How Grandparents Caregivers Influence Grandchildren’s Creativity

Topic:

How Grandparents Caregivers Influence Grandchildren’s Creativity

Background:

In  contemporary  China,  it  is  very  common  for  grandparents  to  raise  their grandchildren together with their parents. Intergenerational co-parenting may break the parent-centered family power structure and change the influence of family environment on children's creativity.

What:

This study includes three parts. In the first part, two studies (study1 and study 2) were  conducted  to  investigate  the  relationship  between  family  structure  and  other family environmental factors and children's creativity.

In the second part, three studies (study 3, study 4 and study 5) were conducted to identify  the  differences  in  how  grandparents  and  parents  interacted  with  children respectively  and the relationships of which with children's  creativity.

In the third part, two studies (study 6 and study 7) were conducted to explore the influence of grandparents' behavior or psychological changes on children's subsequent creative performance.

Result:

The results of study 1 showed that the co-parenting of grandparents and parents had  a  negative  effect  on  children's  creativity.

The results of study 2 showed that the parenting style, parent-child relationship and  parental  educational  expectation  were  all  significantly  related  to  children’s creativity.

The results of study 3 showed that after grandparents and parents interact with children respectively, children's creativity performance would be affected.

The results of study 4 showed that children had different implicit attitudes towards grandparents and parents, which reflected the fact that children were emotionally closer and had more positive attitude towards their parents implicitly, and they also had the impression that their parents were more open and creative.

he  results  of  study  5  showed  that  there  was  a  significantly  correlationship between  grandparents’  general  sense  of  power  and  children's  creativity  (e.g. TTCT novelty) in three-generational families. 

The results of study 6 showed that three interventions had different effects on children's creativity.

The results of study 7 suggested that manipulating grandparents' sense of power would  affect  grandparents'  interactions  with  grandchildren,  which  in  turn  affected children's  creative  performance.

参考资料来源：陆烨 隔代教养对儿童创造力的影响