Family structure and child development in Chile: A longitudinal analysis of household transitions involving fathers and grandparents

Changes in Latin American and Caribbean Household Structure Amidst Fertility Decline, 1960-2020

Over the past six decades, significant demographic and familial changes, including rapid fertility decline, have occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), impacting household structure and formation. We document trends in and changes to household size and composition in the region, leveraging 144 country-year samples from census and survey microdata across 27 LAC countries. We measure changes in average household size, household composition by member relationship to the household head, and the evolution of female headship. Our findings show a general reduction in household size that mirrors the trend in fertility decline, albeit with subregional variations. An analysis of changes in members' relationships over time reveals that children are the main drivers of household shrinkage. The analysis also unveils the enduring complexity of household composition, namely of extended family structures. Female-headed households, which are characterized by more complex household structures than their male-headed counterparts, significantly increased over time. This trend partly explains the persistence of extended households in LAC. In addition, we document a gradual convergence in the average number of children per household between male- and female-headed households. These results challenge theories positing a global convergence towards nuclear family structures. Overall, LAC's demographic and familial transformations underscore the interplay between shrinking household size and persistent household complexity.

Annual Research Review: The power of predictability - patterns of signals in early life shape neurodevelopment and mental health trajectories

The global burden of early life adversity (ELA) is profound. The World Health Organization has estimated that ELA accounts for almost 30% of all psychiatric cases. Yet, our ability to identify which individuals exposed to ELA will develop mental illness remains poor and there is a critical need to identify underlying pathways and mechanisms. This review proposes unpredictability as an understudied aspect of ELA that is tractable and presents a conceptual model that includes biologically plausible mechanistic pathways by which unpredictability impacts the developing brain. The model is supported by a synthesis of published and new data illustrating the significant impacts of patterns of signals on child development. We begin with an overview of the existing unpredictability literature, which has focused primarily on longer patterns of unpredictability (e.g. years, months, and days). We then describe our work testing the impact of patterns of parental signals on a moment-to-moment timescale, providing evidence that patterns of these signals during sensitive windows of development influence neurocircuit formation across species and thus may be an evolutionarily conserved process that shapes the developing brain. Next, attention is drawn to emerging themes which provide a framework for future directions of research including the evaluation of functions, such as effortful control, that may be particularly vulnerable to unpredictability, sensitive periods, sex differences, cross-cultural investigations, addressing causality, and unpredictability as a pathway by which other forms of ELA impact development. Finally, we provide suggestions for prevention and intervention, including the introduction of a screening instrument for the identification of children exposed to unpredictable experiences.

It takes a village: A multi-brain approach to studying multigenerational family communication

Grandparents play a critical role in child rearing across the globe. Yet, there is a shortage of neurobiological research examining the relationship between grandparents and their grandchildren. We employ multi-brain neurocomputational models to simulate how changes in neurophysiological processes in both development and healthy aging affect multigenerational inter-brain coupling - a neural marker that has been linked to a range of socio-emotional and cognitive outcomes. The simulations suggest that grandparent-child interactions may be paired with higher inter-brain coupling than parent-child interactions, raising the possibility that the former may be more advantageous under certain conditions. Critically, this enhancement of inter-brain coupling for grandparent-child interactions is more pronounced in tri-generational interactions that also include a parent, which may speak to findings that grandparent involvement in childrearing is most beneficial if the parent is also an active household member. Together, these findings underscore that a better understanding of the neurobiological basis of cross-generational interactions is vital, and that such knowledge can be helpful in guiding interventions that consider the whole family. We advocate for a community neuroscience approach in developmental social neuroscience to capture the diversity of child-caregiver relationships in real-world settings.

