IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v151y2023ics0190740923002165.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An intervention to improve the well-being of families in which African American grandmothers are raising grandchildren: A longitudinal mediation analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Kelley, Susan J.
  • Whitley, Deborah M.
  • Lamis, Dorian A.

Abstract

Children raised by grandparents experience increased emotional distress often related to family circumstances. Drawing on a coping model of family stress, adjustment, and adaptation, we examined a 12-month home-based intervention to improve the well-being of families in which grandmothers are raising grandchildren and longitudinally explored grandmothers' perceived changes in grandchild behavior in relation to their psychological distress levels. The sample consisted of 510 African American custodial grandmother-grandchildren pairs, including children ages 4–16 years. All grandmothers participated in a 12-month, primarily home-based support intervention. The prospective analysis revealed that reported child internalizing and externalizing behavior problems and grandmother psychological distress decreased significantly from baseline to the 12-month follow-up assessment. Grandchild internalizing and externalizing behaviors were positively predicted by grandmothers' baseline and 12-month psychological distress. Concerning mediation, the total effect of baseline grandmother psychological distress on 12-month grandchild internalizing and externalizing behaviors was significant, positive, and significantly mediated by 12-month grandmother psychological distress. Findings also revealed medium effect sizes for the indirect effects. These results suggest that a decrease in psychological distress in grandmothers over the 12-month intervention had a positive effect on grandmothers’ perceptions of grandchildren's internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Study limitations and future research directions are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Kelley, Susan J. & Whitley, Deborah M. & Lamis, Dorian A., 2023. "An intervention to improve the well-being of families in which African American grandmothers are raising grandchildren: A longitudinal mediation analysis," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:151:y:2023:i:c:s0190740923002165
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.107021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740923002165
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.107021?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Washington, Tyreasa & Wrenn, Ashley & Kaye, Hannah & Priester, Mary Ann & Colombo, Gia & Carter, Kevin & Shadreck, Itumeleng & Hargett, Brenden A. & Williams, Jeffrey A. & Coakley, Tanya, 2018. "Psychosocial factors and behavioral health outcomes among children in Foster and Kinship care: A systematic review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 118-133.
    2. Smith, Gregory C. & Hayslip, Bert & Webster, Britney A., 2019. "Psychological difficulties among custodial grandchildren," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 1-1.
    3. Goodman, Catherine Chase, 2012. "Caregiving grandmothers and their grandchildren: Well-being nine years later," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 648-654.
    4. Xu, Yanfeng & Bright, Charlotte Lyn, 2018. "Children's mental health and its predictors in kinship and non-kinship foster care: A systematic review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 243-262.
    5. Kelley, Susan J. & Whitley, Deborah M. & Campos, Peter E., 2011. "Behavior problems in children raised by grandmothers: The role of caregiver distress, family resources, and the home environment," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(11), pages 2138-2145.
    6. Strozier, Anne L., 2012. "The effectiveness of support groups in increasing social support for kinship caregivers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 876-881.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rabassa, Judit & Fuentes-Peláez, Nuria, 2023. "Effectiveness of group intervention in improving kinship care families’ outcomes: A systematic review of group interventions aimed at kinship caregivers and youth in kinship care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    2. Smith, Gregory C. & Hayslip, Bert & Webster, Britney A., 2019. "Psychological difficulties among custodial grandchildren," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 1-1.
    3. Smith, Gregory C. & Hayslip Jr, Bert, 2023. "Grandmother and grandchild reports of psychological difficulties among custodial Grandchildren: Whose view matters and why is it important?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    4. Goulette, Natalie W. & Evans, Sara Z. & King, Dione, 2016. "Exploring the behavior of juveniles and young adults raised by custodial grandmothers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 349-356.
    5. Gleeson, James P. & Hsieh, Chang-ming & Cryer-Coupet, Qiana, 2016. "Social support, family competence, and informal kinship caregiver parenting stress: The mediating and moderating effects of family resources," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 32-42.
    6. Jill R. McTavish & Christine McKee & Masako Tanaka & Harriet L. MacMillan, 2022. "Child Welfare Reform: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-24, October.
    7. Nan Sun & Fan Yang, 2021. "Grandparenting and Children’s Health-Empirical Evidence from China," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(3), pages 1105-1120, June.
    8. Burnson, Cynthia & Covington, Sarah & Arvizo, Bertha & Qiao, Jun & Harris, Elizabeth, 2021. "The impact of parents anonymous on child safety and permanency," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    9. Daniel Scott & Natalie Goulette, 2023. "Caregiver Type and Gang Involvement: A Comparison of Female and Male Gang Members," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-15, July.
    10. Van Holen, Frank & Van Loock, Julie & Belenger, Laurence & Vanderfaeillie, Johan, 2017. "Concept mapping the needs of grandmothers who take care of their grandchildren in formal foster care in Flanders," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 159-167.
    11. Sipei Xu & Jia Zhang, 2022. "Do Social Pensions Affect the Physical and Mental Health of Rural Children in China? An Intergenerational Care Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-25, March.
    12. Schoemaker, Nikita K. & Juffer, Femmie & Rippe, Ralph C.A. & Vermeer, Harriet J. & Stoltenborgh, Marije & Jagersma, Gabrine J. & Maras, Athanasios & Alink, Lenneke R.A., 2020. "Positive parenting in foster care: Testing the effectiveness of a video-feedback intervention program on foster parents’ behavior and attitudes," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    13. Lin, Ching-Hsuan, 2014. "Evaluating Services for Kinship Care Families: A Systematic Review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 32-41.
    14. Rachel E. Dunifon & Kelly A. Musick & Christopher E. Near, 2020. "Time with Grandchildren: Subjective Well-Being Among Grandparents Living with Their Grandchildren," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 148(2), pages 681-702, April.
    15. Perry, Gretchen & Daly, Martin & Macfarlan, Shane, 2014. "Maternal foster families provide more stable placements than paternal families," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 155-159.
    16. Sacan, Selvinaz & Adibelli, Derya & Akyil, Rahsan Cevik, 2020. "Old age from children's perspective," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    17. Wang, Sophie Xuefei & Bansak, Cynthia, 2022. "Are Grandparents a Good Substitute for Parents as the Primary Caregiver? The Impact of Grandparents on Children's Academic Performance," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1100, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    18. Zhang, Junhua & Yan, Lixia & Qiu, Huiyan & Dai, Binrong, 2018. "Social adaptation of Chinese left-behind children: Systematic review and meta-analysis," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 308-315.
    19. Xu, Yanfeng & Man, Xiaoou & Zhang, Lixia & DeForge, Bruce, 2020. "Family foster care and children’s outcomes in China: Evidence from a scoping review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    20. Littlewood, Kerry A. & Strozier, Anne L. & Whittington, Danielle, 2014. "Kin as Teachers: An early childhood education and support intervention for kinship families," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 1-9.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:151:y:2023:i:c:s0190740923002165. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.