articolo 1 michela

1. Journal of Family Psychology © 2011 American Psychological Association
2011, Vol. 25, No. 1, 117–126 0893-3200/11/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0021877
Adolescent Mothers’ Relationships With Their Own Mothers:
Impact on Parenting Outcomes
Katie Sellers Maureen M. Black
Tulane University University of Maryland
Neil W. Boris Sarah E. Oberlander
Tulane University University of Maryland
Leann Myers
Tulane University
This study examined the relationship between mother– grandmother relationship quality and
adolescent mothers’ parenting behaviors using longitudinal multimethod, multi-informant
data. Participants were 181 urban, African American adolescent mothers. Self-report data on
mother– grandmother relationship conflict and depressive symptoms were collected after
delivery and at 6-, 13-, and 24-month follow-up visits. Videotaped observations were used to
measure mother– grandmother relationship quality at baseline. Mother– child interactions
were videotaped at 6, 13, and 24 months to operationalize parenting. Mixed-model regression
methods were used to investigate the relation between mother– grandmother relationships and
mother– child interactions. Mother– grandmother relationship quality predicted both negative
control and nurturing parenting. Mothers whose own mothers were more direct (both
demanding and clear) and who reported low relationship conflict demonstrated low negative
control in their parenting. Mothers who demonstrated high levels of individuation (a balance
of autonomy and mutuality) and reported low relationship conflict showed high nurturing
parenting. The implications of these findings for adolescent health and emotional develop-
ment are discussed.
Keywords: adolescent parenting, family relations, family conflict, intergenerational
relations
The children of low-income, African American adoles- However, models of adult parenting often ignore the socio-
cent mothers are at high risk for behavior problems and economic distress experienced by many adolescent mothers,
impaired social and emotional development (Coley & and variation between adolescent mothers is often over-
Chase-Lansdale, 1998; Furstenberg, Brooks-Gunn, & looked (East & Felice, 1996).
Chase-Lansdale, 1989). Adolescent mothers are less likely Adolescent mothers rarely parent alone, particularly since
than adult mothers to provide the kind of supportive and the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Op-
sensitive parenting that fosters social and emotional com- portunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996, which
petence (Berlin, Brady-Smith, & Brooks-Gunn, 2002). requires adolescent mothers to live with a parent or guardian
to qualify for public assistance. Maternal grandmothers are
often key figures in rearing the children of low-income,
This article was published Online First January 10, 2011. African American adolescent mothers (Davis, 2002; Ober-
Katie Sellers and Neil W. Boris, Department of Community lander, Black, & Starr, 2007; Voight, Hans, & Bernstein,
Health Sciences, Tulane University School of Public Health and 1996). Although adolescent mothers identify maternal
Tropical Medicine; Maureen M. Black, Department of Pediatrics, grandmothers as their greatest source of support, grand-
University of Maryland School of Medicine; Sarah E. Oberlander, mothers are also recognized as a common source of conflict
Department of Pediatrics, University of Maryland School of Med- (Davis & Rhodes, 1994; Nitz, Ketterlinus, & Brandt, 1995).
icine; Leann Myers, Department of Biostatistics, Tulane Univer- Conflict in coresiding multigenerational households is
sity School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. common (Apfel & Seitz, 1991). Conflict between adoles-
This study was supported by grant MCJ-240301 from the Ma-
cent parents and their mothers may, in fact, predate the birth
ternal and Child Health Research Program. The authors extend
their appreciation to other members of the Three Generation team of the child, and like any other major event, the birth of the
and to the families who participated in the project. child may either up- or down-regulate existing mother-
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to daughter conflict. In some cases, young grandmothers are
Katie Sellers, 1632 Nicholson Street, NW, Washington, DC simultaneously parenting children of their own; the birth of
20011. E-mail: cas133@columbia.edu another child into the family may increase stress and breed
117

2. 118 SELLERS, BLACK, BORIS, OBERLANDER, AND MYERS
resentment (Chase-Lansdale, Brooks-Gunn, & Zamsky, tially, but the goal is clearly to transfer responsibility to the
1994). Grandmothers of any age may feel their success as a adolescent mother once she has become a competent parent.
