laura d. pittman psychology department northern illinois university
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Quality of Grandmother-Mother Relationships: Links to Children’s Behaviors, Mothers’ Parenting and Psychological Functioning. Laura D. Pittman Psychology Department Northern Illinois University. Grandparents’ role in the family. Growing number of studies considering influence of grandparents - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Quality of Grandmother-Mother Relationships: Links to Children’s Behaviors, Mothers’ Parenting and Psychological Functioning
Laura D. PittmanPsychology DepartmentNorthern Illinois University
Grandparents’ role in the family Growing number of studies
considering influence of grandparents Custodial parents Multigenerational households Grandparents providing childcare
Often the focus is on the burden placed on the grandparents, and not the impact of mother or child
Aspects to consider Direct vs. indirect influences
Direct interactions with children – either informally or if providing childcare
Indirect influences through interactions with mother
Contextual factors Minority vs. European American families Married vs. divorced families
Questions for this study
How does the quality of the grandmother-mother (GM-M) relationship influence mothers’ mental health, her parenting, and her children’s functioning?
Do these associations vary by context? Single versus two-parent households African American vs. Hispanic American
families
Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study
2402 families completed Time 1 interview (1999) Over 40,000 household screened for eligible families Children age 0-4 years or 10-14 years 74% overall response rate Boston, Chicago, San Antonio
88% of families completed Time 2 interview (2001) For each time point a 2-hour interview of the
maternal caregiver in family’s home using a computerized interview format was completed
Obtained information on family background, mental health, economic condition, and parenting
Embedded Developmental Study (EDS)
At each time point, mothers of 2-4 year old children asked to completed a second interview focused on grandmother & father relationships and childcare Time 1: 85% response rate Time 2: 88% response rate
This analysis focuses on the 370 families with EDS interviews at both time points who identified a biological grandmother in their lives
Quality of Grandmother-Mother relationship
Global relationship quality 12 items from Inventory of Parent and Peer
Attachment (Armsden & Greenberg, 1987) Two factors: Trust & Communication and
Anger & Alienation Specific scale about parenting
6 items asking about how much GM helps or interferes with parenting
Two scales: Parenting Cooperation & Parenting Conflict
Mothers’ Mental Health
10-item Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1986)
Brief Symptom Inventory–18 (Derogatis, 2000) Includes symptoms of anxiety, depression, &
somatization Parenting Stress & Satisfaction
12 items derived from similar measures in the New Hope Study & Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID)
Mothers’ Parenting
Parenting Practices - Raising Children Checklist (Shumow, et al., 1998) 20 items which collapsed to 4 Subscales: Authoritative,
Harsh, Permissive & Disengaged Parenting Cognitive Stimulation subscale from the HOME
(Caldwell & Bradley, 1984) Family Routines
6-items from Family Routines Inventory (Jensen et al., 1983)
Child outcomes
Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach, 1992; 1992) Externalizing & Internalizing Problem Behaviors Because two versions used age-standardized
scores and collapsed across version Positive Behavior Scale (Quint, Bos, & Polit,
1997) 6 items about children’s social competence
Background Characteristics at Time 1(N = 370)
Mothers’ Age: 26.97 years (SD = 5.57)
Children’s Age: 3.32 years (SD = 0.92)
42% African American; 51% Hispanic American;
7% Caucasian or Other
46% earned High School degree
55% Single; 37% Married; 8% Cohabiting
Household Income-to-Needs Ratio: 0.84 (SD = .48)
Longitudinal regressions Longitudinal regressions run predicting Time 2
variables by the four GM-M relations variables GM-M Trust & Communication GM-M Anger & Alienation GM-M Parenting Cooperation GM-M Parenting Conflict
Controlling for: Corresponding Time 1 variables Other key demographic variables
child’s age & gender mother’s age, education, marital status &
race/ethnicity household income-to-needs ratio
Main effects of GM-M relationship Maternal mental health
More GM-M Parenting Cooperation Increasing self-esteem (β = .19*)
More GM-M Anger & Alienation Increasing Internalizing Symptoms (β = .20**) Increasing Parenting Stress (β = .26**) Decreasing Parenting Satisfaction (β = -.29**)
Parenting More GM-M Trust & Communication
Increasing Family Routines (β = .30**) Child outcomes
Higher GM-M Trust & Communication Increasing Positive Behaviors (β = .21*)
Considering context
