Antti O. Tanskanen

Grandparental Child Care in Europe: Evidence for Preferential Investment in More Certain Kin

Theories of kin selection and parental investment predict stronger investment in children and grandchildren by women and maternal kin. Due to paternity uncertainty, parental and grandparental investments along paternal lineages are based on less certain genetic relatedness with the children and grandchildren. Additionally, the hypothesis of preferential investment (Laham, Gonsalkorale, and von Hippel, 2005) predicts investment to vary according to available investment options. Two previous studies have tested this hypothesis with small samples and conflicting results. Using the second wave of the large and multinational Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), collected in 2006–07, we study the preferential investment hypothesis in contemporary Europe based on self-reported grandparental provision of child care. We predict that 1) maternal grandmothers provide most care for their grandchildren, followed by maternal grandfathers, paternal grandmothers and last by paternal grandfathers; 2) maternal grandfathers and paternal grandmothers provide equal amounts of care when the latter do not have grandchildren via a daughter; 3) women who have grandchildren via both a daughter and a son will look after the children of the daughter more; and 4) men who have grandchildren via both a daughter and a son will look after the children of the daughter more. Results support all four hypotheses and provide evidence for the continuing effects of paternity uncertainty in contemporary kin behavior.

Multi-partner fertility is associated with lower grandparental investment from in-laws in Finland

Divorce and remarriage influence family relations, yet few studies explore changes in grandparenting due to family recomposition. We study variations in grandparental investment when the parents have children from several unions. Using nationally representative data of younger adults from the Generational Transmissions in Finland survey conducted in 2012 (sample n = 760 parents), we compare the grandchild care that parents report having received from their parents and parents-in-law. Results show that multipartner fertility is not associated with the amount of grandparental investment a parent receives from his or her own parents, but is associated with the investment received from mothers parents-in-law. Mothers parents-in-law are less likely to invest in grandchild sets which include step-grandchildren, compared to grandchildren living with their original parents. Fully biological grandchildren are 31% more likely to receive grandparental care compared to grandchild sets including step grandchildren. Thus the reduction in grandparental investment associated with step-grandchildren may also affect children from the new union.

Diluted Competition? Conflicts between Full- and Half-Siblings in Two Adult Generations

Sibling relations are typically close but ambivalent, including both altruism and competition. Full siblings are often assumed to exhibit more altruism and less competition than half-siblings. However, previous empirical findings indicate that this assumption may not hold for sibling conflicts in contemporary humans. We study self-reported occurrence of sibling conflicts among adults in two generations with nationally representative data from the Generational Transmissions in Finland surveys in 2012. Respondents represent an older generation (born between 1945 and 1950, n = 2,015) and their adult children (born between 1962 and 1993, n = 1,565). Based on kin selection and parent-offspring conflict theory we expect reports of any conflict to be more likely between full siblings than half siblings, between maternal half siblings than paternal half-siblings, and among the younger generation compared to the older generation. Results mostly support our hypotheses. Full siblings were more likely to report conflicts than were maternal and paternal half siblings in the younger generation. In the older generation, full siblings were more likely to report conflicts with paternal but not maternal half siblings. The younger generation was also more conflict-prone than the older. Results held when controlling for contact frequency, emotional closeness, unequal parental treatment, and several socioeconomic variables, as well as for within-family effects. Thus, although full siblings are typically closer and have more contact in adulthood than half siblings do, they also appear to have more conflicts. We suggest that this can be explained by diluted resource competition over parental investment between half siblings in societies with serial monogamy.

SIBLING CONFLICTS IN FULL- AND HALF-SIBLING HOUSEHOLDS IN THE UK.

Sibling relations are by nature ambivalent with high levels of both altruistic helping and competition. Higher relatedness is often assumed to reduce the occurrence of conflicts between siblings, but evidence of this has been scarce and mixed. Siblings typically compete over resources and parental attention, and parental constellations vary with sibship types. Since full-siblings compete over the same two biological parents, while half-siblings have only one shared biological parent and often a higher number of parents overall, it is hypothesized that conflicts are more common between full- than half-siblings. This study tested this assumption using the British Millennium Cohort Study (n=7527 children at age 11). Conflicts were measured as childrens reports of how much siblings picked on and hurt each other. Households with full-siblings only, maternal half-siblings only, and both full- and maternal half-siblings were compared. The results show that children who were living with only their full-siblings were more likely to experience sibling conflicts compared with children living with their maternal half-siblings only. This was the case also after controlling for several potentially confounding variables. The results suggest that differential access to parental resources of available biological and step-parents may explain the higher amount of sibling conflict between full- compared with maternal half-siblings.