parent is threatened when their child becomes an adolescent In this study, we were guided by the parental apprentice
parent (Kaplan, 1996). Conflict arises when adolescent model. Apfel and Seitz (1991) argued that this arrangement
mothers and grandmothers disagree over caregiving or dis- would allow for successful achievement of adolescent
cipline techniques (Apfel & Seitz, 1991). goals, such as education, because grandmothers would ini-
The quality of the mother– grandmother relationship may tially provide substantial support with child care. The model
influence the young mother’s parenting in several different would also allow for optimal adolescent parenting quality
ways. Belsky’s (1984) process model of the determinants of and sense of competence, because grandmothers provided
parenting described the importance of the parent’s personal support and mentorship. Young mothers could practice
psychological resources, the contextual sources of support caregiving and gain a sense of autonomy in a safe, support-
and stress, and the child’s characteristics. In multigenera- ive environment (Apfel & Seitz, 1991).
tional families, the mother– grandmother relationship plays The parental apprentice model includes an implicit, but
an important role in the first two categories of determinants. unstudied, emphasis on the quality of the adolescent
The grandmother’s parenting of the mother influences the mother– grandmother relationship (Oberlander et al., 2007).
mother’s maturity and emotional well-being. In addition, The impact of the extended family on adolescent mothers’
the grandmother may serve as a coparent (thereby taking adjustment and acquisition of parenting skills may vary
over a portion of the marital partner role) or at least a major depending on the quality of the mother– grandmother rela-
provider of support, stress, or both in the young mother’s tionship. Just as conflict between two parents can detract
social network. from the quality of parenting in two-parent families (Grych
In this study, we looked at the nature of the relationship & Fincham, 1990), mother– grandmother conflict may in-
between mother and grandmother shortly after the birth of fluence young mothers’ parenting when grandmothers are
the child, as well as the degree of mother– grandmother substantially involved in child rearing.
conflict over the course of the first 2 years of the child’s life. Family climate, including both conflict and support, is a
This design allowed us to investigate the resources the clear predictor of parenting among adult samples. For ex-
mother and grandmother had to address conflict as it arose. ample, Belsky, Jaffee, Sligo, Woodward, and Silva (2005)
Several mechanisms exist through which shared caregiv-
studied family climate in a sample of adult parents in New
ing may detract from adolescent parenting skills. The grand-
Zealand. Findings revealed that a supportive parental rela-
mother may perform child-rearing tasks without allowing
tionship during childhood was associated with warm and
the adolescent mother to develop parenting skills, or the
sensitive parenting to the next generation. Extant research
adolescent mother may focus her energies on the tasks of
does not fully explore this phenomenon among adolescent
adolescence without devoting much effort to the tasks of
mothers, particularly after the passage of PRWORA, when
parenthood. Adolescent mothers with conflicted relation-
ships in their social networks are at risk for low levels of adolescent mothers are mandated to coreside with adults.
parenting skills and maternal adjustment (Nitz et al., 1995; Among families such as those in this study, it is difficult to
Voight et al., 1996). Parental conflict has been linked to disentangle the intergenerational transmission of parenting
poor child adjustment, mediated through parenting skills from the simultaneous conflict and support present in copa-
(Jones, Shaffer, Forehand, Brody, & Armistead, 2003). renting situations. Most data on the quality of adolescent
Although shared caregiving may enable young mothers to mother– grandmother relationships are from cross-sectional
accomplish the tasks of adolescence (Gordon, Chase- studies (Caldwell, Antonucci, & Jackson, 1998; Davis &
Lansdale, & Brooks-Gunn, 2004), it may interfere with the Rhodes, 1994; Davis, Rhodes, & Hamilton-Leaks, 1997;
acquisition of parenting skills (Chase-Lansdale et al., 1994; Wakschlag, Chase-Lansdale, & Brooks-Gunn, 1996),
Spieker & Bensley, 1994; Unger & Cooley, 1992). In an thereby limiting the ability to estimate the impact of conflict
effort to understand family adaptation to adolescent parent- on adolescent mothers’ parenting (see Jones and colleagues
hood, Apfel and Seitz (1991) conducted qualitative inter- as an exception; Dorsey, Forehand, & Brody, 2007; Jones,
views with a sample of African American adolescent moth- Forehand, Dorsey, Foster, & Brody, 2005; Jones et al.,
ers and grandmothers living in an inner-city environment. 2003). Furthermore, there may be significant differences in
Four models were discerned on the basis of division of families for whom risks such as poverty, neighborhood
caregiving tasks. First, in the parental replacement model, violence, or minority status complicate child rearing; the
grandmothers assume primary responsibility for child rear- existing literature focuses primarily on such high-risk fam-
ing. Second, in the parental supplement model, mothers and ilies, and generalizability from these studies is limited.
