Does Grandparental Care Play a Role in Chinese Children's Self-Control? Evidence From Meta-Analyses

Studies have found that parental care is closely associated with child self-control. In addition to parents, grandparents are also important family members and play a critical role in child development. Many studies have explored the associations between grandparental care and child self-control, especially in the Chinese context. However, the existing findings are inconsistent. To take stock of the literature, this study aimed to synthesize the associations between the quantity (defined as the extent to which grandparents are involved in child rearing) and quality (defined as the quality of grandparenting behavior and coparenting relationships between grandparents and parents) of grandparental care and Chinese children's self-control. Twenty-two studies with 75 effect sizes were included (N = 30,822). Regarding the quantity of grandparental care, the more grandparents were involved in child rearing, the poorer self-control the child had (Hedge's g = -0.376, p = .002). As for the quality of grandparental care, positive grandparenting behavior was linked to children's better self-control at a marginal significance level (r = .426, p = .079). Positive coparenting relationships between grandparents and parents were significantly linked to children's better self-control (r = .220, p < .001). These findings are largely invariant across child gender, child age, study design, and the quality of article. Theoretically, this study broadens our understanding of the ecological underpinnings of child self-control. Practically, the findings underscore the importance of improving grandparents' positive rearing behavior and forging harmonious coparenting relationships between grandparents and parents to nurture Chinese children's self-control.