Research On Grandparents’Participation In Children’s Rearing And Its Distinct Patterns

Grandparents’participation in childrearing is prevalent in contemporary China.Many aspects of grandparenting can influence children’s development,such as the level of involvement of grandparents,the quality of grandparenting’s behavior,and the coparenting relationships between grandparents and parents.However,previous studies often only focused on one or very limited aspects of grandparenting.In addition,research on the linkages between grandparenting and children’s development is limited and hasn’t reached consensus,which may be partially attributed to the heterogeneity of grandparenting.Therefore,in this study,we assessed grandparenting behavior from multiple aspects based on which we explored the different patterns of grandparenting.A diverse sample of 497 families with preschool-aged children were recruited from three preschools located in the urban,rural,and suburban area,respectively.Mixed method was used in the current study.We used latent profile analysis(LPA)to reveal potentially heterogeneous patterns of grandparenting and conducted parental and grandparental interviews to reveal the characteristics of different profiles of grandparenting.The analyses demonstrated four grandparenting profiles:low participation grandparenting,median grandparenting,high participation undermining grandparenting and high participation harmonious grandparenting.The lowparticipation grandparents showed the lowest participation in children’s rearing on account of the objective conditions or their willingness.The median grandparents were pretty flexible.They listened to children’s parents and offered help when parents needed it.The high-participation undermining grandparents and the high-participation harmonious parents showed high participation into children’s rearing,but the former showed the most undermining coparenting behaviors while the latter got along well with children’s parents and would like to work together to take care of children.The current study extends existing grandparenting literature,which focused primarily on one or very limited aspects of grandparenting by demonstrating different patterns of grandparenting and provide practical suggestions for grandparents in Chinese families.