grandmothers, or other coresiding family members, share Our goal in this study is to understand how adolescent
child care responsibilities. Third, in the supported primary mother– grandmother relationship quality measured in the
parent model, adolescent mothers assume primary respon- immediate postpartum period is associated with adolescent
sibility for child rearing, with only occasional assistance mothers’ parenting behaviors at 6, 13, and 24 months post-
from grandmothers. Finally, Apfel and Seitz proposed a partum. We hypothesized that conflict in the adolescent
parental apprentice model, in which grandmothers mentor mother– grandmother relationship would predict more neg-
adolescent mothers to become satisfied and competent. ative control and less nurturing parenting over the first 2
Grandmothers play an important role in child rearing ini- years of the child’s life.

3. ADOLESCENT MOTHER–GRANDMOTHER RELATIONSHIPS 119
Method questions were asked through headphones (to accommodate
low levels of literacy) on the computer and on the screen,
We used data from a larger study of adolescent mothers and respondents used a mouse to indicate their answers.
living in multigenerational families (Black et al., 2006;
Black, Siegel, Abel, & Bentley, 2001). Adolescent mothers Measures
were recruited shortly after delivery in three urban hospitals
in Baltimore, Maryland. Eligibility criteria included The quality of the mother– grandmother relationship was
younger than age 18 at delivery, primiparous, African measured through a self-report questionnaire and an obser-
American, low income (defined as eligible for Special Sup- vational procedure conducted at baseline.
plemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Network of Relationships Inventory (NRI; Furman & Buh-
Children—family income at or below 185% of the U.S. rmester, 1985). Self-reported conflict was measured using
Poverty Income Guidelines), and no chronic illness that an adapted version of the NRI, which was administered at
would interfere with parenting or adolescent development. all four time points: baseline, 6 months, 13 months, and 24
Infants of eligible mothers had to be full term (37 weeks or months. The NRI assesses the adolescent mother’s percep-
more) with a birth weight of more than 2,500 grams and no tions of supportive and negative interactions with her own
congenital problems. None of the infants required neonatal mother. Conflict was measured using three items (“How
intensive care services. much do you and your mom get upset with or mad at each
Eligible mothers were given a brochure explaining the other?” “How much do you and your mom disagree and
study and, if interested, enrolled in a randomized controlled quarrel?” “How much do you and your mom argue with
trial of a home-based intervention to promote positive par- each other?”) The 5-point Likert-type response scale ranges
enting and adolescent development (Black et al., 2006). One from 1 (little or none) to 5 (the most). The Cronbach’s alpha
hundred eighty-one mothers (more than 83% of eligible for the Conflict subscale with this sample ranged from .62 at
mothers) completed the baseline evaluation, which was baseline to .76 at 24 months (.69 at 6 and 13 months,
administered between 2 and 4 weeks after delivery, and respectively).
were randomized into intervention and control groups. Eli- Scale of Intergenerational Relationship Quality (SIRQ).
gible mothers who agreed and mothers who did not agree to The quality of the mother– grandmother relationship was
participate did not differ in age or education. Consent forms measured during a baseline observation by using the SIRQ.
were completed at baseline by all participating mothers. The SIRQ yields four factors: Emotional Closeness, Posi-
Mothers were compensated for evaluation visits. Institu- tive Affect, Grandmother Directness, and Individuation.
tional review boards of the participating institutions ap- The SIRQ was developed for use with low-income, ethnic
proved the protocol. minority mothers and grandmothers and standardized
Families in the intervention group received home visits among African American families in Baltimore (for details,
every other week over the 1st year postpartum to promote see Wakschlag et al., 1996). Adolescent mothers and grand-
healthy adolescent development and positive parenting. Ad- mothers were videotaped for 10 –15 min while engaging in
olescent mothers learned what to expect in their infant’s 1st two tasks. In the first task, participants sorted cards of
year of life and how to provide developmentally enriching child-related tasks on the basis of who was responsible. In
activities. The intervention used a mentorship model and the second task, they chose personally contentious topics
was delivered by two college-educated African American and discussed them.
