Maternal grandparents spoil their grandchildren more than paternal ones, study finds
Grandparents on the maternal side spoil their grandchildren more than those on the paternal side, research shows
- Grandmother and grandfather on the maternal side placed first and second
- Paternal grandmothers ranked third and paternal grandfathers fourth
Many grandchildren who received lavish birthday presents and unfettered access to the cookie jar may already suspect that.
But now there is scientific evidence to suggest that maternal grandmothers are most concerned about their grandchildren.
A study of 1,400 children in England and Wales, aged between 11 and 16, asked how often each grandparent saw them, cared for them, gave them financial support and could count on them.
The answers, combined and analyzed, suggest that children receive most of the care from their maternal grandmother.
The second most invested grandparent appears to be the maternal grandfather.
(Stock Image) A study found that children receive most of the care from their maternal grandmother
Paternal grandmothers rank third—suggesting that a child should expect their mother’s mother to be significantly more involved in their lives than their father’s mother—and paternal grandfathers rank fourth.
The perhaps controversial theory behind this is that we are determined to raise future generations. But the maternal grandmother is the only one who can be absolutely sure that the grandchild is a relative – because she gave birth to her daughter, and her daughter gave birth to that child.
Our caveman brain can tell grandfathers or the father’s parents that they can never be completely sure that the child is not the product of an affair.
(Stock Image) Researchers suggest women are evolutionarily programmed to care for children, and men are programmed to have more children with different partners
Researchers also suggest that women are evolutionarily hardwired to care for children, and men are hardwired to have more children with different partners, so maternal grandparents will do more to help their daughter raise grandchildren.
The results of the study, led by the University of Turku in Finland, are published in the journal Biology Letters.
The data analyzed came from a 2007 survey of schoolchildren, each of whom had at least one living grandparent, but did not live with their grandparents. Nearly 1,200 of the 1,430 had a living maternal grandmother.