The structure of women's personal support networks in a sicilian community

The purpose of this paper is to examine how and with whose help women face maternity and the first few years of motherhood. For this reason it is fundamental to identify the social network of each woman in order to individuate all those people on whom she can rely in moments of need. Starting from such a presupposition, the different kinds of help available to women have been examined: both from the family and from outsiders (as for instance the services offered by the local community) and from paid services which are privately provided. Furthermore, from among the people belonging to the network of every woman, the possible types of bond with her have been assessed. In order to adequately investigate this area, a questionnaire was designed and subsequently administered to the women living in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto (the most densely populated and wealthiest borough in the province of Messina after the main city). The criteria of inclusion in the sample are as follows: mothers have to be from 15 to 49 years old, their last child is aged 6 or younger, and they do not have any children over 18 years of age. At the end of this analysis we can see that the existence of a egocentered network is decidedly more consistent in comparison to a total network (or closed network).