The Role of Shared Family Identity and Future Time Perspective in Shaping the Outcomes of Grandparents’ Positive and Negative Social Behaviors

Abstract

Scholars have begun to recognize that negative social encounters may have more profound effects on individuals than do positive social encounters. This study analyzes survey responses provided by 195 young adults regarding the kinds of positive and negative social behaviors they experience during interactions with target grandparents. Results suggest that the nature of grandchildren’s evaluations of grandparent behavior and the impact of grandparent behavior on grandchildren’s feelings of relational satisfaction are contingent on feelings of shared familial identification, although a question remains as to whether shared family identification functions as a moderator or a mediator. Results also suggested that shared family identity interacted with perceptions of grandparents’ futures as being restricted versus expansive to shape the impact of frequent positive grandparent behaviors.

Notes

¹ This service was developed and is maintained by Mads Haahr of the school of Computer Science and Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin.

² This pattern of indirect effects was consistent when analysis was performed separately on each of the four types of positive grandparent behavior. All regression coefficients reported are unstandardized betas.

³ In separate analyses, each of the four types of negative grandparent behavior exerted a negative indirect on satisfaction via shared family identity, while none of them exerted an indirect effect on negative appraisals.