Strengths and educational styles in grandparents with grandchildren aged 6-12 years old.
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Abstract
Although grandparents are not responsible for the education of their grandchildren, there is no doubt they are important socializing agents who may use different educational styles. Character strengths can help grandparents to relate to grandchildren more successfully. The objective of this study is to determine differences in the socialization styles used by grandparents by their sociodemographic and intergenerational variables as well as their character strengths. We assessed 300 grandparents with grandchildren aged 6-12 from different regions of Spain. We conducted One-way ANOVAs, Student’s t-tests and Pearson’s correlations. Differences in educational styles were observed by sociodemographic variables and their relationship with grandchildren. The use of the democratic style varied significantly depending on grandparents job situation, age, contact and relationship with the grandchildren, perception of gratitude and motivations towards caring. The liberal style showed significant differences based on kinship, closeness with the grandchild and their adult children gratitude. The authoritarian style reflected differences based on socioeconomic status, desire to see the grandchildren, and motivations for caring. Likewise, we observed positive correlations of the democratic style with optimism, creativity, forgiveness and open-mindedness. The authoritarian style correlated negatively with self-control. The liberal style correlated negatively with optimism, spirituality, forgiveness, creativity, vitality, and self-control. Although sex, age, the quality of the grandparent-grandchild relationship or the socioeconomic level seem to be associated with educational styles, the interpersonal variables (gratitude, contact, type of relationship, desire for contact, motivations) and grandparents strengths are the main variables that relate more significantly in how grandparents socialize their grandchildren. Based on the results found in this study, we make several proposals for future programs.
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