Dynamics in a three-generational family: Teens, grandparents, and babies.

Abstract

A sample of 64 2-grandparent, working-class families with a teen and her child under 2 was used to test the hypotheses that grandmothers have a direct influence on their grandchild and that grandparents also have an indirect effect on the young child through their influence on the teen's nurturance and perceptions of family support. Hypotheses were based on research concerning fathers, our previous research showing direct grandfather effects, and the literature on modeling, mediation, and surrogate parenting. Major findings from the path analyses were that grandfathers had a direct effect on children and that grandmothers had neither direct nor indirect influence. Results are discussed in terms of the salience of nurturant grandfathers in these families and the unique role they may play in the family. Adolescent mothering is often viewed as a social problem that places teens' children at risk; their cognitive deficits and nonadaptive social functioning have been well documented (Brooks-Gunn & Furstenberg, 1986). Particularly persuasive are the results of a 17-year follow-up of women who had given birth as adolescents. The investigators described the situation of the children as one of massive school failure (Furstenberg, Brooks-Gunn, & Morgan, 1987, p. 92). To reduce this waste of human potential, we explored the potential beneficial influence that the teen's parents may exert on her baby. Several factors support this approach to fostering the infant's development. First, few of these children are likely to have sustained contact with their biological fathers. Studies have revealed that only 19%—25% of the biological fathers of teens' babies live with them or are highly involved in their care (Vecchiolla & Maza, 1989). It is therefore possible that the baby's grandfather takes on the role of surrogate father in the absence of an alternative father figure in the home. Furthermore, the vast majority of teen mothers reside in the household of relatives, usually their parents, in the first few years after giving birth (Vecchiolla & Maza, 1989), and between 25% and 50% of those families contain two parents (Furstenberg & Crawford, 1978; Radin, Oyserman, & Benn, 1991). This living arrangement means that grandparents are physically available to the grandchild.