of stressful life events and social environmental variables, especially network structure support, on the self-esteem and trust level of Black females. One hundred and fifty-nine Black college females volunteered to complete six questionnaires concerning their attitudes, personality, and background. A significant canonical correlation was found for education level of parents/grandparents, mother's status (the predictor variables) and feelings toward racial discrimination, self-esteem, and trust (the criterion variables). The results of the stepwise multiple regression analyses supported the canonical findings. It was concluded that future research on social and personality development should take into account the background of the subjects from a network structure perspective, and must examine factors relevant to psychosocial development for both their predictive and mediating qualities.

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