Tompkins Virginia, Feng Xin
Department of Psychology, Ohio State University at Lima.
Department of Human Sciences, Ohio State University.
J Fam Psychol. 2025 Feb;39(1):65-76. doi: 10.1037/fam0001274. Epub 2024 Oct 10.
Grandparents support American families in many ways, but they have often been overlooked in research on typical families (e.g., parents raising children). We examined whether grandparents have a positive influence on children's development by buffering the relation between parents' socioeconomic status (SES) and children's cognitive development. Parents ( = 437) from 45 U.S. states reported on 1,047 grandparent relationships with their 3- to 5-year-old children ( = 4.18 years) and how helpful grandparents are regarding financial, instrumental, emotional, and informational support, which were summed together across all grandparent relationships. We found that SES (a composite of family income and parents' average education) was significantly related to preschoolers' cognitive development (a composite of receptive and expressive language, literacy, and numbers). However, this relation was weaker when grandparents provided a higher level of support. Most families received grandparent support of basic child needs (e.g., clothing) and educational resources that could contribute to children's cognitive development (e.g., books). Grandparents provided greater financial, instrumental, emotional, and informational support to parents when they were emotionally close to the grandchild and interacted frequently. However, only emotional support was related to the geographical distance to the grandchild. These results suggest that even in parent-led American families, grandparents play a supportive, buffering role against the potential negative effects of lower SES on children's cognitive development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
祖父母在许多方面支持美国家庭，但在对典型家庭（如父母养育孩子）的研究中，他们常常被忽视。我们研究了祖父母是否通过缓冲父母社会经济地位（SES）与孩子认知发展之间的关系，对孩子的发展产生积极影响。来自美国45个州的437名父母报告了他们与1047名3至5岁孩子（平均年龄4.18岁）的祖孙关系，以及祖父母在经济、工具性、情感和信息支持方面的帮助程度，这些支持在所有祖孙关系中进行了汇总。我们发现，SES（家庭收入和父母平均教育程度的综合指标）与学龄前儿童的认知发展（接受性和表达性语言、读写能力和数字能力的综合指标）显著相关。然而，当祖父母提供更高水平的支持时，这种关系就会减弱。大多数家庭得到了祖父母对孩子基本需求（如衣物）和有助于孩子认知发展的教育资源（如图书）的支持。当祖父母与孙辈情感亲近且互动频繁时，他们会为父母提供更多的经济、工具性、情感和信息支持。然而，只有情感支持与到孙辈的地理距离有关。这些结果表明，即使在美国以父母为主导的家庭中，祖父母也能起到支持作用，缓冲较低的SES对孩子认知发展的潜在负面影响。（PsycInfo数据库记录（c）2025美国心理学会，保留所有权利）
