Different associations of parental control, attachment, and child depressive symptoms between paternal and maternal Grandparenting families

Almost 70% grandparents play important roles in the parenting of grandchildren in China. Although several studies have investigated the influence of grandparenting on children, few studies have taken the mutual impacts between parental and grandparental caregivers on children into account. The present study investigated the different associations of mother’s and grandmother’s parental control (psychological and behavioral control), mother-child attachment, grandmother-child attachment, and child depressive symptoms between paternal and maternal groups from 201 grandparenting families. Results of mediating effect indicated the different associations between groups. In paternal group, significant crossover effect was shown in the association between paternal grandmother’s psychological control and mother-child attachment; mother’s psychological control and behavioral control were indirectly associated with child depressive symptoms through mother-child attachment. In maternal group, we did not find the same crossover effect as in paternal group, but maternal grandmother’s psychological control was indirectly associated with child depressive symptoms through maternal grandmother-child attachment. These findings expanded the crossover theory to grandmother-mother subsystem to reveal the mutual impacts on children between paternal and maternal group in grandparenting families.