Exploring the experience of grandparent childcare in a Chinese city

: a qualitative study

Abstract

Grandparent childcare is an international phenomenon, especially in families with children un-der three years old, which has been identified through quantitative research within China. To deepen the understanding of grandparent childcare, this research explores childcare arrangements and intergenerational interactions between grandparents and parents, through their perceptions in families where grandparents are involved in childcare for children under three. The sample of families is from the city of Taonan, in north-east China.

Qualitative research methods were utilised to collect and analyse data. This research was de-signed to recruit one grandparent and one parent from each family. Four recruitment approaches were utilised: online recruitment, recruitment in community healthcare centres, personal networking and snowballing. In total, 30 participants were recruited, including 15 grand-parents and 15 parents. In-depth, one-to-one interviews were conducted with all participants. Four themes have been developed using thematic analysis. They are perceptions of childcare, perceptions of grandparent childcare, childcare arrangements, and intergenerational interactions between grandparents and parents.

An Integrated Family Model has been constructed in order to understand the findings. Four theoretical perspectives contribute to the construction of the Integrated Family Model: mosaic familism, intergenerationality in neo-familism, the ecological framework of human development, and family support. Grandparents’ involvement in childcare is interpreted as family support in the model. Three aspects of the internal drive of the grandparent-and-parent symbiosis system are identified: grandparents’ perceptions of obligations, intimate ties between maternal grandmother and her daughter, and ties between grandparents and grandchildren.

The Integrated Family Model innovatively locates the symbiosis system within a macrosystem and a chronosystem. The one-child policy, as one component of the macrosystem, is found to have strengthened the ties between grandparents and their only adult child. It is also found to be the strong internal drive of the symbiosis system. The model provides a comprehensive and integrated way to understand childcare arrangements and interactions between grandparents and parents in families where grandparents are involved in childcare.

On the basis of the findings as articulated in the model, recommendations are made for policy makers to rethink the role of family as the sole provider of childcare for children under three. Support programmes need to be developed for families that recognise the way that informal support works, and the varying needs of those involved, including grandparents. Recommendations are also made for future studies on childcare arrangements and intergenerational interactions, to include focusing on outcomes for child development, the role of fathers and grandfathers, and support provided later in the lifecycle from parents to grandparents.

Date of Award	Dec 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Sponsors	Queen's University & China Scholarship Council
Supervisor	Lorna Montgomery (Supervisor) & John Pinkerton (Supervisor)