The Reflections of Grandmothers’ Care on Mothers’ Child- Rearing Practices

Abstract

This research employed a qualitative descriptive design to explore the reflections of grandmothers’ caregiving on mothers’ child care practices. Within the research framework, in-depth interviews were conducted with 21 mothers, whose children received or are receiving care from their own mothers or mothers-in-law. Following a thematic analysis of the acquired data, three prominent themes emerged: views on child rearing styles, challenges associated with grandmother care, and opportunities related to grandmother care. The results indicate variations in child-rearing styles between mothers and grandmothers, with instances of both alignment and divergence. While grandmother care poses multifaceted challenges to the mother, child or mother-child relationship, it concurrently affords opportunities for increased maternal-child bonding and enhanced comfort in the child care process for the mother. The research findings demonstrate the multidimensional nature of grandmother care process, underscoring the necessity for support mechanisms such as institutional trainings and social services to mitigate potential adverse reflections of this process. Future research could explore different dimensions and long-term reflections of grandmother care.

Keywords:

• Mother
• grandmother
• grandmother care
• child rearing style
• qualitative research

Disclosure Statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sinan Akçay

Sinan Akçay is an associate professor at Selçuk University, Department of Social Work. His main research interests are gender, mental health, and social work education.

Aliye Beyza Bayyar

Aliye Beyza Bayyar is a research assistant at Tarsus University, Department of Social Work. She is also a PhD student at Selçuk University. Her main research interests are child welfare, gender and gerontological social work.

Esra Koca

Esra Koca is a student at Selçuk University’s social work doctorate program and works as a lecturer at Karamanoğlu Mehmetbey University. She is interested in gerontological social work, educational gerontology, qualitative research and gender issues.

Senem Sarıoğlu

Senem Sarıoğlu is a student at Selçuk University’s social work doktorate program and works as a social worker in the juvenile prison of the ministry of justice. She is interested in child and adolescent mental health, juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice system.