Psychological Development and Education ›› 2023, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (6): 859-868.doi: 10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2023.06.12

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Congruence and Incongruence of Mother-child Attachment and Grandmother-child Attachment: Links with Children’s Subjective Well-being

TANG Yingying1, LIN Xiuyun1, YIN Jinxiu1,2, HE Ting1, ZHOU Shaojia3, CAO Zhitao4   

  1. 1. Insititute of Developmental Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875;
    2. Shenzhen Longhua Foreign Languages School, Shenzhen 518110;
    3. Jiahua Lingyu Kindergarten of Longhua District, Shenzhen 518000;
    4. Hebei Psychological Education Technology Company Limited, Shijiazhuang 050000
  • Published:2023-11-11

RichHTML

PDF (PC)

Abstract: The present study aimed to explore the relationship between congruence and incongruence of mother-child attachment and grandmother-child attachment qualities and children's subjective well-being(life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect). A total of 226 elementary students (178 completed) from grandmother involved co-parenting families participated in this study and completed Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, Students' Life Satisfaction Scale and Inventory of Parent and Grandparent Attachment. Using Response Surface Analysis, our study found that: (1) Congruence in attachment predicted children's subjective well-being. Specifically, congruent lower level of parent-child and grandparent-child attachment quality were associated with child's higher level of subjective well-being; (2) When the average quality of mother-child and grandmother-child attachment was controlled for, no significant differences in negative affect were found between congruent and incongruent attachment qualities, while incongruence defined by higher mother-child attachment quality versus grandmother-child attachment quality was associated with a higher level of child's life satisfaction. Besides, mother-child attachment quality and grandmother-child attachment quality were both positively related to child's positive affect. This study deepened the understanding of children's multiple attachment and stressed the importance of attachment in grandmother co-parenting families.

Key words: grandmother-child attachment, mother-child attachment, subjective well-being, multiple attachment

CLC Number: 

