Family Structure and Parental Involvement: Examining the Role of Grandparents in China

Multigenerational ties become an essential feature of family dynamics in contemporary society. Using nationally representative data from the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS), this study examines the relationships between living with grandparents and various forms of parental involvement in middle school, including investment in extracurricular activities, family cultural activities, parent-child communication, parental monitoring, and parental help with homework. The findings show that grandparents living with the family are positively related to parent-child communication and parental supervision after controlling for background factors. It further reveals that living with grandparents is associated with greater investment in extracurricular activities, parent-child communication, and oversight among rural families, whereas it is only associated with family cultural activities among urban families. However, the presence of grandparents does not offset the negative impacts of parental absence on involvement. The findings carry important implications for understanding the variation in parenting practices and educational inequality from a multigenerational perspective.