An intervention to improve the well-being of families in which African American grandmothers are raising grandchildren: A longitudinal mediation analysis

Children raised by grandparents experience increased emotional distress often related to family circumstances. Drawing on a coping model of family stress, adjustment, and adaptation, we examined a 12-month home-based intervention to improve the well-being of families in which grandmothers are raising grandchildren and longitudinally explored grandmothers' perceived changes in grandchild behavior in relation to their psychological distress levels. The sample consisted of 510 African American custodial grandmother-grandchildren pairs, including children ages 4–16 years. All grandmothers participated in a 12-month, primarily home-based support intervention. The prospective analysis revealed that reported child internalizing and externalizing behavior problems and grandmother psychological distress decreased significantly from baseline to the 12-month follow-up assessment. Grandchild internalizing and externalizing behaviors were positively predicted by grandmothers' baseline and 12-month psychological distress. Concerning mediation, the total effect of baseline grandmother psychological distress on 12-month grandchild internalizing and externalizing behaviors was significant, positive, and significantly mediated by 12-month grandmother psychological distress. Findings also revealed medium effect sizes for the indirect effects. These results suggest that a decrease in psychological distress in grandmothers over the 12-month intervention had a positive effect on grandmothers’ perceptions of grandchildren's internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Study limitations and future research directions are discussed.