Lost support, lost skills: Children's cognitive outcomes following grandparental death

Objective

This study examines the implications of grandparental death for cognitive skills in middle childhood.

Method

This study uses data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 2479) to estimate ordinary least squares regression models of the associations between grandparental death and subsequent cognitive skills among children in middle childhood.

Results

Experiencing a grandparental death between ages 5 and 9 is associated with boys' lower reading, verbal, and math scores at age 9, with associations most notable for Black and Hispanic boys; grandparental death before age 5 has minimal influence on boys' cognitive skills at age 9. There is little indication that grandparental death adversely affects girls’ cognitive skills.

Conclusion

The numerous and persistent implications of grandparental death for boys’ cognitive skills merit greater recognition of grandparental death as a source of family instability, stress, and ultimately inequality in child development.