Understanding Household Dynamics From the Ground Up: A Longitudinal Study From a Rural South African Setting

Investigations into household structure in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) provide important insight into how families manage domestic life in response to resource allocation and caregiving needs during periods of rapid sociopolitical and health-related challenges. Recent evidence on household structure in many LMICs contrasts with long-standing viewpoints of worldwide convergence to a Western nuclearized household model. Here, we adopt a household-centered theoretical and methodological framework to investigate longitudinal patterns and dynamics of household structure in a rural South African setting during a period of high AIDS-related mortality and socioeconomic change. Data come from the Agincourt Health and Socio-Demographic Surveillance System (2003-2015). Using latent transition models, we derived six distinct household types by examining conditional interdependency between household heads' characteristics, members' age composition, and migration status. More than half of households were characterized by their complex and multigenerational profiles, with considerable within-typology variation in household size and dependency structure. Transition analyses showed stability of household types under female headship, while higher proportions of nuclearized household types dissolved over time. Household dissolution was closely linked to prior mortality experiences-particularly, following death of a male head. Our findings highlight the need to better conceptualize and contextualize household changes across populations and over time.

A study of the mechanism for intergenerational transmission of gender roles in single-parent families

The divorce rate in China is rising yearly, and the concept of marriage is changing, triggering many social topics related to single parents. Among them, gender-awareness education for children in single-parent families is particularly worthy of attention, as there has been insufficient exploration of how parents transfer their gender role concepts to their children. This study conducted in-depth interviews with 58 single parents and children from 29 families in Suzhou and constructed the mechanism for intergenerational transmission of gender roles in single-parent families based on grounded theory. It found that single parents' gender stereotypes, the starting point of the intergenerational transmission mechanism, have been diluted. It affords them a more enlightened attitude towards child-rearing style, and they expect more equality in the gender role of their offspring. However, in some parents' actual parenting process, when the children's sexualization behaviours exceed their acceptance range, they will communicate with children in an authoritative and didactic way to "correct" the children's behaviour. In addition to direct verbal instruction, parents' expectations of their children's gender roles will be implicitly conveyed through various parent-child interactions in daily life to affect the formation of their children's gender roles. In the intergenerational transmission of gender roles, external people (such as grandparents, teachers and peer groups) have horizontal socialisation effects on children to modify or strengthen the results of gender education from their parents. Under the comprehensive influence of the above factors, the children's gender roles are finally determined. These studies expand previous theories and studies and have significant theoretical and practical implications.

Does Couples' Division of Labor Influence Union Dissolution? Evidence from Parents of Young Children in Chile

We examined the role of couples' division of labor in the risk of union dissolution among parents of young children in Chile. We looked at whether specialization in the labor market and domestic work predicts union dissolution, and whether these associations differ by parents' marital status and mother's education. Using panel data from the Chilean Encuesta Longitudinal de Primera Infancia (ELPI) 2010 and 2012 waves, we found that specialization in the division of labor is associated with a lower probability of union dissolution among parents of young children in Chile. Unlike prior evidence for the US and the Netherlands, specialization is stabilizing for both married and cohabiting couples. However, there are differences by mother's education. Among mothers with high school education or less, specialization in the division of labor is associated with a lower probability of divorce and separation. On the other hand, among mothers with at least some college education, specialization has no advantage over equality in generating more union stability. Our findings shed light on how the interaction of couple's division of labor and socioeconomic disadvantage may create unequal economic prospects for women and their children following union dissolution.

Mothers' and grandmothers' caregiving for young children in Chile: Roles and responsibilities

Chile has the highest rates of grandparent caregiving of young children among Western countries. However, there is limited information on (a) how mothers and grandmothers share caregiving responsibilities, (b) if mother's care for children differs across different types of grandmother support, and (c) the perceived roles that grandmothers have as caregivers. Through a mixed-methods approach, we seek to explore the areas mentioned above. Using a nationally representative survey (N = 4,288), we compare the frequency with which mothers participate in activities with their children ages 1-5 years by the degree of grandmother participation. We find that mothers participate in activities with their children and in their functional care at similar levels across grandmother caregiving types. The main exception is mothers with coresiding grandmothers taking a secondary caregiver role: These mothers reported a higher frequency of activities with their children than mothers with other types of grandmother involvement, even those who had majority caregiving or irregular caregiving grandmothers. In-depth interviews with mothers and grandmothers reveal how they share the caregiving responsibilities, which depend on the mother's work status, with families with working mothers having more involved grandmothers. The grandmother's level of responsibilities, in turn, seems to shape their perceived role as caregivers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Bodyweight and human capital development: Assessing the impact of obesity on socioemotional skills during childhood in Chile

This article analyzes the effect of bodyweight on socioemotional skills for children aged two to 12 years in Chile. Using an instrumental variable approach and a representative survey, we show that both BMI and obesity are causality related to children's socioemotional development, even after assuming that our instrument is imperfect. Although we did not find significant differences between boys and girls, we do identify heterogeneous effects by age: the weight penalty for girls starts earlier than for boys. Our findings suggest that early interventions for childhood obesity not only might generate positive impacts on children's health, but also a greater accumulation of non-cognitive human capital in the future.

