Lineage difference in grandmothers’ childcare help and mothers’ parenting stress in urban China

ABSTRACT

Grandparents are an important source of social support for parents’ adjustment to parenthood. In this study, we examine how urban Chinese mothers experience grandmother support in relation to their parenting stress, based on the interview and survey data of a sample of 352 first-time mothers with 14-month-old children living in Nanjing, China. We find a lineage-based difference in mothers’ experiences of maternal versus paternal grandmothers’ help with childcare in the context of parenting stress. Maternal grandmothers’ support tends to alleviate mother’s parenting stress, while paternal grandmothers co-living with mothers is positively associated with maternal stress. Differences in caregiving motivations and conflict resolution in maternal versus paternal grandmother care (greater consideration of mother’s needs and more effective communication with mother in maternal grandmother care) may contribute to mothers’ differential experiences of parenting stress. Our study suggests that mothers’ subjective experiences of grandmother support (beyond the mere availability of the support) play an important role in shaping maternal stress and highlights the changing significance of family lineage in shaping intergenerational care support and its implication for co-parenting experiences of parents and grandparents.

KEYWORDS:

• China
• grandparents
• parenting stress
• lineage
• childcare support

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 IRB 200623 approved by Nanjing Health Care Center for Women and Children.

2 The full list of items is the following: I often have the feeling that I cannot handle things very well; I find myself giving up more of my life to meet my children’s needs; I feel trapped by my responsibilities as a parent; Since having this child, I have been unable to do new and different things; Since having a child, I feel that I am almost never able to do things that I like to do; I am unhappy with the last purchase of clothing I made for myself; My child has caused more problems than I expected in my relationship; I feel alone and without friends; When I go to a party, I usually expect not to enjoy myself.

Additional information

Funding

Writing of this article was sponsored by the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality Pujiang Talent Program 2019 (19PJC019) awarded to Cong Zhang.