women in their 20s who were single mothers, each raising The Emotional Closeness factor consists of the connect-
a preschool child and living independently. Grandmothers edness, warmth, mutual concern, and emotional openness
and other family members were encouraged to participate in demonstrated during the disagreement. Positive Affect is
the sessions as often as possible. Families in the control rated on the basis of the degree to which the dyad displays
group received no intervention and no contact other than the an upbeat tone and is animated in the discussion. Grand-
evaluation visits. Intervention status was taken into account mother Directness is characterized by the grandmother’s
in the data analysis for this study. expectation of maturity from the young mother and the
Project staff conducted baseline and follow-up evaluation nonconfrontational but assertive manner in which the grand-
in the participants’ homes. Of the 181 mothers enrolled in mother demands mature behavior from the mother. Individ-
the study, 148 (82%), 127 (70%), and 146 (81%) completed uation refers to a balance of autonomy and mutuality in the
the videotaped parenting assessments at 6, 13, and 24 discussion: A young mother who is able to assert herself
months, respectively. Of adolescent mothers, 92% com- positively and nondefensively receives a higher rating for
pleted at least one follow-up evaluation. The mothers in the individuation.
analysis sample and the mothers lost to follow-up did not The coders in this study were trained by a member of
differ in maternal age, education, infant birth weight, or Wakschlag’s team and followed coding procedures outlined
infant gender. by Wakschlag et al. (1996). They established interrater
Data were collected via standardized questionnaires and reliability and maintained it through weekly reliability
videotaped observational procedures. Questionnaires were checks. Fifteen percent of the observations were double
administered by means of a laptop computer to increase coded, and reliability exceeded 85%. Internal consistencies
privacy and decrease social desirability bias (Kissinger, for the four scales were .78 (Emotional Closeness), .68
Rice, Farley, Trim, Jewitt, Margovio, & Martin, 1999). The (Positive Affect), .85 (Grandmother Directness), and .74

4. 120 SELLERS, BLACK, BORIS, OBERLANDER, AND MYERS
(Individuation). The correlations among the factors ranged mediating of the environment, genuine visual regard and mir-
from .028 (p .71) to .576 (p .001) and were similar to roring of the child’s feeling states), negative affect, and behav-
those reported by Wakschlag et al. ior toward the child (including angry or hostile tone of voice,
Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, Ward, Mendelson, displeasure, criticism, intrusiveness, and inconsistency). The
Mock, & Erbaugh, 1961). Maternal depressive symptoms PCERA yields scale scores for nurturance and negative con-
were assessed by using the BDI, a 21-item scale that is trol. Parent nurturance was based on six items (growth foster-
widely used and well validated among adolescents and ing, enthusiasm, social initiative, child-oriented language, ver-
adults. The BDI was administered to participating mothers balizations, involvement with the child). The interrater
at all four assessments. The internal consistency of this scale reliability was .95, and the coefficient alpha was .88. Scores
is reflected in a Cronbach’s alpha of .82 (Bennett, Ambro- were averaged and ranged from minimal nurturance (low
sini, Bianchi, Barnett, Metz, & Rabinovich, 1997). score) to child-oriented nurturance (high score). Negative con-
Parent–Child Early Relational Assessment (PCERA; Clark, trol was based on four items (hostility, rigidity, intrusivity,
1985). Parenting observations were conducted at each of the physical contact). The interrater reliability was .92, and the
follow-up visits (6, 13, and 24 months). Two parenting vari- coefficient alpha was .77. Scores were averaged and ranged
ables, nurturance and negative control, were measured using a from rigidity (low score) to flexible and unintrusive (high
modified version of the PCERA (Black, Hutcheson, Dubowitz, score). Raters were masked to data on families and trained to
Starr, & Berenson-Howard, 1996). The PCERA provides an reach at least 90% agreement. Interrater reliability was contin-
assessment of both the affective and the behavioral quality of uously assessed through weekly checks.
mother– child interactions. The mother and child are video-
taped for 10 min of interaction. At 6 months, mothers and Data Analysis
infants play with a toy, at 13 months they engage in a mealtime
interaction, and at 24 months they participate in a structured Descriptive statistics on the predictor, covariate, and out-
play interaction with a picture book and a puzzle. The modified come variables were calculated and appear in Table 1. Corre-
version of the PCERA used in this study was found to have lations between the two measures of mother– grandmother
strong psychometric properties in a similar sample of low- relationship quality (SIRQ and NRI) were examined and ap-
income, African American mothers (Black, Hutcheson, pear in Table 2. Correlations between maternal age at baseline
Dubowitz, & Berenson-Howard, 1994). and mother– grandmother relationship quality (each subscale
The videotaped interactions were coded for the amount, of the SIRQ) were calculated; none were significant. Indepen-
duration, and intensity of positive involvement (including sen- dent t tests were used to test for differences between the
sitivity and responsiveness to the child’s cues, structuring and intervention group and the comparison group on the following
Table 1
Descriptives: Predictors, Covariates, and Outcomes
Measures N Min Max M SD
Mother–grandmother conflict (self-reported)
Baseline 179 1.00 5.00 1.78 0.74
6 months 141 1.00 5.00 2.07 0.89
13 months 120 1.00 5.00 2.19 0.87
24 months 141 1.00 5.00 2.09 1.01
Mother–grandmother relationship (Scale of Intergenerational Relationship Quality), baseline
Emotional Closeness 177 3.00 27.00 17.30 3.49
Positive Affect 177 4.00 12.00 7.76 1.63
Grandmother Directness 176 3.00 15.00 7.97 2.58
Individuation 176 3.00 15.00 7.72 2.52
Maternal depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory)
Baseline 177 .00 45.00 11.12 7.83
6 months 137 .00 37.00 9.15 8.12
13 months 123 .00 63.00 7.33 10.09
24 months 139 .00 54.00 8.81 9.52
Maternal and child characteristics
Maternal age, baseline 181 13.54 17.98 16.33 0.98
Maternal grade, baseline 164 7 12 10.17 1.14
Child age (days) 181 2.00 42.00 16.73 8.04
Child gender (% male) 181 50.30
Parenting outcomes (Parent–Child Early Relational Assessment)
Negative control, 6 months 144 3.00 5.00 4.29 0.44
Parental nurturance, 6 months 144 1.00 4.75 2.86 0.74
Negative control, 13 months 117 1.67 5.00 4.15 0.50
Parental nurturance, 13 months 117 1.00 5.00 2.30 0.62
Negative control, 24 months 142 3.25 5.00 4.37 0.37
Parental nurturance, 24 months 142 1.50 4.75 3.06 0.66

5. ADOLESCENT MOTHER–GRANDMOTHER RELATIONSHIPS 121
Table 2
Correlations: Mother–Grandmother Relationship Quality and Conflict
Variable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1. SIRQ Emotional Closeness
r — .25 .49 .58 .02 .11 .02 .18
p .00 .00 .00 .83 .20 .83 .04
2. SIRQ Positive Affect
r — .11 .03 .09 .03 .04 .07
p .14 .71 .23 .75 .63 .39
3. SIRQ Grandmother Directness
r — .33 .05 .02 .03 .07
p .00 .51 .82 .74 .41
4. SIRQ Individuation
r — .05 .18 .03 .12
p .49 .04 .76 .14
5. Conflict, baseline
r — .45 .48 .27
p .00 .00 .00
6. Conflict, 6 months
r — .43 .28
p .00 .00
7. Conflict, 13 months
r — .31
p .00
8. Conflict, 24 months
r —
p
p .05. p .01.
variables: maternal age, maternal education, mother– Results
grandmother relationship quality (four SIRQ subscales),
mother– grandmother conflict (NRI), maternal depressive Mothers ranged in age from 13.5 to 17.9 years at delivery
symptoms (BDI), negative control in parenting, and nurturing and from 13.6 to 18.0 years at baseline (Table 1). The
parenting. No significant differences were found, except for the infants were between 2 and 42 days old. The last grade
SIRQ Positive Affect subscale, t(175) 2.775, p .006, completed by the mothers ranged from 7th to 12th grade,
which was not associated with the parenting outcomes that are with a mean of 10th grade. The number of male (91) and
the focus of this study. female (90) children were approximately equal. At baseline,
Mixed-model regression methods, implemented by PROC grandmothers were a mean age of 39 years old (SD 4.74)
MIXED (Version 9.1; SAS Inc., Cary, NC), were used to and had a mean of 12 years of education (SD 1.85).
analyze the predictors, covariates, and outcomes simultane- Grandmothers reported mean household incomes between
ously (Littel, Milliken, Stroup, & Wolfinger, 1996). The $10,000 and $20,000 per year. All adolescent mothers lived
mixed-model approach allowed the analysis to account for the with grandmothers at baseline, and at 24 months postpar-
longitudinal nature of the data, including measurement of tum, 73% (n 108) of adolescent mothers remained in the
conflict at all four assessments and parenting behavior at the household of origin.