  • B844
Antaramian, S. P., Huebner, E. S., Hills, K. J., & Valois, R. F. (2010). A dual‐factor model of mental health: Toward a more comprehensive understanding of youth functioning.American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 80(4), 462-472.
Ainsworth, M. S. (1989). Attachments beyond infancy.American Psychologist, 44(4), 709-716.
Ainsworth, M. S., & Bowlby, J. (1991). An ethological approach to personality development.American Psychologist, 46(4), 333-341.
Armsden, G. C., & Greenberg, M. T. (1987). The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment: Individual differences and their relationship to psychological well-being in adolescence.Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 16(5), 427-454.
Attar-Schwartz, S. (2015). Emotional closeness to parents and grandparents: A moderated mediation model predicting adolescent adjustment.American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 85(5), 495-503.
Attar-Schwartz, S., & Buchanan, A. (2018). Grandparenting and adolescent well-being: Evidence from the UK and Israel.Contemporary Social Science, 13(2), 219-231.
Barranti, M., Carlson, E. N., & Côté, S. (2017). How to test questions about similarity in personality and social psychology research: Description and empirical demonstration of response surface analysis.Social Psychological and Personality Science, 8(4), 465-475.
Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment and loss: Retrospect and prospect.American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 52(4), 664-678.
Brannan, D., Biswas-Diener, R., Mohr, C. D., Mortazavi, S., & Stein, N. (2013). Friends and family: A cross-cultural investigation of social support and subjective well-being among college students.The Journal of Positive Psychology, 8(1), 65-75.
Burnette, D., Sun, J., & Sun, F. (2013). A comparative review of grandparent care of children in the US and China.Ageing International, 38(1), 43-57.
Chang, Y.-H., Yi, C.-C., & Lin, K.-H. (2008). Kin network and its effect on the psychological well-being of the youth: The case of Taiwan. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 39(1), 19-37.
Chen, X., McElwain, N. L., & Lansford, J. E. (2019). Interactive contributions of attribution biases and emotional intensity to child-friend interaction quality during preadolescence. Child Development, 90(1), e114-e131.
Clingempeel, W. G., Colyar, J. J., Brand, E., & Hetherington, E. M. (1992). Children’s relationships with maternal grandparents: A longitudinal study of family structure and pubertal status effects.Child Development, 63(6), 1404-1422.
Dagan, O., & Sagi-Schwartz, A. (2018). Early attachment network with mother and father: An unsettled issue. Child Development Perspectives, 12(2), 115-121.
Das, K. V., Jones-Harrell, C., Fan, Y., Ramaswami, A., Orlove, B., & Botchwey, N. (2020). Understanding subjective well-being: Perspectives from psychology and public health.Public Health Reviews, 41(1), 25. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40985-020-00142-5
Deaton, A., & Stone, A. A. (2014). Evaluative and hedonic wellbeing among those with and without children at home.PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(4), 1328-1333.
Downie, J. M., Hay, D. A., Horner, B. J., Wichmann, H., & Hislop, A. L. (2010). Children living with their grandparents: Resilience and wellbeing.International Journal of Social Welfare, 19(1), 8-22.
Furman, W., & Simon, V. A. (2004). Concordance in attachment states of mind and styles with respect to fathers and mothers.Developmental Psychology, 40(6), 1239-1247.
Grob, A. (1995). Subjective well-being and significant life-events across the life span.Swiss Journal of Psychology, 54(1), 3-18.
Hayslip, B., & Kaminski, P. L. (2005). Grandparents raising their grandchildren: A review of the literature and suggestions for practice.The Gerontologist, 45(2), 262-269.
Howes, C., & Spieker, S. (2008).Attachment relationships in the context of multiple caregivers. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of Attachment: Theory, Research, and Clinical Applications (pp. 317-332). The Guilford Press.
Huebner, E. S. (1991). Initial development of the student’s life satisfaction scale.School Psychology International, 12(3), 231-240.
