Mother-Grandmother Conflict, Negative Parenting, and Young Children's Social Development in Multigenerational Families

Melissa A. Barnett, W. Roger Mills-Koonce, Hanna Gustafsson, Martha Cox, Lynne Vernon-Feagans, Clancy Blair, Peg Burchinal, Linda Burton, Keith Crnic, Ann Crouter, Patricia Garrett-Peters, Mark Greenberg, Stephanie Lanza, W. Roger Mills-Koonce, Debra Skinner, Cynthia Stifter, Emily Werner, Michael Willoughby

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

39 Scopus citations

Abstract

Mutigenerational households that include grandmothers and adult mothers caring for grandchildren are increasingly common. The influence, however, of mother-grandmother relationship quality and grandmothers' parenting on grandchildren's social development remains largely unexplored in these three-generation households. This study examines linkages among caregiver depressive symptoms, mother-grandmother verbal conflict, observed parenting, and 36-month-old grandchildren's problem and prosocial behaviors among a subsample from the Family Life Project (N = 85) consisting of economically disadvantaged multigenerational families. The findings suggest that mother-grandmother relationship conflict presents a risk to children's behavior directly and indirectly via mothers' negative parenting behaviors. Mothers seem to be more influenced by the mother-grandmother relationship than grandmothers. These results highlight the importance of including mother-grandmother conflict in mutigenerational families in family assessments and interventions.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)864-877
Number of pages14
JournalFamily Relations
Volume61
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2012
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Early childhood
  • Grandparents
  • Multigenerational families
  • Parent-child relationships
  • Relationship conflict

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Education
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Social Sciences (miscellaneous)

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