Do grandparents matter? Intergenerational relationships between the closest grandparents and Malaysian adolescents

Abstract

Grandparents and Malaysian Adolescents A close connection with a grandparent can interact with adolescent's experience of life stressors to increase or decrease their risk for negative outcomes. Traditional filial values may be linked to closer grandparent-grandchildren interactions in Asian cultures, such as Malaysia. This study examined how grandparental involvement and emotional closeness moderated the associations between life stressors and adjustment difficulties among adolescents in Malaysia (n = 643 adolescents). Hierarchical regression analysis showed that greater proximal and distal life stressors were associated with more adjustment difficulties of adolescents. Moreover, emotional closeness with the closest grandparents moderated the association between adolescent distal adversities and adjustment difficulties. Specifically, the contribution of accumulative stress from adverse life events on the risk of adjustment difficulties among adolescents may be alleviated when adolescents perceived high levels of emotional ties with the closest grandparents. These findings suggest that grandparents can directly relate to grandchildren's adjustment through engaging emotional relationships. Our study shed lights on the interpretation of the contribution of grandparent on adolescent outcomes and the development of adolescent's resilience in the face of adversity within the Malaysian cultural context.

Brothers and Sisters in China: No Longer the One-Child Family

“…But it should be noted that the study was based on a sample who were born before the one-child policy. China is now challenged with fast ageing population similar to developed countries in the West such as the UK, and East Asia such as Japan, Taiwan and Korea (e.g., Ogawa & Retherford, 1993;Tan, 2018). As such, the one-child policy may have made elder care more challenging (Zhang & Goza, 2006).…”

Investment by maternal grandmother buffers children against the impacts of adverse early life experiences

“…Only three studies, all relying on correlational evidence, so far have taken cumulative adverse early life events (AELEs) into account when assessing whether grandparental investment is associated with decreased emotional and behavioral problems in adolescents. The first such study found that the investment of the closest grandparent buffered the influence of adversities on grandchildren's psychopathology in England and Wales 65 , but such an association was not found in a following study in Malaysia 66 . The third study reported a protective role of the investment of the closest grandparent in South Africa, but only in girls 67 .…”

Investment by maternal grandmother buffers children against the impacts of adverse early life experiences: A causal analysis based on instrumental variable regression

“…Only three studies, all relying on correlational evidence, so far have taken cumulative adverse early life events (AELEs) into account when assessing whether grandparental investment is associated with decreased emotional and behavioral problems in adolescents. The first such study found that the investment of the closest grandparent buffered the influence of adversities on grandchildren's psychopathology in England and Wales (Flouri et al 2010), but such an association was not found in a following study in Malaysia (Tan 2018). The third study reported a protective role of the investment of the closest grandparent in South Africa, but only in girls (Yang & Wild 2022).…”

“…More research is needed to examine whether the buffering effect of investment from MGMs on behavioral and emotional problems is strong enough to affect the long-term survival and reproductive outcomes of their grandchildren. In addition, although accounting for multiple adversities is advised as a way to effectively measure total environmental stress(Potticary & Duckworth 2020), and earlier studies on this topic have used cumulative AELEs(Flouri et al 2010;Tan 2018; Yang & Wild 2022), there could be distinct (i.e., non-additive) adverse early life events that affect specific developmental pathways and child outcomes that may show stronger or weaker, or adaptive or maladaptive, effects(Ellis et al 2022).…”