Family structure, the quality of family ties, and the positive development of adolescents: the family social capital of grandparents in low-income Singaporean families

ABSTRACT Low fertility rates and an ageing population have resulted in smaller and increasingly non-nuclear Singaporean families, where the geographical proximity of nuclear and extended family members increases their accessibility to one another. This cross-sectional study of 107 adolescents from low-income families, involving five social service agencies, finds that those in two-parent households without access to a grandparent exhibit more positive development than those in single-parent households with access to a grandparent, suggesting that grandparents do not necessarily substitute absent parents. The study also demonstrates the need to evaluate different measures of family structure, quality of family ties, and grandparental needs.