Mother-Grandmother Conflict, Negative Parenting, and Young Children's Social Development in Multigenerational Families

Mutigenerational households that include grandmothers and adult mothers caring for grandchildren are increasingly common. The influence, however, of mother-grandmother relationship quality and grandmothers' parenting on grandchildren's social development remains largely unexplored in these three-generation households. This study examines linkages among caregiver depressive symptoms, mother-grandmother verbal conflict, observed parenting, and 36-month-old grandchildren's problem and prosocial behaviors among a subsample from the Family Life Project (N = 85) consisting of economically disadvantaged multigenerational families. The findings suggest that mother-grandmother relationship conflict presents a risk to children's behavior directly and indirectly via mothers' negative parenting behaviors. Mothers seem to be more influenced by the mother-grandmother relationship than grandmothers. These results highlight the importance of including mother-grandmother conflict in mutigenerational families in family assessments and interventions.Key Words: early childhood, grandparents, multigenerational families, parent-child relationships, relationship conflict.The number of multigenerational households that include grandparents, parents, and grandchildren is on the rise across the United States (Pew Research Center, 2010). In 2009, almost 4 million children lived with grandparents and parents, with children under age 6 the most likely to experience this caregiving arrangement (U.S. Census Bureau, 201 1). This represents an increase of almost 30% since 2000, fueled in part by economic needs faced by parent and grandparent generations (Pew Research Center, 2010). Although this rise in multigenerational households cuts across ethnic groups in the United Sates, these household configurations remain most common among ethnic minority families (Pew Research Center, 2010). Forming multigenerational households may be a particularly important adaptation for child care in rural areas in which access to adequate housing and quality child care is limited (e.g., Blalock, Tiller, & Monroe, 2004) and reliance on kinship social networks, including grandmother support, is common (Elder, Rudkin, & Conger, 1995). Multigenerational households in which mothers and grandmothers raise young children together involve complex relationships that require balance and negotiation across intergenerational roles and responsibilities.Limited research, however, has explored the extent to which mother and grandmother characteristics, mother-grandmother conflict, and parenting by mothers and grandmothers are associated with child development in threegeneration households. Identifying specific family processes linked to risk for the development of behavior problems and compromised prosocial behaviors among children in multigenerational families provides key information for researchers and practitioners seeking to design and implement family support and prevention programs.Family Pathways to Compromised Social DevelopmentYoung children from economically disadvantaged families are at risk for maladaptive social-emotional development, including elevated behavior problems and reduced social skills (e.g., Bradley & Corwyn, 2002; McLoyd, 1998). During early childhood, family processes mediate most of the influences of economic disadvantage on children's development (e.g., Linver, Brooks-Gunn, & Kohen, 2002; McLoyd, 1998). Specifically, parental psychological distress, parental relationship conflict, and negative parenting behaviors are positively linked to economic disadvantage and to maladaptive child social development. The present study applies a family systems perspective to examine the extent to which depressive symptoms of coresident mothers and grandmothers are linked to conflict in the mother-grandmother relationship that spills over to negative observed parenting by mothers and grandmothers and, in turn, is associated with elevated levels of behavior problems and lower levels of prosocial behaviors among 3-year-old children. …