Effects of Grandparenting and Emotional Attachments on the Emotional and Behavioral Disorder Symptoms of Grandchildren

The effects of grandparenting involvement and emotional attachments on emotional and behavioral development among adolescents were explored through the use of a UK cross-sectional national data of 1,566 adolescents aged eleven to sixteen years old receiving some form of grandparenting. A correlation and logistic regression analyses yielded results that supported the positive effects of grandparenting on the emotional and behavioral disorder symptoms of adolescents. The results indicate that most selected socio-demographic, grandparenting involvement, and the emotional attachment variables of grandchildren influenced the likelihood of increasing or decreasing emotional disorder symptoms among adolescents. However, no support was found for perceiving emotional attachments with grandparents as a predictor of behavioral disorder symptoms among youth, whereas socio-demographic and grandparenting involvement variables showed significant impacts on behavioral disorder symptoms. The findings highlight the importance of a systematic approach about the socio-demographic characteristics, levels of grandparenting, and emotional attachment levels with grandparents to understand youth cared for by grandparents that experience emotional and/or behavioral disorder symptoms, when intervention or prevention programs are considered.