Grandmothers’ Relationship Quality and Adolescent Grandchildren Outcomes:
Are the Associations Explained by Parental Acceptance?
Laura D. Pittman, Micah Ioffe, Emily E. Stewart, & Christine R. Keeports
Northern Illinois University
Introduction
 With an aging population, the presence of grandparents in the lives of
their grandchildren is becoming increasingly common (Bengston, 2001).
 Adolescent and young adult grandchildren with stronger ties to their
grandparents have been found to have fewer emotional problems and
more pro-social behavior. (Attar-Schwartz et al., 2009; Ruiz and
Silverstein, 2007).
 However, some have suggested this association is explained by more
positive grandparent-grandchild relationships existing when relationships
with parents are more positive (e.g., King & Elder, 1995; Thompson &
Walker, 1987). In other words, the more direct influence is through the
parents’ relationships with their children.
 This study examines whether the association between a more positive
grandmother-grandchild relationship and psychological outcomes is
explained by the level of perceived acceptance from mothers and fathers.
Methods
Participants & Procedures
 537 18- and 19-year-old college students were recruited from an
introductory psychology course at a large Midwestern University. Only
participants with a living maternal grandmother who identified biological,
step- or adoptive parents as their mother or father figures were kept in the
final sample (N = 359).
 Participants were
 56% female and 44% male
 64% Caucasian, 15% African American, 9% Hispanic-American,
7% Asian-American, and 5% Other (e.g., biracial, Native American)
 Using an online survey, participants provided consent and responded to
multiple questionnaires asking about their own psychological adjustment,
their mothers’ and fathers’ parenting, the quality of their current
relationship with each living grandparent, and the amount of care and
contact they have had with each grandparent across multiple
developmental periods.
Measures
 Participants’ demographic information was collected including their
gender, age, parental marital status, and minority status.
 Maternal grandmother relationship quality was reported using a revised
version of the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (Armsden &
Greenberg, 1989; α = .94).
 The Hostile Detachment and Positive Involvement Subscales from the
Children’s Report of Parental Behavior Inventory-Revised (Schaefer,
1965) were selected to assess maternal and paternal acceptance. These
two subscales loaded highly on the Acceptance factor in previous analyses
(Schwarz et al., 1986). The internal consistency of the composite scores
were strong (α = .89 and .91 for mothers and fathers, respectively).
 Adolescents reported on their Global Self-Worth, Scholastic Competence,
Intellectual Ability, Social Acceptance, and Close Friendship Competence
using subscales from the Self-Perception Profile for College Students
(Neeman & Harter, 1986; α = .75 - .83).
 Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic
Studies – Depression Scale (CES-D; Radloff, 1977; α = .89).
Data Analysis
 Mediation analyses were conducted using ordinary least squares path
analysis regression analyses examining grandmother-grandchild (GM-GC)
relationship quality (RQ) associations with adolescent outcomes, both
directly and indirectly through mother and father acceptance based on
methods outlined by Hayes, 2013. All analyses controlled for participants’
age, minority status, gender, and biological parents’ marital status.
 Indirect effects were tested using a bias-corrected bootstrap confidence
interval based on 10,000 bootstrap samples calculated using the PROCESS
macro in SPSS (Hayes, 2013). If the confidence interval does not include
zero, the indirect effect is considered significant.
Results
Table 1. Descriptive Statistics
Min
Max
Mean
SD
1.GM-GC RQ
1.04
5.00
3.76
0.78
2. Mother Acceptance
1.25
3.00
2.67
0.36
3. Father Acceptance
1.00
3.00
2.50
0.46
.00 46.00
15.80
10.07
4. Depressive Symptoms
5. Global Self-Worth
1.00
4.00
3.22
0.67
6. Scholastic Competence
1.00
4.00
2.93
0.71
7. Intellectual Ability
1.25
4.00
3.14
0.73
8. Close Friendships
1.00
4.00
3.11
0.79
9. Social Acceptance
1.00
4.00
3.13
0.80
Table 2. Correlations among Dependent
Variables
1
2
3
4
5
6
1. Depressive Symptoms
1.00
2. Global Self-Worth
-.57 1.00
3. Scholastic Competence
-.32
.44 1.00
4. Intellectual Ability
-.31
.51
.62 1.00
5. Close Friendships
-.35
.46
.24
.27 1.00
6. Social Acceptance
-.39
.54
.14
.25
Figure 1. Path analyses predicting Depressive
Symptoms
Figure 3. Path analyses predicting Scholastic
Competence
Note. Grandmother-grandchild relationship quality was negatively
associated with late adolescent depressive symptoms both directly
and indirectly through fathers’ acceptance. A bias-corrected
bootstrap confidence interval for the indirect association (ab = 0.49) was entirely below zero (-1.18 to -0.08).