three follow-up assessments. First, unadjusted effects were The amount of conflict in the mother– grandmother rela-
estimated by performing regressions with one predictor at a tionship changed over time, according to the mothers’ self-
time. The primary predictors were conflict and relationship report. Conflict increased from baseline to the 6-month
quality. Time was entered into all models as a covariate. assessment and from the 6-month assessment to the 13-
Because relationship quality and parenting behavior are related month assessment, with a significant difference between
to maternal depressive symptoms (Caldwell et al., 1998; Davis baseline and 6 months. Conflict at the 24-month assessment
& Rhodes, 1994; Davis et al., 1997; Dorsey et al., 2007; Jones was very similar to that at the 13-month assessment. Con-
et al., 2005; Lovejoy, Graczyk, O’Hare, & Neuman, 2000), we flict at any given time point was highly correlated with
included a measure of depressive symptoms at each time point conflict at any other time point (all ps .01), indicating
as a covariate. Maternal age, infant age, and maternal educa- stability within cases despite the general upward trend be-
tion were also considered as covariates. Independent variables tween baseline and the 13-month assessment.
were added to the model in a stepwise fashion, based on the Maternal self-reports of conflict over the 24-month period
strength of their unadjusted effects on parenting, to determine were not significantly correlated with any of the SIRQ
whether conflict and relationship quality predicted parenting subscales, with two exceptions (Table 2). Individuation on
behavior and which covariates added to model’s explanatory the SIRQ (measured at baseline) was significantly nega-
power. tively correlated with conflict at the 6-month assessment

6. 122 SELLERS, BLACK, BORIS, OBERLANDER, AND MYERS
(r .18, p .039). Emotional closeness (measured at scales were univariately associated with negative control:
baseline) was significantly negatively correlated with con- Individuation, Emotional Closeness, and Grandmother Di-
flict at the 24-month assessment (r .18, p .038). rectness (Table 3). Emotional Closeness and Individuation
Thus, mothers who were more individuated from their own were no longer significant predictors of negative control
mothers at baseline were less likely to report being embed- after adjustment for Grandmother Directness. The other
ded in highly conflicted relationships 6 months later, and variables were retained in the final model. No interactions
mothers who were emotionally closer to their own mothers were significantly related to parenting behavior. The best
at baseline were less likely to show high levels of conflict 2 model predicting negative control included conflict, the
years later. Emotional closeness was highly correlated with SIRQ Grandmother Directness subscale, and maternal age.
positive affect, grandmother directness, and individuation. Mothers demonstrated less negative control in their parent-
Grandmother directness and individuation were also highly ing if their own mothers were more direct (demanding and
correlated. clear), if they reported little conflict, and if they were older.
Ratings of observed parenting (both negative control and Stepwise modeling resulted in a final model for nurturing
nurturance) on the PCERA changed significantly from the parenting that included conflict, individuation, and maternal
13-month assessment to the 24-month assessment. On av- age (Table 4). Mothers who reported less conflict in their
erage, mothers significantly relaxed the use of negative relationships with their own mothers and those who were
control techniques and increased their nurturing parenting more individuated from their own mothers at the baseline
between the 13-month assessment and the 24-month assess- assessment demonstrated more nurturing parenting. Older
ment. mothers also showed higher levels of nurturing parenting.
Unadjusted effects of each covariate, including time, Intervention status did not show a significant effect either
were examined (Tables 3 and 4); covariates that were asso- directly or by interaction and was therefore excluded from
ciated with the parenting outcome (p .20) were retained the final model.
for assessment in the multivariable regression model. The
multivariate models were fitted using forward stepwise pro- Discussion
cedures, with the criterion for entry defined as p .20 and
the criterion for retention defined as p .05. Interactions Mother– grandmother relationship quality predicted both
were also considered as potential predictors but were not negative control and nurturing parenting. Mothers who re-
significant. ported lower levels of conflict with their own mothers, but
Mother– grandmother relationship quality significantly whose mothers were demanding and clear with them (mea-
predicted parenting behavior. The association between re- sured by the SIRQ Grandmother Directness subscale), dem-
lationship quality and parenting behavior did not change onstrated lower levels of negative control in their parenting.