Testing the Economic Independence Hypothesis: Union Formation Among Single Mothers in Chile

Despite the increasing proportion of single-mother families, the literature on union formation among unpartnered parents in Latin America is scant. Using a sample from a Chilean longitudinal survey ( N = 3,318), we estimated regression models to test associations between single mothers’ economic resources in 2010 and coresidence with the biological father of their children in 2012. We also examined whether these associations differed in subgroups with higher rates of labor market participation. We found that mothers’ paid work was not associated with union formation. Receiving government benefits and living with a parent were associated with lower probability of coresidence with the biological father, even among the most advantaged subgroups. We conclude that in contexts in which most mothers of young children are not doing paid work, economic resources coming from government and extended family may be more consequential than earnings’ potential in influencing single mothers’ union formation behavior.

Household transitions between ages 5 and 15 and educational outcomes: Fathers and grandparents in Peru

BACKGROUND

Latin America has high rates of single motherhood and intergenerational coresidence, resulting in children experiencing changes in household composition - particularly with respect to fathers and grandparents. In other contexts, such changes have been shown to influence educational outcomes.

OBJECTIVE

To test if the presence of grandparents and fathers in the household are differentially associated with educational outcomes during schooling years in Peru.

METHODS

Young Lives longitudinal data consist of around 2,000 children who were followed from age 1 to age 15 between 2002 and 2017. Using value-added and child fixed effects models, I examine if the number of changes in household structure involving fathers and grandparents, the type of change (exit or entrance), and the identity of the household members are associated with cognitive outcomes. Persistence was tested as well as heterogeneous associations by child's age at transition and disadvantage.

RESULTS

More than half the children experienced a change in household composition between ages 5 and 15. Father separation was associated with worse cognitive scores and lower likelihood of being on-grade. This was strongest if separation occurred when children were older. Grandparent presence in the household was not as strongly correlated with child outcomes, but results suggest that children have better cognitive performance after grandparent separation from the household. Associations between household composition and child outcomes were stronger if children were disadvantaged.

CONTRIBUTION

This research provides evidence that fathers and grandparents are both important contributors to child educational outcomes in a context where three-generational households are common.

Impact of parent-child separation on children's social-emotional development: a cross-sectional study of left-behind children in poor rural areas of China

BACKGROUND

Parent-child separation is a considerable adversity for left-behind children (LBC), but there is little evidence on the association between detailed characteristics of parent-child separation and social-emotional development among LBC. This study examined the characteristics of parent-child separation and its impacts on developmental delay among under-3 LBC in poor rural China.

METHODS

We used data from 811 LBC surveyed in five poor counties in rural China in 2018. Detailed characteristics of their parental migration were recalled by their primary caregivers in face-to-face interviews. The children's social-emotional development was measured by using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Social-Emotional. Logistic regression was employed to examine the association of detailed characteristics of parent-child separation with early social-emotional problems after adjusting for the children's and primary caregivers' sociodemographic characteristics.

RESULTS

287 (35.4%) children were left behind by fathers and cared for by mothers (FM-MC), while 524 (64.6%) were left behind by both parents and cared for by grandparents (PM-GC). The rate of social-emotional problems among LBC was 36.8% (PM-GC vs FM-MC: 40.6% vs 29.5%; aOR 1.51, 95% CI: 1.06 to 2.16). For paternal migration, the medians of the child's age at the first migration and average duration per migration were 3 months (IQR: 1 to 9 months) and 4.48 months (IQR: 2.38 to 7.54 months), respectively. For maternal migration, the corresponding values were 9 months (IQR: 6 to 13 months) and 4.65 months (IQR: 2.71 to 7.62 months), respectively. On average, LBC had been separated from fathers for 72% of their life due to paternal migration and from mothers for 52% of their life due to maternal migration. No significant association was found between the detailed characteristics of paternal migration and social-emotional development among LBC, while social-emotional problems among LBC were significantly associated with the proportion of cumulative duration of maternal migration in the child's lifetime (aOR 2.83; 95% CI: 1.13 to 7.10).

