Effects of grandparents’ involvement on young children’s resilience: mother’s parenting stress and family strength as mediators

Background  Given the fact that grandparents share the responsibility for child-rearing in contemporary China, limited research has explored the relationship between grandparents’ involvement and grandchildren’s resilience in the three-generation family (a child lives with parents and one or more grandparents). The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between grandparents’ involvement and young children’s resilience, as well as the mediating roles of mother’s parenting stress and family strength in this association.

Methods  The study surveyed 919 mothers of children aged 3–5 years in Chinese three-generation families to report their children’s resilience, grandparents’ involvement, mother’s parenting stress, and family strengths.

Results  The findings revealed a positive association between grandparents’ involvement and young children’s resilience. This relationship was partially mediated by mother’s parenting stress and family strengths independently, as well as sequentially through the pathway from mother’s parenting stress to family strengths.

Conclusions  Grandparents’ involvement may help to relieve perceived mother’s parenting stress and enhance family strengths, thereby, indirectly affect young children’s resilience. These findings highlight the potential positive impact of grandparents’ involvement on young children’s resilience and offer a novel perspective for family counseling.

Keywords
Grandparents’ involvement; Resilience; Mother’s parenting stress; Family strength; Young children