Kapteyn, A., Lee, J., Tassot, C., Vonkova, H., & Zamarro, G. (2015). Dimensions of subjective well-being.Social Indicators Research, 123(3), 625-660.
Ko, P. C., & Hank, K. (2014). Grandparents caring for grandchildren in China and Korea: Findings from CHARLS and KLoSA.Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 69(4), 646-651.
Kochanska, G., & Kim, S. (2013). Early attachment organization with both parents and future behavior problems: From infancy to middle childhood.Child Development, 84(1), 283-296.
Lavee, Y., & Katz, R. (2003). The family in Israel: Between tradition and modernity.Marriage & Family Review, 35(1-2), 193-217.
Lin, W. H., & Yi, C. C. (2019). Subjective well-being and family structure during early adolescence: A prospective study.The Journal of Early Adolescence, 39(3), 426-452.
Mónaco, E., Schoeps, K., & Montoya-Castilla, I. (2019). Attachment styles and well-being in adolescents: How does emotional development affect this relationship?International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(14), 2554. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16142554
Morrison, P. S. (2007). Subjective wellbeing and the city.Social Policy Journal of New Zealand, 31, 74-103.
Poehlmann, J. (2003). An attachment perspective on grandparents raising their very young grandchildren: Implications for intervention and research.Infant Mental Health Journal, 24(2), 149-173.
Rappa, A., & Tan, S. H. (2003). Political implications of Confucian familism.Asian Philosophy, 13(2-3), 87-102.
Ruiz, S. A., & Silverstein, M. (2007). Relationships with grandparents and the emotional well-being of late adolescent and young adult grandchildren.Journal of Social Issues, 63(4), 793-808.
Shanock, L. R., Baran, B. E., Gentry, W. A., Pattison, S. C., & Heggestad, E. D. (2010). Polynomial regression with response surface analysis: A powerful approach for examining moderation and overcoming limitations of difference scores.Journal of Business and Psychology, 25(4), 543-554.
Schwarz, B., Mayer, B., Trommsdorff, G., Ben-Arieh, A., Friedlmeier, M., Lubiewska, K., Mishra, R., & Peltzer, K. (2012). Does the importance of parent and peer relationships for adolescents'life satisfaction vary across cultures?The Journal of Early Adolescence, 32(1), 55-80.
Schönbrodt, F.D., & Humberg, S. (2020).RSA: An R package for response surface analysis (version 0.10.0). Retrieved from https://cran.r-project.org/package=RSA
Song, J., Ma, C., Gu, C., & Zuo, B. (2018). What matters most to the left-behind children’s life satisfaction and school engagement: Parent or grandparent?Journal of Child and Family Studies, 27(8), 2481-2490.
Suldo, S. M., & Shaffer, E. J. (2008). Looking beyond psychopathology: The dual-factor model of mental health in youth.School Psychology Review, 37(1), 52-68.
Van IJzendoorn, M. H., Sagi, A., & Lambermon, M. W. (1992). The multiple caretaker paradox: Data from Holland and Israel.New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 57, 5-24.
Verschueren, K., & Marcoen, A. (1999). Representation of self and socioemotional competence in kindergartners: Differential and combined effects of attachment to mother and to father.Child Development, 70(1), 183-201.
Wang, K. T., Wei, M., & Chen, H. H. (2015). Social factors in cross-national adjustment: Subjective well-being trajectories among Chinese international students.The Counseling Psychologist, 43(2), 272-298.
Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(6), 1063-1070.
Wirtz, D., Chiu, C.-y., Diener, E., & Oishi, S. (2009). What constitutes a good life? Cultural differences in the role of positive and negative affect in subjective well-being.Journal of Personality, 77(4), 1167-1196.
陈雯. (2017). 亲职抚育困境: 二孩国策下的青年脆弱性与社会支持重构. 中国青年研究, 10, 37-42.
陈文锋, 张建新. (2004). 积极/消极情感量表中文版的结构和效度. 中国心理卫生杂志, 11, 763-765+759.
李幼穗, 吉楠. (2006). 主观幸福感研究的新进展. 天津师范大学学报(社会科学版), (02), 70-74.
毛可, 张翔. (2018). 城市儿童隔代教育研究综述——基于 21 世纪以来 CNKI 的文献分析. 商丘师范学院学报, 34(08), 89-93.
金灿灿, 邹泓, 曾荣, 窦东徽. (2010). 中学生亲子依恋的特点及其对社会适应的影响: 父母亲密的调节作用. 心理发展与教育, 26(6), 577-583.
邢淑芬, 梁熙, 岳建宏, 王争艳. (2016). 祖辈共同养育背景下多重依恋关系及对幼儿社会-情绪性发展的影响. 心理学报, 48(5), 518-528.
邢淑芬, 王争艳. (2015). 多重看护背景下多重依恋关系及其对儿童发展的影响. 首都师范大学学报: 社会科学版, (5), 147-156.
岳坤. (2018). 父辈为主, 祖辈为辅的教养方式有利于儿童的健康成长——中国城市家庭教养中的祖辈参与状况调查. 少年儿童研究, 1, 3-20.
钟晓慧, 郭巍青. (2017). 人口政策议题转换: 从养育看生育——“全面二孩” 下中产家庭的隔代抚养与儿童照顾. 探索与争鸣, 1(7), 81.