CONCLUSIONS

LBC under 3 years had a high risk of social-emotional problems in poor rural China. Cumulative exposure to maternal migration may be detrimental to LBC's early social-emotional development. Programs are necessary to support these children as well as their families.

The Clinical Features of Preschool Children With Speech and Language Disorder and the Role of Maternal Language

Objective

To retrospectively review the characteristics of preschool children with speech and language disorders to determine their clinical features and compares the average degrees of language delay based on hospital visit purposes, language developmental delay causes, and maternal language.

Methods

One thousand one hundred two children (832 males, 270 females) with the chief complaint of language or speech problems who underwent language assessment for the first time were included. Their medical records, including demographic data, language environments, and family history of language problems and other developmental problems, were collected. Furthermore, the results of language and developmental assessments and hearing tests were collected.

Results

Among the children enrolled in this study, 24% had parental problems and 9% were nurtured by their grandparents. The average degree of language delay did not differ regarding purposes of hospital visits. The average degree of language delay was greatest in children with autism spectrum disorders and least in children with mixed receptive–expressive language disorders. In children with mothers who do not speak Korean as their native language, social quotients in the social maturity scale were less than 70.

Conclusion

Language environment is an essential factor that may cause speech and language disorders. Moreover, maternal language seems to affect the social quotient of the social maturity scale.

Experiences of intergenerational co-parenting during the postpartum period in modern China: A qualitative exploratory study

Most studies conducted in the West on the role played by intergenerational families in co-parenting have focused mostly on families with a single mother or those in difficult circumstances, while little is known about the experiences of members of intergenerational intact families during the early postpartum period. This study aimed to explore the intergenerational co-parenting experiences of young parents and grandmothers in China, focusing on how they shared the responsibility of caring for the new mother and infant during the postpartum period. A total of 16 eligible intergenerational intact families, including 16 mothers, 15 fathers and 12 grandmothers, were interviewed. The data set was analysed using the approach of directed content analysis guided by Feinberg's Ecological Model of Co-parenting. The data were categorized into four themes: 'division of labour', 'postpartum and infant care agreement', 'support-undermining' and 'joint family management'. An additional theme, 'expressed a need for family support', emerged from the data on these intergenerational families. The findings emphasize the importance of intergenerational co-parenting relationships in families where two generations co-parent the newborn together.

The Impact of Contextual, Maternal and Prenatal Factors on Receptive Language in a Chilean Longitudinal Birth Cohort

A secondary analysis was conducted on longitudinal data collected from ELPI, a representative Chilean survey to model Chilean infant's receptive language using contextual, maternal and prenatal factors. The sample for the current study comprised children aged between 36 and 48 months (n = 3921). The sample was re-assessed when children were aged 60-72 months (n = 3100). Linear regression analyses were conducted. At the first time point, all the predictors included were significant (living area, health system provision, maternal intelligence and education, adolescent pregnancy, maternal medical appointments during pregnancy, and presence of a significant other at childbirth), except for smoking during pregnancy. The model explained 13% of the variance. However, when timepoint one receptive language scores were included in the analyses for when children were aged 60-72 months, only two variables remained as significant predictors: previous receptive language scores and maternal education, explaining 21% of the variance. Findings and implications are discussed.

How parental migration affects early social-emotional development of left-behind children in rural China: a structural equation modeling analysis

OBJECTIVES

This study assessed the early social-emotional development of left-behind children (LBC) in rural China and determined the mediating factors linking parental migration to LBC's developmental outcome.

METHODS

We used cross-sectional data of 845 LBC under 3 years old from five counties in rural China in 2018. Social-emotional problems were assessed by the ages and stages questionnaires: social-emotional. Family structure, function, and child nurturing care practices were measured to explore their roles in potential pathways of parental migration affecting early social-emotional development.

