The Role of Grandparents in Single-Parent Families in Taiwan

Abstract

Using data from the Taiwan Education Panel Survey, this study explored the role of co-resident grandparents in Taiwan's single-parent families. Single fathers were more likely to settle in multigenerational living arrangements than single mothers. Grandparent co-residence was positively associated with adolescents’ cognitive scores, but the benefit was even larger for youths from single-father families. Grandparent co-residence was correlated with greater parental investment, although in different ways for different types of single families. Single fathers interacted more with the child and had higher educational expectations if living with a grandparent. Single mothers in three-generation families spent more tutorial expense than other single mothers. These results suggest that the grandparent role may be supplementary to weak family functioning.

KEYWORDS:

• grandparent co-residence
• multigenerational living arrangement
• single father
• single mother

Notes

The percentage of those who do not live with both parents (6.6%) is high. Another youth survey, the Taiwan Youth Project, which was conducted about the same time in 2001, reported a percentage of less than 3% of families where both parents are absent. However, all Taiwan Youth Project samples are from Northern Taiwan and half are from Taipei, whereas TEPS is a national representative sample. Chen, Weng, Hsu, and Lin (2000) reported that skipped-generation families are more concentrated in rural areas in middle and Southern Taiwan.

When the student reported father absence but parental marital status was married, it is possible that his or her father works in a Foreign Country as Taishang or Taigan (businessman or manager working in mainland China or Southeast Asian countries), although we do not have information to distinguish this condition from data inconsistency. When the student reported no parental absence but parents’ marital status was divorced or separated, it could be that the child is under joint custody of both parents or that the child moves back and forth between the father's and mother's place, a situation difficult to categorize.

TEPS does not provide separate measurements for either reading or science. In other words, the assessment results of reading ability or levels of science knowledge is mixed in the General Cognitive Score and cannot be separated from it.

The original data do not contain information of either the number of grandparents or whether they are paternal or maternal side.

Table 2 displays the mean and range of highest parental education (in years), but the following regression analyses control parental education in its original categorical form (four levels plus one category of missing cases).

The means of household income is displayed in Table 2 (in thousands of NT dollars) for each type of family structure, but later analyses control income in its original categorical form (six categories plus one category of missing cases).

Cram schools are common in East Asian countries. Most cram schools are privately-owned businesses which provide courses to train their students to meet particular goals, mostly to pass the entrance examinations of high schools or universities.

This study does not distinguish single-parent families due to parental death from those due to parental divorce.

Becasue most three-generational households are living with paternal grandparents (Yi et al., 2006), aggressive parents-in-law may cause marriage problems and insist on paternal custody at the same time.

Sobel test statistics: father's involvement (p = .62), mother's involvement (p = .17), parents’ educational expectation (p = .15), and tutorial expense (p = .57).