Turning Points in Parent-Grandparent Relationships During the Start of a New Generation

Abstract

The transition to parenthood is a pivotal life event. Becoming parents affects many family relationships, although the bulk of research has emphasized marriage and parents' relationships to their newborn. The current study is a qualitative analysis of new parents' relationships with their parents, the new grandparents. Twenty-three first-time parents completed semistructured interviews during which each identified changes in their relationship with either a parent or parent-in-law. New parents described the transitional period beginning from the date they announced the pregnancy to the future grandparents. Through the Retrospective Interview Technique (Huston, Surra, Fitzgerald, & Cate, 1981 Huston, T. L., Surra, C., Fitzgerald, N. M. and Cate, R. 1981. “From courtship to marriage: Mate selection as an interpersonal process”. In Personal relationships 2: Developing personal relationships, Edited by: Duck, S. and Gilmour, R. New York: Academic Press. [Google Scholar]), participants described 225 events that changed intergenerational relationships. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed inductively, resulting in 10 turning points. Guided by dialogic theory, the analysis included the valence (positive, negative, and both) and locus (internal and external to the dyad) of each turning point. Connection, Gifts, and some communicative turning points were found to be positive for intergenerational relationships, whereas Conflict and Face-Threatening Advice generally lowered satisfaction. Birth and several other turning points were multivocal, with both negative and positive evaluations by new parents.