Human capital, personal networks, and social capital for childbearing Mexican immigrant women in a new destination community

This ethnographic study applied the concepts of human capital, personal networks, and social capital to examine the approaches Mexican immigrant women use to access resources for healthy childbearing. The study focused on the first five years of settlement in a new destination community. Purposive sampling in the community was used to recruit 12 women between the ages of 22 to 47 with twenty-five babies who were born in Mexico and the US.;The informants described physical and psychosocial domains of healthy childbearing. Eating healthy, maintaining an ideal weight, and refraining from tobacco, alcohol and drugs constituted the physical domain. A tranquil lifestyle that was free from worry, and a personal network of individuals with good morals who motivated women and provided sound advice, constituted the psychosocial domain.;Single women, women who followed, and women who accompanied a male partner to South Omaha described different structures in their personal networks. The number and frequency of social contacts increased for women who accompanied a male partner and decreased for single women during a pregnancy.;Value introjection and bounded solidarity created the social capital needed to access resources for healthy childbearing in the initial period of settlement. Enforceable trust and value introjection within the family provided social capital to meet psychosocial needs. Reciprocity transactions played a minor role in creating social capital in the first two years of settlement.;Other young Latina mothers with a longer tenure in South Omaha than the informants were the primary source of information about resources available in the community before a pregnancy. Male partners were the primary source of emotional support during a pregnancy. Mothers in Mexico reinforced traditional health behaviors, encouraged prenatal care, and provided emotional support during a pregnancy through frequent phone calls.;The concept of social capital is new and requires development for nursing research. The findings of this study refined this concept for examination of the social capital of individuals.