周浩, 龙立荣. (2004). 共同方法偏差的统计检验与控制方法. 心理科学进展, 12(06), 942-950.
[1] PENG Haiyun, SHENG Liang, QIU Fanshuo, ZHOU Ziyan, XIN Sufei. Psychological Burden Reduction Starts from Dealing with Boredom: The Influencing Mechanism of Boredom Proneness on Subjective Well-being among Adolescents [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(6): 895-902.
[2] ZENG Zihao, PENG Liyi, ZHAN Lin, LIU Shuangjin, OUYANG Xiaoyou, DING Daoqun, LI Zhihua, HU Yiqiu, FANG Xiaoyi. The Effect of Childhood Maltreatment on College Students’ Depressive Symptoms: The Mediating Role of Subjective Well-being and the Moderation Role of Gene [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(2): 276-285.
[3] YIN Jinxiu, LIN Xiuyun, LIU Wei, WANG Yulong, PENG Bo. Association of Mother-child Discrepancies in Perceived Parenting and Children’s Depression: The Mediating Role of Mother-child Attachment [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2022, 38(4): 556-565.
[4] TIAN Weiyi, XU Jianjie, LYU Guanglin, WANG Yinan. Parental Self-esteem and Adolescents’ Subjective Well-being: The Chain Mediating Roles of Parent-adolescent Trust and Adolescents’ Self-esteem [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2022, 38(3): 331-338.
[5] CHEN Bizhong, ZHENG Xue, SUN Xiaojun. The Impact of Social Media Self-control Failure on Subjective Well-being of Postgraduates and Its Mechanism [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2021, 37(6): 882-888.
[6] YUAN Keman, LI Bailu, LIANG Lichan, BIAN Yufang. Cumulative Contextual Risk and Subjective Well-being in Migrant Children: The Compensatory Effect and Protective Effect of Individual Protective Factors [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2021, 37(4): 546-557.
[7] NIU Kaining, LI Mei, ZHANG Xiangkui. The Relationship Between Adolescents' Friendship Quality and Subjective Well-being: A Meta-analysis [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2021, 37(3): 407-418.
[8] LI Tiantian, WANG Juanjuan, GU Jiyou, XU Hewen. The Relation between Having or Not Having the Second Child and the Parenting Sense of Competence: The Moderating Effect of Parental Attachment in the First Child [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2020, 36(5): 563-568.
[9] CHEN ZiXun, WANG Hui, FENG Yingxue, LIU Xia. The Effects of Peer Victimization on Left-behind Adolescents' Subjective Well-being: The Roles of Self-esteem and Social Support [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2020, 36(5): 605-614.
[10] CHI Wentao, SANG Qingsong, SHU Shouli. The Relationship between College Students' Major Intrinsic Motivation and Subjective Well-being: The Mediators of Major Engagement and Subjective Major Achievement [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2020, 36(4): 477-485.
[11] HENG Shupeng, ZHAO Huanfang, NIU Gengfeng, ZHOU Zongkui. Likes on WeChat Moments and Subjective Well-Being: A Mediated Moderation Model [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2020, 36(3): 341-349.
[12] GUO Jinjin, NIU Lu, XIE Xiaochun, WANG Pengcheng, LEI Li. The Association between “Show off Love” and Subjective Well-being of Spectators: The Mediating Role of Self-esteem and the Moderating Role of Attachment [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2020, 36(3): 359-366.
[13] WU Yuting, YUAN Xin, WANG Yuqing, ZHU Hui, MAO Yelin, JIN Cancan. Influence of Square Dance Organizational Climate towards Elderly's Subjective Well-being: The Mediating Effect of Group Identification and Self-esteem [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2019, 35(5): 624-631.
[14] ZHANG Xingxu, GUO Haiying, LIN Danhua. A Study on the Relationship between Parent-child, Peer, Teacher-student Relations and Subjective Well-being of Adolescents [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2019, 35(4): 458-466.
[15] NIU Yubai, HAO Zesheng, WANG Renzhen, HONG Fang. The Relationship between Optimism, Perceived Social Support and Subjective Well-being of The Elderly: The Mediating Role of Control Strategies [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2019, 35(2): 227-235.
Viewed
Full text


Abstract

Cited
  Shared   
  Discussed   
No Suggested Reading articles found!
Copyright 2018 © Editorial office of Psychological Development and Education
Supported by Beijing Magtech Co.Ltd