This study examined issues related to both support and stress in the social networks of mothers of adolescent parents. Specifically, it examined who provides support or causes stress for grandmothers, as well as what types of support and stress, and investigated how the characteristics of the grandmothers' social networks affect their psychological well-being and the quality of their interaction with their grandchildren. Subjects were 18 urban low-income African-American families that included an adolescent mother, a 12-month-old infant, and a maternal grandmother. Grandmothers were interviewed and videotaped with the infants. Measures included an assessment of the grandmothers' social networks, an assessment of psychological symptomology (in which women rated how frequently they had experienced specific psychological symptoms), a measure of parenting satisfaction; and a behavior rating of grandmother-infant interaction. Results showed that interpersonal conflict experienced by the grandmothers with their daughters and others had a negative impact on the psychological well-being and parenting by the grandmothers. Data suggested a highly intercorrelated subset of variables: number of network members providing conflict; lack of satisfaction with support; increased psychiatric symptoms; and angry or unresponsive parenting by the grandmother. (Contains 20 references.) (MM)