Grandparenting and adolescent adjustment in two-parent biological, lone-parent, and step-families.
There is limited research on the links between grandparenting and adolescents' well-being, especially from the perspective of the adolescents. The study examined whether grandparent involvement varied in two-parent biological, lone-parent, and step-families and whether this had a different contribution to the emotional and behavioral adjustment of adolescents across different family structures. The study is based on a sample of 1,515 secondary school students (ages 11-16 years) from England and Wales who completed a structured questionnaire. Findings of hierarchical regression analyses showed that among the whole sample, greater grandparent involvement was associated with fewer emotional problems (p < .01) and with more prosocial behavior (p < .001). In addition, while there were no differences in the level of grandparent involvement across the different family structures, grandparent involvement was more strongly associated with reduced adjustment difficulties among adolescents from lone-parent and step-families than those from two-parent biological families. A possible implication is that the positive role of grandparent involvement in lone-parent and step- families should be more emphasized in family psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).
Attar-Schwartz
Shalhevet
S
Research Group: Mental Health and Well-Being in Childhood and Adolescence, School of Social Work and Social Welfare, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel. shalhevet@mscc.huji.ac.il
Tan
Jo-Pei
JP
Buchanan
Ann
A
Flouri
Eirini
E
Griggs
Julia
J
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016901:Intergenerational Relations; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents; D015406:Single Parent; D012917:Social Adjustment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires