Value Similarities with Grandparents among College Students: Gender, Family Lineage, and Relationship Closeness

Abstract

There may be a greater impact of grandparents on value similarity for grandchildren as grandparents and grandchildren nowadays share more time together than prior generations. However, less is known about how the extent to which value sharing may vary by grandparental family lineage, gender, and grandparent-grandchild closeness. This study is the first to examine grandchildren’s perceived value similarity with their focal grandparents in multiple domains in the context of intergenerational closeness across three developmental stages of grandchildren (N = 470). Consistent with prior studies, grandchildren’s values were more similar to maternal than paternal grandparents across domains, which is more significant among granddaughters. Importantly, the effect of grandparental family lineage was more significant for grandsons than for granddaughters. The results also revealed salient grandfathers’ influence specifically on grandsons’ moral and leisure values. Moreover, for granddaughters, the effect of grandparent-grandchild closeness on value similarity was consistent across family lineage, whereas for grandsons, only maternal grandfather-grandson closeness significantly predicted value similarity. The findings suggest various aspects of intergenerational efforts to enhance value sharing.