Added interaction terms with the four GM-M relationship variables and 1 vs. 2-parent household Ethnicity of the family
Limited analysis to 330 families who were either African American or Hispanic American
Interactions with Household Type
5 interactions were significant GM-M Parenting Cooperation interaction on
Parenting Stress GM-M Trust & Communication on Mothers’
Self–esteem GM-M Anger & Alienation on Parenting
Satisfaction GM-M Trust & Communication on Cognitive
Stimulation Gm-M Parenting Conflict on Children’s
Internalizing Symptoms
Interaction between Household Status and GM-M Parenting Cooperation predicting Parenting Stress
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
1.9
2
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
- 1 SD +1 SD
Mother-Grandmother Cooperation on Parenting Issues
Pa
ren
tin
g S
tre
ss
Married or Cohabiting Single
Interaction between Mother-Grandmother Trust and Communication and Single Parent Household predicting Mothers' Self Esteem
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
- 1 SD +1 SD
Mother-Grandmother Trust and Communication
Mo
the
rs' S
elf
es
tee
m
Married or Cohabiting Single
Interactions with Ethnicity 11 interactions were significant Predicting Mothers’ Mental Health
GM-M Parenting Conflict interaction on Mothers’ Self-Esteem
GM-M Parenting Conflict on Parenting Satisfaction GM-M Parenting Cooperation on Parenting Satisfaction Gm-M Anger & Alienation on Parenting Satisfaction
Mothers’ Parenting GM-M Parenting Conflict on Cognitive Stimulation GM-M Parenting Cooperation on Authoritative Parenting GM-M Parenting Cooperation on Disengaged Parenting GM-M Trust & Communication on Disengaged Parenting GM-M Trust & Communication on Permissive Parenting
Children’s Outcomes GM-M Parenting Conflict on Child’s Positive Behaviors GM-M Parenting Cooperation on Child’s Positive Behaviors
Interaction between Mother-Grandmother Parenting Conflict and Ethnicity predicting Mothers' Self-esteem
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
- 1 SD +1 SD
Mother-Grandmother Parenting Conflict
Mo
the
rs' S
elf
es
tee
m
Hispanic American African American
Interaction between Mother-Grandmother Parenting Cooperation and Ethnicity predicting Parenting Satisfaction
2.5
2.6
2.7
2.8
2.9
3
3.1
3.2
- 1 SD +1 SD
Mother-Grandmother Parenting Cooperation
Pa
ren
tin
g S
ati
sfa
cti
on
Hispanic American African American
Interaction between Mother-Grandmother Parenting Cooperation and Ethnicity predicting Mothers' Authoritative Parenting
2.1
2.15
2.2
2.25
2.3
2.35
2.4
2.45
2.5
- 1 SD +1 SD
Mother-Grandmother Parenting Cooperation
Mo
the
rs' A
uth
ori
tati
ve
Pa
ren
tin
g
Hispanic American African American
Interaction between Mother-Grandmother Parenting Conflict and Ethnicity predicting Child's Positive Behaviors
2.4
2.45
2.5
2.55
2.6
2.65
2.7
2.75
2.8
2.85
2.9
- 1 SD +1 SD
Mother-Grandmother Parenting Conflict
Ch
ild's
Po
sit
ive
Be
ha
vio
rs
Hispanic American African American
Summary-Main Effects GM-M relationship was important
Several main effects related to linked to maternal mental health & parenting stress
Fewer related to parenting and children’s mental health
Aspects of the global GM-M relationship seemed more relevant
Summary: Contextual influences Family context seemed to influence how
important the GM-M relationship was Less clear for single vs. two-parent
household These relationships seem more influential
among African American, as compared to Hispanic American, families The specific aspects of the GM-M relationship
related to parenting seem most likely to find differences
It may be that these aspects are more variable or more important among African American families
Limitations & Future Directions
Analyses are exploratory in nature More studies designed to look at these
questions are needed However, the analyses used are
conservative in nature and, thus, suggest that grandmothers can be important in family life
Future studies need to consider Other populations Grandfathers as well as grandmothers, and Other contexts
THANKS….
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Planning and Evaluation
Administration on Developmental Disabilities,
Administration for Children and Families
Social Security Administration National Institute of Mental
Health The Boston Foundation The Annie E. Casey Foundation The Edna McConnell Clark
Foundation The Lloyd A. Fry Foundation The Hogg Foundation for Mental
Health
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The Joyce Foundation The Henry J. Kaiser Family
Foundation The W.K. Kellogg Foundation The Kronkosky Charitable
Foundation The John D. and Catherine T.
MacArthur Foundation The Charles Stewart Mott
Foundation The David and Lucile Packard
Foundation The Searle Fund for Policy
Research The Woods Fund of Chicago
To the families who participated in this study; To the PI’s of this study: Andrew Cherlin, P. Lindsay-
Chase-Lansdale, Robert Moffitt, Ronald Angel, Linda Burton, and William Julius Wilson; and
To the funders of this project: