How Gender Moderates the Grandparent-Grandchild Relationship

Abstract

This study examined whether young adult grandchildren's reports on the closeness, importance, and satisfaction with their favorite grandparent were moderated by the gender of the grandchild, grandparent, or parent and whether these associations, if found, supported kin-keeper versus kin-selector theories of family relations. Participants were 206 American young adults with a favorite living grandparent. Gender was related to both the closeness and importance young adults ascribed to the relation they have with their grandparents. No effects of gender on satisfaction with the grandchild-grandparent relation were found. Stronger support for men and women as kin keepers rather than as kin selectors was found.