Study On Co-parenting Between Grandparents And Parents In Three-generation Families

Co-parenting is the new progress of foreign family theory research in recent two or three decades.The purpose of this study is to explore the status quo,interaction patterns and their effects of co-parenting between grandparents and parents in three generations of contemporary cities.At the theoretical level,on the one hand,echoing the trend of co-parenting research towards the development of diverse families,on the other hand,emphasizing the local perspective and significance.At the practical level,the family structure of the three generations of cities in our country is still in existence,exploring the co-parenting process between grandparents and parents is helpful to clarify parenting of the three generations.Using qualitative research methods,this study interviewed and observed 9 three-generation families with primary school children in S City Hubei Province.Respondents include grandparents,parents and children.Based on the analysis and summarization of the rich first-hand information,the following conclusions are drawn:First,the structure of three-generation families is still occupying a large proportion in contemporary cities,and they are diverse and mobile.The reasons for the formation of three generations are mainly from the reality needs of parents,the impact of traditional culture and social parenting and pension system restrictions.Second,in the primary school stage,grandparents mainly bear the responsibility of physiological development,and parents mainly undertake the responsibility of social development in mother-based,father-assisted model.The division of parenting labor follow two principles:First,to ensure the normal operation of the family,the second is to be most conducive to the development of children.The traditional gender role norms still play an important role in the division of labor.The evaluation of father's involvement by mothers is determined by mother's parenting concept and father's objective conditions.Third,the co-parenting behavior between parents shows more mutual support than conflict.And the mother is more active support for fathers,including "supplementary guidance" and "maintenance the authority of fathers",and the father is mainly passive support for mothers,including "implementation requirements,and "obey persuasion".The co-parenting behavior between grandparents and parents shows support coexistence with conflict.Base on agree and disagree in parenting concept,and intervention and non-intervention in parenting behavior,there are four kinds of interactive modes:"agree intervention"(external conflict),"disagree intervention"(internal conflict),"agree non-intervention"(internal support)and "disagree non-intervention"(surface support).Among them,the "non-intervention" behavior is related to factors of family power,grandparents' personality,the child's development,and the conflict generated by "intervention" will experience "whether to communicate" and"whether to reach a consensus" to form a new balance.Parents who live with different grandparents show differences in the way of communication.Fourth,the co-parenting between grandparents and parents will,to a certain extent,weaken the father's parenting involvement.But at the level of child development,on the one hand it is beneficial for children to honor the elderly,on the other hand it will weaken the child's independence,and the parenting conflicts between grandparents and parents also have a negative impact on the child.