Grandmother—Grandchild Relationship Quality Predicts Psychological Adjustment Among Youth From Divorced Families

Abstract

This study investigates maternal grandmother—grandchild relationship quality as a predictor of psychological adjustment among youth from divorced families. Three hundred twenty-four adolescents aged between 17 and 20 report on the quality of their relationships with their maternal grandmothers and their relational competence, self-efficacy, and psychological symptoms. Structural equation modeling analyses support a model in which participants' relationships with grandmothers predict their psychological adjustment. Family background (divorced vs. intact families) moderates the relationship between relationship quality and adjustment; youth from divorced families indicate that their relationships with their maternal grandmothers are more salient to their adjustment than do youth from intact families. These findings suggest that the bonds young people develop with their maternal grandmothers following their parents' divorce may positively affect their psychological functioning.