The Association between Unequal Parental Treatment and the Sibling Relationship in Finland: The Difference between Full and Half-Siblings

Studies have shown that unequal parental treatment is associated with relationship quality between siblings. However, it is unclear how it affects the relationship between full and half-siblings. Using data from the Generational Transmissions in Finland project (n = 1,537 younger adults), we study whether those who have half-siblings perceive more unequal parental treatment than those who have full siblings only. In addition, we study how unequal parental treatment is associated with sibling relationship between full, maternal, and paternal half-siblings. First, we found that individuals who have maternal and/or paternal half-siblings are more likely to have encountered unequal maternal treatment than individuals who have full siblings only. Second, we found that unequal parental treatment impairs full as well as maternal and paternal half-sibling relations in adulthood. Third, unequal parental treatment mediates the effect of genetic relatedness on sibling relations in the case of maternal half-siblings, but not in the case of paternal half-siblings. After controlling for unequal parental treatment, the quality of maternal half-sibling relationships did not differ from that of full siblings, whereas the quality of paternal half-sibling relationships still did. Fourth, the qualitative comments (n = 206) from the same population reveal that unequal parental treatment presents itself several ways, such as differential financial, emotional, or practical support.

Contact frequencies with nieces and nephews in Finland Evidence for the preferential investment in more certain kin theory

Based on maternity certainty and paternity uncertainty, one can predict that individuals will channel investment in their kin according to more genetically certain investment options. According to the preferential investment in more certain kin theory, if aunts and uncles have the option to invest in either their sisters’ or their brothers’ children they would prefer to invest in their sisters’ children. However, this question has not been previously explored in contemporary societies with nationally representative data from two generations of aunts and uncles. In our study, we have used data gathered in the Generational Transmissions in Finland project in 2012. The respondents represent older adults (born between 1945 and 1950, n = 1,604) and younger adults (born between 1962 and 1993, n = 1,159). We find that when aunts and uncles have nieces and nephews via both sisters and brothers, they have more contacts with their sisters’ children than their brothers’ children. Thus, the results are in accordance with the preferential investment theory.

Grandfather Involvement in Finland: Impact of Divorce, Remarriage, and Widowhood

While divorce and remarriage are known to influence family relations, few studies have explored grandfathers’ involvement with their grandchildren following marital disruption. In this chapter we investigate whether the involvement of widowed, divorced, or remarried grandfathers differs from that of grandfathers who have married but never divorced, and whether the effect of marital status is different between grandfathers and grandmothers. Grandparental involvement is measured by childcare and contact frequencies with grandchildren. The investigation is based on the Generational Transmissions in Finland survey, with data including 1441 grandparents aged between 62 and 67. We found that divorce as well as remarriage reduced the contacts and childcare provided by grandfathers. Among both married and divorced grandparents, grandmothers were much more involved than grandfathers.

Maternal Grandfathers and Child Development in England: Impact on the Early Years

This chapter uses data from the Millennium Cohort Study to investigate an association between maternal grandfathers’ involvement and child development in the UK. This is one of the first studies to explore whether there is any link between grandfather involvement with younger children and improved development. Grandfathers’ involvement is measured by contact frequencies reported by children’s mothers and child development by Foundation Stage Profile (FSP) reported by teachers. Children whose mothers reported more contacts with maternal grandfathers also had higher FSP scores than children with no contacts. However, daily contacts with maternal grandfathers were not associated with higher scores. Although high-intensity grandfather involvement with young grandchildren may not be associated with improved child development, a lesser amount of contact with grandfathers may improve a child’s cognitive abilities.

Parental Resources, Sibship Size, and Educational Performance in 20 Countries Evidence for the Compensation Model

We study whether having several siblings decreases the level of educational performance of adolescents and whether this phenomenon can be compensated by other factors such as the economic or cultural resources of the parents. Based on this compensation model, parental resources should be associated with children’s educational attainments more strongly in families with a higher rather than a lower number of children. We analyzed the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) data from 20 Western countries and found that better family wealth, an increased level of parental education, and a higher parental occupational status were associated with increased educational attainments more strongly among 15-year-old children who have siblings than among children without siblings. The same effect was not found in the case of family cultural possessions. Although parental resources may matter more in larger families than in smaller families, some types of resources are more important than others regarding compensation.

Childlessness and investment in nieces, nephews, aunts and uncles in Finland.

Kin selection theory predicts that individuals may increase their inclusive fitness by investing in their genetically related kin. In addition, according to the reproductive value hypothesis, individuals may increase their fitness more by investing in their kin in descending rather than ascending order. The present study uses the Generational Transmissions in Finland data collected in 2012 (n ¼ 601 women) and analyses whether childless younger women invest more in their kin than younger women with children. The study finds that childless women are more likely than mothers to invest in their nieces and nephews but not their aunts and uncles. Thus the results are in line with the reproductive value prediction.