Mother’s Parental Warmth Enhances with Childcare Support by Maternal Grandparent, Study Finds

An NTU Singapore study thinks the types of childcare support matters. Through analysing data from 615 mother-child pairs enrolled in the GUSTO cohort study, the study found that mothers who receive childcare support from maternal grandparents show more parental warmth than mothers who do not receive any support. These mothers engaged in less frequent strict and controlling parenting when the child’s maternal grandparents stepped in to help. Interestingly, the study did not find evidence to support an association between support from other types of caregiving arrangements – paternal grandparents, both maternal and paternal grandparents or domestic helpers – and positive parenting approaches in mothers. “While maternal grandparents, paternal grandparents, and domestic helpers all have the potential to provide instrumental assistance and emotional encouragement when it comes to childcare duties, our study found that childcare support from maternal grandparents was the most beneficial,” explained Assoc Prof Setoh Peipei from the Psychology division at NTU’s SSS. She added that maternal grandparents are uniquely positioned to provide support in a manner most aligned with the needs of mothers, possibly due to shared values and ease of communication.

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