Grandparental influence on young adult grandchildren: the role of grandparental empathy and quality of intergenerational relationships

Abstract

results The maternal grandmother was most often indicated as the closest grandparent. The perception of grandparental influence was predicted by the quality of intergenerational relationships and grandparental empathy after controlling for sociodemographic variables, moderated by grandchild’s gender. Particularly, both for granddaughters and grandsons the relational closeness with the closest grandparent and perceived empathy were significant predictors of grandparental influence, but perceived grandparental empathy was a stronger predictor for granddaughters, whereas the relational closeness was a stronger predictor for grandsons.