Mothers’ and Grandmothers’ Caregiving for Young Children in Chile: Roles and Responsibilities

• In Event: Extended family roles, parenting, and child development

Abstract

In the last 30 years there has been an increase in the number of Chilean mothers who do not coreside with the father of their children (Centro de Microdatos, 2013). There has also been an increase the rate of women entering the labor force during child-bearing years (INE, 2015; OECD, 2019). These changes have put women in a difficult position, as Chile remains traditional in terms of gender roles around childcare (Aguayo, Correa, & Cristi, 2011) and the Chilean labor market is characterized by long work hours and a lack of flexibility regarding scheduling, making childcare on a 9-5 schedule highly incompatible (Schkolnik, 2004). Thus, Chilean working mothers are turning to their own mothers or mothers-in-law (SERNAM, 2012). Little is known, however, about the role fulfilled by these caregiving grandmothers and how they support mothers in their childrearing activities. We used mixed methods to explore (1) how mothers and grandmothers in the same family share the caregiving responsibilities, (2) how grandmother participation is associated with mother-child interaction, and (3) if the distribution of responsibilities is contingent on family organization and maternal work status.
We examine how mothers’ caregiving roles and responsibilities differ depending on grandmother caregiver type. Using the ELPI database, ¬a nationally representative focal-child survey from Chile, we find that Chilean children ages 5 years or less experience high rates of regular involvement of grandmothers; one-third of the sampled children coresided with their grandmothers, and almost half of children spend time with them regularly (n=4486). This level of involvement of the grandmothers was associated with demographic characteristics, with grandmothers’ being a majority caregiver in families in which mothers were more educated, had higher levels of employment, and worked more hours. We contrast the frequency with which mothers participate in activities with their children by degree of grandmother participation. We observe that mothers do similar levels of activities with their children, regardless of grandmother caregiving type. The only exception is that mothers who coreside with a grandmother who is a secondary caregiver engage more frequently with their children in play and educational activities.
With the purpose of complementing the quantitative results to learn about the activities that grandmothers did with their grandchildren and mothers’ and grandmothers’ beliefs about their caregiving roles, we conducted in-depth interviews with mothers and grandmothers (N=20). We find that how mothers and grandmothers share the caregiving responsibilities depends on the mother’s work status. In spite of the amount of care the grandmother provides, beliefs about the roles fulfilled in the caregiving dynamic are consistent. Typically, both mothers and grandmothers indicate that grandmothers defer discipline to mothers, but that grandmothers play an important role in providing socio-emotional care.
Given the high rates of grandmother participation and the value Chilean mothers place on grandmother care, including grandmothers in family programs to support early childhood could be beneficial for all family members. Additionally, policy makers may consider offering a subsidy to grandmothers who are majority care providers for their grandchild(ren), like a cash transfer for training informal caregivers.

Authors

• Monica Zegers, University of California - San Francisco
  Presenting Author

• Sarah Reynolds, University of California, Berkeley
  Non-Presenting Author