RESULTS

36.4% of LBC were identified with social-emotional problems; the rate was higher among LBC with migrant parents than those with migrant fathers (39.9% vs. 30.5%, adjusted OR: 1.40 [95% CI 1.01, 1.93]). Results of structural equation modeling reveal that caregivers' low education and depressive symptoms, poor migrant-caregiver communication, family poverty, and no assistant caregiving weakened home parenting environment, and then contributed to LBC's social-emotional problems.

CONCLUSIONS

LBC in early childhood may be at a high risk of social-emotional problems, which are primarily caused by the transition of family structure and function and consequently weakened home environment.

The contribution of grandmother involvement to child growth and development: an observational study in rural Pakistan

INTRODUCTION

Early childhood interventions primarily focus on the mother-child relationship, but grandmothers are often critical in childcare in low-resource settings. Prior research is mixed on how grandmother involvement influences child outcomes and there is a paucity of research on grandmother caregiving in low-income and middle-income countries. We examined the role of grandmother involvement on child growth and development in the first 2 years of life cross sectionally and longitudinally in rural Pakistan.

METHODS

We used data from the Bachpan Cohort, a longitudinal birth cohort in rural Pakistan. Maternally reported grandmother involvement in daily instrumental and non-instrumental caregiving was collected at 3 and 12 months. A summed score was created and categorised into non-involved, low and high. Outcomes included 12-month and 24-month child growth, 12-month Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development and 24-month Ages and Stages Questionnaire-Socioemotional. We used multivariable generalised linear models to estimate mean differences (MD) at 12 months (n=727) and 24 months (n=712). Inverse probability weighting was used to account for missingness and sampling.

RESULTS

In our sample, 68% of children lived with a grandmother, and most grandmothers were involved in caregiving. Greater 3-month grandmother involvement was positively associated with 12-month weight z-scores; however, greater involvement was associated with lower 24-month weight z-scores. High 12-month grandmother involvement was associated with improved 12-month cognitive (MD=0.38, 95% CI -0.01 to 0.76), fine motor skills (MD=0.45, 95% CI 0.08 to 0.83) and 24-month socioemotional development (MD=-17.83, 95% CI -31.47 to -4.19). No meaningful associations were found for length z-scores or language development.

CONCLUSION

In rural Pakistan, grandmothers provide caregiving that influences early child development. Our findings highlight the complex relationship between grandmother involvement and child weight, and suggest that grandmothers may positively promote early child cognitive, fine motor and socioemotional development. Understanding how grandmother involvement affects child outcomes in early life is necessary to inform caregiving interventions.

How do grandparents influence child health and development? A systematic review

Grandparents are often a key source of care provision for their grandchildren, yet they are sidelined in caregiving research and policy decisions. We conducted a global, systematic review of the literature to examine the scope and quality of studies to date (PROSPERO database CRD42019133894). We screened 12,699 abstracts across 7 databases, and identified 206 studies that examined how grandparents influence child health and development. Indicators of grandparent involvement were contact, caregiving behaviors, and financial support. Our review focused on two research questions: how do grandparents influence child health and development outcomes, and what range of child outcomes is reported globally? We examined study design, sample characteristics, key findings, and outcomes pertaining to grandchildren's physical health, socio-emotional and behavioral health, and cognitive and educational development.  Our search captured studies featuring grandparent custodial care (n = 35), multigenerational care (n = 154), and both types of care (n = 17). We found substantial heterogeneity in the data provided on co-residence, caregiving roles, resources invested, outcomes, and mechanisms through which "grandparent effects" are manifested. We identified two important issues, related to operationalizing indicators of grandparent involvement and conceptualizing potential mechanisms, leading to gaps in the evidence base. Currently, our understanding of the pathways through which grandparents exert their influence is constrained by limited data on what grandparents actually do and insufficient attention given to interpersonal and structural contexts. We present a conceptual framework to explicitly measure and theorize pathways of care, with a view to inform research design and policy implementation. We underscore the need for more robust data on three indicators of caregiver involvement-contact, behavior, and support-and for careful description of structural and interpersonal contexts in caregiving research.