The present study evaluates the impact of grandchild distress on parental competence as mediated by Baumrind's parental styles in a sample of 238 custodial grandparents (M age = 58.06). AMOS structural equation findings yielded a model which indicated that both the Laissez-Faire and Authoritarian styles each predicted role stress and/or parental efficacy. Laissez-Faire's mediating role was defined by its link to the grandparent age—internalizing/externalizing behaviors relationship in predicting parental efficacy (beta = −.54, p < .05) and parental role stress (beta = .36, p < .05). The Authoritarian style's mediating role was driven by child externalizing behaviors (beta = .22, p < .05), where Authoritarian styles in turn predicted (beta = .21, p < .05) parental efficacy. The Authoritative style did not emerge as mediational in nature. These findings illuminate the role of parental styles as explanatory factors in understanding the parental challenges that grandparents face in raising their grandchildren.
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