Grandmaternal caregiving and early child development in rural China: the mediating role of parenting environment

Background Grandmaternal caregiving is common in many countries and particularly prevalent in rural China, yet evidence on its early developmental implications across caregiving arrangements remains limited. We examined how three caregiving types—maternal caregiving, grandmother–mother cocaregiving and grandmaternal caregiving—relate to early child development, and whether associations are mediated by the parenting environment. Methods We analysed a two-wave longitudinal cohort of 1796 children under 3 years and their primary caregivers drawn from 118 randomly sampled villages in the Qin-ba mountain region of rural China. We estimated associations using multiple linear regression and assessed mediation by components of the parenting environment (parenting activities, home learning environment (HLE), parenting beliefs). Results Children receiving grandmother–mother cocaregiving had developmental scores comparable to those with maternal caregiving alone. In contrast, grandmaternal caregiving was associated with lower cognitive, language and social–emotional scores. Elements of the parenting environment partly mediated these associations. Negative associations with grandmaternal caregiving were more pronounced among boys, children with siblings and those whose primary caregiver had lower educational attainment. Conclusion In this rural Chinese context, grandmaternal caregiving was associated with less favourable early development scores, with the parenting environment acting as a pathway. Programmes may consider supporting grandparent caregivers—especially in grandmaternal caregiving settings—to enhance parenting activities, strengthen the HLE and foster positive parenting beliefs, with attention to families of boys, children with siblings and caregivers with lower education.