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Breaking the Chain: How Grandparents Moderate the Transmission of Maternal Depression to Their Grandchildren
Author(s) -
Silverstein Merril,
Ruiz Sarah
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
family relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1741-3729
pISSN - 0197-6664
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-3729.2006.00429.x
Subject(s) - grandparent , psychology , developmental psychology , depressive symptoms , family systems theory , psychiatry , anxiety
Drawing on family systems theory, this study examined whether social cohesion with grandparents moderated the intergenerational transmission of depressive symptoms from mothers to their adolescent and young adult children. We analyzed data from 2,280 grandchildren and their mothers who participated in two waves of the National Survey of Families and Households. Results revealed that grandchildren who were least integrated with their grandparents resembled their mothers in the severity of depressive symptoms. Grandchildren who were more integrated with their grandparents bore no such resemblance. We conclude that grandparents are consequential family actors who, by conditioning parent‐child dynamics, influence the long‐term emotional well‐being of their grandchildren. Results are discussed in terms of intergenerational interdependence and the untapped resource that older adults represent.