Grandmothers are part of the parenting network, too! A longitudinal study on coparenting, maternal sensitivity, child attachment and behavior problems in a Chinese sample

Abstract

Grandmothers are important in Chinese families. This study explored the early emerging mother‐grandmother‐infant network and its association with child's socioemotional development in multigenerational families in a non‐WEIRD country. The analytic sample included 60 children (T1: Mage = 6.5 months) and their caregivers residing in Beijing. Measures used were the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP), the Lausanne Trilogue Play (LTP), the Maternal Behavior Q‐Sort (MBQS), and the Infant‐Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment. Structural equation and path modeling revealed that (1) more grandmaternal neutral/watching coparenting behaviors at the first assessment were related to more secure infant‐mother attachment relationships at the second assessment (T2: Mage = 1 year); (2) maternal sensitivity at T2 was a partial mediator between earlier undermining and neutral/watching coparenting behaviors and young children's externalizing problems at the final assessment (T3: Mage = 2 years). Findings are discussed in terms of the roles played by mother‐grandmother coparenting network in the children's socioemotional development.

Family Alliance and Intergenerational Transmission of Coparenting in Gay and Heterosexual Single-Father Families through Surrogacy: Associations with Child Attachment Security

“…Third, Belsky's [61] process model of the determinants of parenting suggests that childrearing support from extended family networks or nonrelatives might represent a double-edged sword for single fathers, as recently also suggested by research on single mothers with grandparent childcare arrangements [62][63][64]. On the one hand, such support may help fathers attend to their children while, at the same time, allowing them to focus on their performance at work.…”

Attachment networks and the future of attachment theory

“…In a study of Chinese families, Liang et al. (2021; this issue) show that a mother's sensitivity to her infant is influenced by the quality of coparenting afforded by the grandmother, observed in a culture with well‐defined coparenting roles for the grandparenting generation. Although the findings of this study were not entirely consistent with expectations, particularly in the failure of the grandmother's supportive coparenting to predict maternal sensitivity or infant secure attachment, the benefits to maternal sensitivity and attachment of the grandmother's more neutral coparenting demeanor—and the capacity of the grandmother's undermining coparenting to reduce maternal sensitivity—attest to the significant impact of the mother–grandmother relationship on the mother's relationship with her own child.…”

Attachment networks to multiple caregivers: An introduction to a special issue

“…The fifth paper by Liang et al. (2021) expands the scope of early caregiving networks to examine grandmothers’ role in the children's attachment bonds with their mothers—a role that has rarely been acknowledged, let alone studied, in developmental science. Moreover, the authors expand previous research on multiple caregivers by studying mother–grandmother–child triads in China.…”