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Measuring the Parenting Practices of Custodial Grandmothers

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Abstract

Despite increased interest in parenting among custodial grandmothers (CGM), there is scant research on assessing their parenting practices. With CGMs as informants we examined the factor structure for five self-report scales developed as measures of parental nurturance and discipline with birth parents, and then tested for measurement invariance by grandchildren’s age (4–<7 vs. >7–12). We also examined concurrent validity for these scales according to the Family Stress Model. Data were from 343 CGMs (M = 58.45, SD = 8.22) enrolled in a randomized clinical trial caring for grandchildren (GC) aged 4–12 (M = 7.81, SD = 2.56). Discipline was assessed by three scales from the Parental Behavior Inventory (Consistency, Effective, and Punitive). Nurturance was assessed by the Positive Affect Index and the Supportive Engaged Behavior scale of the Parenting Practice Interview. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) revealed that these scales were best represented as five distinct yet covarying factors (RMSEA = 0.055; SRMR = 0.07). Follow-up CFAs within each GC age group supported this model, with only few changes suggested by the corresponding diagnostic tests. A model with these changes was then examined for measurement invariance by CG age group, with complete measurement invariance found and all items loading onto their respective factors significantly. The five scales also correlated as expected with indices of CGM psychological distress and GC adjustment. We conclude that the scales examined here can be used meaningfully with CGM as respondents.

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Acknowledgments

Work on this study was funded by 1R01NR012256 awarded to the first and third authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA

    Gregory C. Smith & William Merchant

  2. University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA

    Bert Hayslip Jr.

  3. University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Gregory R. Hancock

  4. University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Frederick Strieder

  5. University of North Carolina, Charlotte, NC, USA

    Julian Montoro-Rodriguez

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  1. Gregory C. Smith
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  2. William Merchant
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  3. Bert Hayslip Jr.
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  4. Gregory R. Hancock
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  5. Frederick Strieder
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  6. Julian Montoro-Rodriguez
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Correspondence to Gregory C. Smith.

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Smith, G.C., Merchant, W., Hayslip, B. et al. Measuring the Parenting Practices of Custodial Grandmothers. J Child Fam Stud 24, 3676–3689 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-015-0176-9

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