Impact of Genetic Relatedness and Emotional Closeness on Intergenerational Relations

Both emotional closeness and genetic relatedness are known to influence helping behavior between family generations, yet few studies have explored them together. The authors investigated the associations between (a) parenthood and perceived emotional closeness toward own parents and parents-in-law and (b) emotional closeness and receiving child care from grandparents across and within lineage lines. The data include information on the 8 dyads of possible parent–grandparent relations from a nationally representative survey of young adults in Finland (born 1962–1990, sample N = 1,216). The results show that parenthood was associated with women's emotional closeness to their own mothers and men's emotional closeness to their parents-in-law. Maternal grandmothers provided the most grandchild care. After controlling for emotional closeness, the difference in child care provision between one's own mother and one's mother-in-law disappeared for women but was accentuated in men. Thus, emotional closeness shapes intergenerational relations differently for kin and in-laws.