Grandmother and grandchild reports of psychological difficulties among custodial Grandchildren: Whose view matters and why is it important?. (May 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Smith, Gregory C.; Hayslip Jr, Bert
• Is Part Of: Children and youth services review. Volume 148(2023)
• Publication Date: 2023-05
• Subjects: Custodial grandparenting -- Informant discrepancy -- Grandchild mental health -- Dominic Interactive -- Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.; Social work with children -- Periodicals; Social work with youth -- Periodicals; Adolescent -- Periodicals; Child Welfare -- Periodicals; Social Work -- Periodicals; Service social aux enfants -- Périodiques; Service social à la jeunesse -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 362.705
• DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2022.106793
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0190-7409

Abstract

Highlights: As separate informants, both custodial grandmothers and their grandchildren between ages 6 to 12 as reported levels of internalizing and externalizing difficulties for these children that appear to exceed those within the general population of similarly aged children. Percentages of agreement among custodial grandmothers and their grandchildren was relatively high (58.9% − 74.3) regarding whether or not they reported the grandchild as being within the at risk for either internalizing or externalizing difficulties. At the categorical level, the numbers of grandmother-grandchild pairs where both members reported the grandchild being at risk for either an internalizing or externalizing difficulty was considerably small than when only one member of the grandmother-grandchild pair did. Statistically significant correlates of (disagreement) between custodial grandmothers and their grandchildren's reports of internalizing and externalizing difficulties include grandchildren's age, gender, and use of mental health services, as well as grandmothers' race, mental health service usage, depressive and anxious symptoms, and parenting practices reflecting acceptance vs rejection of the grandchild. Abstract: We conducted this first ever study comparing reports of custodial grandchildren's (CG) psychological difficulties obtained jointly from 163 custodial grandmothers (CGM) and their CG between ages 6–12. Internalizing and externalizing difficulties were indicated by whether any of the corresponding scales on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ, reported by CGM) or Dominic Interactive (DI, reported by CG) reached the 90th percentile. Internalizing and externalizing difficulties were reported by informant types at rates higher than those typically observed in the general population, with externalizing difficulties being more prevalent among male CG. At the dichotomous level of (dis)agreement, nearly-two-thirds of informant pairs showed concordance regarding whether or not they reported the CG at the 90th percentile on either externalizing and internalizing difficulties. When (dis)agreement was further broken into four specific categories (i.e., "neither report", "both report", "CGM only", and "CG only", CGM's use of mental health services, race, depressive and anxiety symptoms, harsh/punitive discipline, and warmth impacted such concordance as did CG's gender, age, and use of mental health services. The overall findings were remarkably similar regardless of which specific SDQ and DI scales were used in the analyses. The present study unearths new ground regarding the extent to which grandchildren's distress is similarly perceived by CG themselves versus their CGMs. Such findings are important to the extent that accurate estimates exist regarding the emotional difficulties CG face and lay the groundwork for timely and efficacious interventions designed to alleviate their distress.