Grandparent Affection and Emotional Wellbeing of Adolescents with Different Family Types

Abstract

Despite the increasing importance of grandparents in raising their grandchildren, few studies analyze the impact that these intergenerational relationships have on the grandchildren, especially during adolescence. With a sample of 3432 adolescents between 11 years and 16 years old, we analyze to what degree grandparent affection explains adolescent emotional well-being. The results reveal interesting findings according to family type: traditional two-parent families, families with joint custody, or families with only one biological parent (specifying between father or mother). Lastly, we analyze and discuss the implications of the relevant results related to the grandparents’ sex, lineage, and state of health, the adolescent’s age, as well as finding a higher impact of grandparent affection has on adolescents from families with only the father as a reference figure. This study advocates for reinforcing the role of the grandparents during adolescence, becoming especially relevant for boys and girls living in father-only families.