Effects of Grandmother Coresidence and Quality of Family Relationships on Depressive Symptoms in Adolescent Mothers

Abstract

New welfare policies mandate minor unmarried adolescent mothers to coreside with a parent or adult guardian to qualify for cash assistance. The influence of grandmother coresidence and the quality of familial relationships on adolescent mothers psychological well-being is little understood. This article considers the main and interactive effects of grandmother coresidence family cohesion and young mother conflict with grandmother on adolescent reports of depressive symptoms in a sample (N = 194) of predominantly low-income adolescent mothers. Young mothers ranged in age from 15 to 17 years during pregnancy. Predictor variables associations with depressive symptoms were examined at 6 18 and 30 months post-partum. No main effects of grandmother coresidence on adolescents depressive symptoms were found. In contrast the quality of family relationships as well as the interaction of grandmother coresidence with family cohesion were associated with depressive symptoms. Adolescent mothers with the greatest depressive symptoms were those who coresided with grandmothers under conditions of poor family cohesion. Implications for new welfare policies are discussed. (authors)