Note. Grandmother-grandchild relationship quality was positively
associated with late adolescent s’ scholastic competence directly,
but no indirect associations were supported as the bootstrap
confidence intervals included zero (-0.05 to 0.03 and -.01 to 0.07
for mother and father acceptances, respectively).
Figure 2. Path analyses predicting Self-Worth
Figure 4. Path analyses predicting
Intellectual Ability
Figure 5. Path analyses predicting Close
Friendships
Note. Grandmother-grandchild relationship quality was positively
associated with late adolescents close friendships both directly and
indirectly through fathers’ acceptance. A bias-corrected bootstrap
confidence interval for the indirect association (ab = 0.04) was
entirely above zero (0.01 to 0.10).
Figure 6. Path analyses predicting Social
Acceptance
.52 1.00
Note. All correlations are significant at p < .05. Also the correlation
between mother and father acceptance was significant (r = .54).
Table 3. Correlations between IVs and DVs
1. Depressive Symptoms
GM-GC Mother
RQ
Accept
-.22
-.26
Father
Accept
-.26
2. Global Self-Worth
.30
.21
.27
3. Scholastic Competence
.14
.11
.14
4. Intellectual Ability
.17
.22
.19
5. Close Friendships
.19
.22
.24
6. Social Acceptance
.17
.25
.26
Note. Grandmother-grandchild relationship quality was positively
associated with late adolescents’ self-worth both directly and
indirectly through fathers’ acceptance. A bias-corrected bootstrap
confidence interval for the indirect association (ab = 0.05) was
entirely above zero (0.02 to 0.09).
Note. While the total association between grandmother-grandchild
relationship quality and late adolescent s’ intellectual ability was
significant (b = .16), neither the direct nor the indirect associations
were significant.
Discussion
 Late adolescents’ relationships with their maternal grandmothers are associated with both reports of depressive symptoms and self
competence. For most outcomes, this direct association remains significant, even when taking into account adolescents’ perceptions of
acceptance by both of their parents, suggesting it is not just a global influence of the parents.
 The relationship with the maternal grandmother seems to be more strongly associated with emotional outcomes (e.g., depressive symptoms
and self-worth) as compared to other more specific areas of self competence (e.g., intellectual ability and social acceptance). It may be that the
love and support from a grandparent may be especially important for late adolescents to feel a broad sense of worth. However, when thinking
of themselves in terms of specific domains, interactions in school and with peers may be more important.
 Surprisingly, the indirect association through maternal acceptance was never significant. When considered in models without father
acceptance, mothers’ acceptance was a significant mediator (data not shown). Yet, when father acceptance was included in the model, it was
the more important variable; in four our of six outcomes, the indirect association through father acceptance was significant. This speaks to the
importance of the father in the functioning of late adolescents.
 This pattern of findings is perhaps even more surprising given it is the mothers’ mother whose relationship is being reported. Future analyses
and studies should consider whether these pathways work similarly for paternal grandmother-grandchild relationships.
 Further consideration of how the parent-grandparent relationship may influence the associations between grandparent-grandchild relationship
and adolescent outcomes may also be important, as suggested by many researchers (e.g., King & Elder, 1995).
 These findings need to be repeated for a more representative sample. It may be that a college student population are better adjusted and for
those who are struggling more the grandparent relationship may not be as strongly associated with outcomes.
 Extension of these findings to a younger age group would be important to see whether the influence is similar at different developmental
periods. Furthermore longitudinal analyses that can consider the sequence of the influences need to be considered. It may be that those late
adolescents who have more positive outcomes view relationships more positively.
 Child clinical psychologists and family therapists are encouraged to look beyond the nuclear family, as interactions with extended family may
be influence child functioning, especially if the grandparents have frequent contact with the grandchild.
Note. Grandmother-grandchild relationship quality was positively
associated with late adolescents’ social acceptance, but only
indirectly through fathers’ acceptance. A bias-corrected bootstrap
confidence interval for the indirect association (ab = 0.05) was
entirely above zero (0.01 to 0.11).
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
Comments or questions about this poster can be directed to
Laura D. Pittman, Ph.D. at lpittman@niu.edu .