Early Childhood Development in Rural China: Caregiver‐Child Relationships and Parenting Behaviours among Parents and Grandparents

ABSTRACT

In impoverished rural China, grandparents often serve as primary caregivers for children separated from their parents, but how their parenting quality compares to that of non‐migrant parents remains unclear. This study compared caregiver‐child relationships and parenting behaviours between parents and grandparents, examining their impacts on child development. Participants included 546 Han Chinese children aged 0–3 years (M _age  = 20.38 months, SD = 9.27; 50.2% girls) and their primary caregivers from rural China. Among them, 237 children without parent–child separation were raised by parents, while 309 children experiencing parent–child separation were raised by grandparents. The results indicated no significant differences between parent–child and grandparent–child relationships ( t  = −1.06, p  = 0.290), but there were significant differences in some parenting behaviours between parents and grandparents. The path analysis model indicated that in the parent‐cared group, parent–child relationship predicted children's personal‐social skills, and parental acceptance predicted personal‐social and problem‐solving skills; in the grandparent‐cared group, grandparents' acceptance predicted all five developmental domains, and punitive behaviour also positively predicted personal‐social skills. Multiple‐group analysis indicated significant between‐group differences in these predictive effects (ΔS‐Bχ ²  = 62.31, Δdf = 35, p  = 0.003). These findings highlight the importance of assessing different caregiving contexts and provide crucial evidence for targeted early interventions.