Poster #32 - Exploring Predictors of Grandmother Involvement in Low-Income, Mexican-Origin Families

• In Event: Poster Session 15

Abstract

Grandparents are playing an increasingly important role in children’s lives, with the percentage of children living with grandparents rising 12% between 2008 and 2011, and nearly 13% of Hispanic/Latinx children in the U.S. living with one grandparent as of 2011 (Dunifon, 2013). Non-custodial grandparents, even when living outside of the home, are theorized to exert unique influences on child and familial wellbeing, however limited empirical studies exist (Sadruddin et al., 2019). Grandparent involvement is a multidimensional construct, including the frequency and type of contact, types of activities completed together, intimacy, interpersonal support, instrumental assistance, authority/discipline, and closeness/relationship quality (Mueller et al., 2002; Sadruddin et al., 2019). Among more recently immigrated Mexican-origin families in the United States, grandparent involvement with grandchildren may be facilitated or complicated by a variety of intergenerational factors, such as transborder residence, physical proximity, language fluency, acculturation, and parental and child characteristics (Barnett et al., 2016). The current study explores four predictors of grandmother involvement among low-income, Mexican-origin families: grandmother country of residence, physical proximity to grandchild, grandmother-mother relationship quality, and grandchild cultural orientation.

Data was collected as part of an ongoing, prospective study of Mexican American mother-child dyads (N = 322). Mothers reported on children’s cultural orientation at child age 7.5 years (ARSMA-II; Cuéllar et al., 1995). During ongoing phone surveys with mothers, interviewers requested permission to contact maternal grandmothers of the target child participating in the ongoing study. With mothers’ approval, grandmothers were contacted by phone by trained bilingual interviewers and invited to participate in novel data collection via phone survey. Grandmother eligibility criteria included identification as the biological mother of target mother, Mexican or Mexican-origin, and fluency in English or Spanish. From May – September 2022, 77 maternal grandmothers (see Table 1; expected final N = 80) participated. Maternal grandmothers reported on demographic information and multiple domains of grandmother involvement, contact, and relationship quality with target mother and child (adapted from Mueller et al., 2002).

Preliminary and primary analyses will be conducted in Mplus v. 8 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998-2017), using all available values and maximum likelihood estimation among cases with missing data (Enders & Bandalos, 2001). Preliminary exploratory factor analysis (EFA) will evaluate the factor structure of overall grandmother involvement to inform the outcomes in the primary model, using proposed dimensions of grandmother involvement from the original measure as a guide (see Table 2; Mueller et al., 2002). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) will then be conducted to evaluate the best-fitting model of grandmother involvement supported by the EFA. The primary structural equation model will evaluate grandmother country of residence, physical proximity to grandchild, grandmother-mother relationship quality, and grandchild cultural orientation as predictors grandmother involvement outcomes identified in the EFA. Grandmother residence in the United States, closer physical proximity to grandchild, higher grandmother-mother relationship quality, and higher grandchild Mexican cultural orientation are hypothesized to predict greater grandmother involvement overall.

Authors

• Sarah Gianna Curci, Arizona State University
  Presenting Author

• Emily Alvarez, Arizona State University

• Angela Gervassi-Saga, Arizona State University

• Paloma Ortiz, Arizona State University

• Kenya Torres, Arizona State University

• Michelle Valdez, Arizona State University

• Linda J. Luecken, Arizona State University