Transmission of risk factors across three generations.
The present study examined the association between the parent-grandmother relationship, the parenting of toddlers, and toddlers' anger. Parent-grandmother relations were assessed when the parents were adolescents. Patient-toddler relations were examined when the toddlers were two years of age. The sample consists of 185 2-yr-old toddlers, one of the parents of each toddler, and the corresponding grandmother of each toddler. The findings support our hypothesis that there would be an indirect effect of the grandmothers' personalities and child-rearing practices on their grandchildren through the influence of the grandmothers on the parents. The influence of both the grandmothers' and the parents' smoking behaviors on the toddlers' anger was mediated by their child-rearing practices. The significance of the findings from a multigenerational study are discussed with reference to incorporating them into prevention programs. The findings are consistent with the notion of the intergenerational transmission of risk factors--from grandparents to parents to toddlers.
Brook
J S
JS
Department of Community and Preventive Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029, USA.
Whiteman
M
M
Brook
D W
DW
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000786:Anger; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics*; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D016901:Intergenerational Relations; D008297:Male; D016487:Parenting; D010551:Personality; D012307:Risk Factors