The wsj.com had a fascinating short article recently about a study that was published online in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. Having no idea what orthopsychiatry was, I discovered it is “the branch of psychiatry concerned with the study and prevention of mental or behavioral disorders, with emphasis on child development and family life.”. Now that I have revealed my relative ignorance, I will get to the fascinating bit. The study, which surveyed 1400 teens, looked at the relationship between specific family relationships and emotional and behavioral well being. The conclusions are not surprising for those of us who believe that parents and grandparents are vital in the lives of kids (including teens). They found that “teens who form close, loving relationships with a grandparent are more likely to have fewer behavioral and emotional problems than less-attached teens”. What’s even more fascinating is that this tendency is most true where teens had strong relationships to parents and grandparents. If they were close to their grandparents but not their parents, the effect was diminished.
Read the article here
The Study can be found here
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