over time, thus we did not include time in the final model. Low levels of conflict and higher levels of individuation in
The maternal age variable, however, varied across time the mother– grandmother relationship also predicted higher
points, and thus accounts for the lapse in time over the levels of nurturing parenting. Maternal age predicted par-
course of the study. Conflict and three of the SIRQ sub- enting as expected: Older mothers used less negative control
Table 3
Regression Coefficients: Conflict, Relationship Quality, and Negative Control in Parenting
Dependent variable: Negative control (PCERA)
Regression coefficient Regression coefficient
Variable (unadjusted) p (adjusted) p
Age
Maternal 13.17 .00a 0.06 .00
Infant 4.48 .04a
Maternal education (grade level) 5.38 .02a
Intervention group status 0.01 .93
Conflict
Baseline 9.81 .00a 0.11 .00
Concurrent 0.49 .48
SIRQ
Emotional Closeness 5.24 .02a
Positive Affect 0.01 .92
Grandmother Directness 8.54 .00a 0.03 .00
Individuation 6.89 .01a
Maternal depressive symptoms
Baseline 0.51 .48
Concurrent 0.41 .52
Note. PCERA Parent–Child Early Relational Assessment; SIRQ Scale of Intergeneration Relationship Quality.
a
Entered into model (p .20).
p .05. p .01.

7. ADOLESCENT MOTHER–GRANDMOTHER RELATIONSHIPS 123
Table 4
Regression Coefficients: Conflict, Relationship Quality, and Nurturing Parenting
Dependent variable: Nurturing parenting (PCERA)
Regression coefficient Regression coefficient
Variable (unadjusted) p (adjusted) p
Age
Maternal 16.11 .0001a 0.10 .00
Infant 7.85 .01a
Maternal education (grade) 7.28 .01a
Intervention group status 0.91 .34
Conflict
Baseline 4.45 .04a .11 .04
Conflict 0.03 .85
SIRQ
Emotional Closeness 11.22 .00a
Positive Affect 0.99 .32
Grandmother Directness 3.13 .08a
Individuation 19.53 .0001a 0.07 .0001
Maternal depressive symptoms
Baseline 0.19 0.66
Concurrent 1.63 0.20a
Note. PCERA Parent–Child Early Relational Assessment; SIRQ Scale of Intergeneration Relationship Quality.
a
Entered into model (p .20).
p .05. p .01.
and demonstrated more nurturing parenting with their chil- mother who has achieved the level of individuation required
dren. for her to be the responsible parent of the infant. This study
The finding that the quality of the mother– grandmother found that more grandmother directness predicted less neg-
relationship predicts the quality of the young mother’s par- ative control in the young mother’s parenting and that more
enting is consistent with previous research with this sample individuation predicted more nurturing parenting by the
(Hess, Papas, & Black, 2002). On average, the mothers in young mother. Thus, the combination of grandmother di-
this sample reported lower levels of conflict than their peers rectness and individuation, in the context of low levels of
in a mostly White, middle- to upper-class sample previously conflict in the mother– grandmother relationship, which ap-
described in the literature: Mothers in this study reported proximates the parental apprentice model, yields the most
conflict ranging from 1.78 (at baseline) to 2.19 (at 13 positive parenting over the course of the child’s first 2 years
months) compared with 2.3 among their more affluent peers of life.
(Furman & Buhrmester, 1992). Yet some mothers in this The young mother’s individuation, in particular, predicts
sample reported conflict levels at the maximum end of the how nurturing her parenting will be. Individuation is dem-
scale (up to 5). Young mothers who are embedded in highly onstrated by adolescents who have at least partially
conflicted relationships with their own mothers struggle to achieved one of the fundamental tasks of adolescent devel-
provide a nurturing presence and avoid negative ways of opment: transforming the parent– child relationship into an
controlling their infants’ behavior. Spencer, Kalil, Larson, autonomous, peerlike relationship. Young mothers who
Spieker, and Gilchrist (2000) found that conflict between have negotiated this task before becoming parents may be
adolescent mothers and their own mothers is associated with more psychologically ready to provide the kind of respon-
increased parenting stress. Dorsey et al. (2007) found that sive and consistent parenting that supports healthy devel-
conflict between coparents predicted parenting behavior opment in children than mothers who have not individuated
both directly and indirectly, through maternal psychological (Wakschlag et al., 1996).
distress. Another study indicated that conflict in the mother– Maternal age was not correlated with degree of individ-
grandmother relationship had a significant association with uation, even though those who demonstrated individuation
the young mother’s psychological functioning, but that sup- reflected a more mature mother– grandmother relationship.
