Changes in parent-grandparent relationship quality and links with parents' distress throughout the transition to...

The transition to parenthood marks an important turning point for parent-grandparent dyads, as parents' needs for grandparental support increase and grounds for both emotional closeness and conflict arise. Guided by a life-course perspective, this study investigated changes in parent-perceived emotional closeness and conflict between parents and grandparents throughout the transition to parenthood, as well as linkages with parental symptoms of anxiety and depression. Longitudinal biannual questionnaire data of 385 Dutch first-time parents (37.9% male) covering several years before and after the birth of a first child were analyzed using piecewise latent growth models. The results indicated an average decrease in emotional closeness and no change in conflict posttransition, which differed significantly from the stability in emotional closeness and decline in conflict found pretransition. On average, mothers and fathers did not differ in their perceptions of parent-grandparent relationships, and the associations between relationship quality and symptoms of distress were mostly evident at intercept. After the transition, parents who reported less decrease in closeness with grandparents tended to experience a stronger decrease in depressive symptoms, but not anxiety symptoms. These findings were interpreted in the context of parental expectations, gender norms, individual variability, and methodological limitations. Future studies should examine the temporal ordering of the changing dynamics between parents and grandparents during this key life transition. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).