Grandparents as Educators: A Study of Socio-cultural and Religion Perspectives

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

“…For example, Malaysian Sikh grandparents have found to take several roles: 'teacher ' and 'defender' of social, cultural and religious values, 'care-taker' and 'friend' in adolescent lives (David, 2008). Moreover, Chinese grandparents have been found to be more involved in grandchildren's education as compared to Malay and Indian grandparents (Yusuf, 2014). These findings are in agreement with Tan and Ibrahim's study (2011) that showed Chinese grandparents were more concerned about grandchildren's education and Malay grandparents were more involved in social activities with grandchildren.…”

“…Malaysia is a multicultural society comprising 68% Malays, 24% Chinese and 7% Indians (Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2015). The socio-contextual variance across the three major ethnic groups may create subcultural variation in grandparental roles and types of involvement in grandchildren's lives (Chai & Hamid, 2015;Yusuf, 2014;Tan & Ibrahim, 2011). For example, the Chinese population, which has the longest life expectancy and is more urbanised may have a greater probability of high levels of grandparenthood as well as better 'access' to adult children compared to Malays and Indians.…”

“…Within the limited research on the role of grandparents in Malaysia, grandparents are often described as a source of socio-cultural wisdom and family stability (David, 2008;Yusuf, 2014). Again, there are also differences based on ethnicity.…”

“…These findings are in agreement with Tan and Ibrahim's study (2011) that showed Chinese grandparents were more concerned about grandchildren's education and Malay grandparents were more involved in social activities with grandchildren. Non-Muslim grandparents also put more emphasis on grandchildren's education as compared to Muslim grandparents (Yusuf, 2014).…”

“…Although grandmothers are often actively involved in caregiving across cultures, there are some specific gender differences to consider. For example, grandfathers were more likely than grandmothers to engage in cultural and religious aspects of 'educating' grandchildren that include passing down cultural values, language and, religious practices (Yusuf, 2014).…”