port did not (Davis & Rhodes, 1994). Previous work using the SIRQ Individuation factor found
The significance of grandmother directness and individ- that it correlated significantly with the mother’s grade level,
uation in predicting positive parenting behaviors supports but not with her age (Wakschlag et al., 1996). Individuation
the Apfel and Seitz (1991) concept of parental apprentice. may be a better measure of maturity or psychological read-
The hallmark of the parental apprentice model is that the iness to parent than chronological age. This finding is of
grandmother very explicitly guides the young mother’s par- particular interest in light of the work of Geronimus (1992),
enting, but does so in the interest of developing the young Burton (1990), and others who have suggested that imma-
mother as the responsible primary parent of the infant. This turity rather than age compromises young mothers’ parent-
model requires both a direct grandmother who is demanding ing capabilities. This study suggested that the quality of the
and clear in her expectations of the new mother and a young mother– grandmother relationship discriminates between

8. 124 SELLERS, BLACK, BORIS, OBERLANDER, AND MYERS
young mothers who are ready to adopt the parenting behav- Conclusions
iors that foster healthy child development and those for
These findings have clear implications for adolescent
whom teen pregnancy is one among several risk factors that
health care. To improve parenting outcomes among young
compromise their health and developmental outcomes
mothers, it would be helpful to determine whether adoles-
(Wakschlag & Hans, 2005).
cent mothers have developed a sense of autonomy while
Grandmother Directness predicted less reliance on nega- still being able to rely on their own mother for support.
tive control. This SIRQ subscale is similar to the demand- Adolescent mothers who have achieved a sense of auton-
ingness dimension of Baumrind’s (1971) parenting styles omy or individuation may be ripe for dyadic intervention to
and is thus a critical component of authoritative parenting. support positive parenting. Few interventions have specifi-
Grandmother Directness is characterized by a nonconfron- cally targeted adolescent mothers and grandmothers, and
tational firmness in parenting that is subsequently adopted those interventions that have (e.g., McDonald et al., 2009)
by the young mother to guide her child’s behavior without have not found clear effects on adolescent mothers’ parent-
using a hostile tone or negative physical contact. ing behavior. Mothers who are embedded in difficult rela-
We found that self-reported conflict increased over the tionships with their own mothers may need more intensive
1st year of parenting, which confirms what others have family intervention that could potentially affect the mother–
reported (Gee & Rhodes, 1999). The self-reported measure grandmother relationship and the mother– child relation-
of conflict was generally not related to the observational ship. Adding a mother– grandmother negotiation skills com-
measure of mother– grandmother relationship quality, with ponent to a home visit intervention may be a relatively
two exceptions. Individuation was negatively correlated inexpensive way to increase a young mother’s ability to
with conflict at the 6-month assessment, and Emotional incorporate new parenting practices in a shared caregiving
Closeness was negatively related to conflict at the 24-month environment (Black et al., 2001). This study emphasized the
assessment. The self-reported conflict measure clearly mea- importance of observing interpersonal communication in
sures an aspect of the mother– grandmother relationship not addition to relying on self-report of relationship conflict.
captured by the SIRQ observational measures and predicted Observational measures have been underused with African
both nurturing and negative control in the young mother’s American families in general (McLoyd, Cauce, Takeuchi, &
parenting. Wilson, 2000), and have clear advantages in measuring
Prior research has suggested that a high level of conflict constructs that are prone to self-report bias. The SIRQ
in a young mother’s relationship with her own mother may (Wakschlag et al., 1996) holds particular promise for use
have negative consequences for her psychological adjust- with African American adolescent mothers and grandmoth-
ment, the quality of her parenting, her child’s social and ers and should be used to test whether a young mother’s
emotional development, or all of these (Apfel & Seitz, degree of individuation determines her ability to put parent-
1991; Caldwell et al., 1998; Dorsey et al., 2007). Few ing education into practice. Future research should investi-
studies, however, have measured relationship quality with gate characteristics of the grandmother that may influence
both self-report and observed measures, and fewer still have mother– grandmother relationship quality and the adoles-
used in-home observations of young mothers’ parenting to cent mother’s parenting.
assess the potential impact of relationship quality among
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Not just “Ghosts in the Nursery”: Contemporaneous intergenera- Received July 15, 2010
tional relationships and parenting in young African-American Revision received September 23, 2010
families. Child Development, 67, 2131–2147. Accepted September 29, 2010