Abstract
Over 5.4 million children within the US are raised by their grandparents, and yet, little research has been done on the developmental, emotional, and behavioral outcomes of these children. Most studies have used a comparison group of children raised in typical family settings, which proves an unfair comparison group, as so many of these “custodial grandchildren” have been placed into their grandparents’ care as a result of parental trauma. The purpose of the current study is compare the mental health of children raised by their grandparents with those raised by a foster parent.
Participants were 323 grandparents raising their grandchildren, and 105 foster parents, recruited via Qualtrics Panel Service. The mean age was 50.44 years. The sample was 83.9% female, 58.6% were married, 17% were racial minorities, and 52% were employed. Measures included Angold & Costello’s Mood and Feelings Questionnaire, which assesses children’s depressive symptoms, and Frick’s Alabama Parenting Questionnaire, which assesses the amount of warmth, consistency in discipline, and the amount of supervision that caregivers apply while parenting their children.
Children raised by their grandparents had significantly lower levels of depressive symptoms than those raised by foster parents. Grandparents also reported significantly higher levels of consistent discipline practices and higher supervision of their grandchildren. Mediation analyses found that the relation between caregiver type and children’s depressive symptoms was significantly mediated by both supervision level and consistency in discipline. These results suggest that caregivers’ discipline and supervision are two appropriate targets for interventions on children’s depressive symptoms.