Women tend to raise their children gently with their own parents' help: Study

Mothers who have their own parents to help take care for their children are more likely to adopt a gentler parenting style than mothers who have no support, according to a study led by NTU. The research team analysed data from 615 mother-child pairs enrolled in the GUSTO cohort study, and found that mothers of children aged 4½ years said they engaged in less frequent strict and controlling parenting when the child's maternal grandparents stepped in to help. When their child was 6, mothers who had been supported by their own parents also reported engaging in more positive parenting.  Assoc Prof Setoh Peipei from the Psychology division at NTU's School of Social Sciences, who led the study, said: "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. This finding supports the idea introduced in earlier research 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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- Initiated by CCO. See previous coverage.