Risk and resilience from early to middle childhood in three-generation families: Grandmother coresidence stability matters.

Coresidential three-generation families are becoming increasingly prevalent, but the contribution of grandparent coresidence stability during early childhood is poorly understood. Informed by the process-person-context-time theory, this study links grandmothers' behavioral health risk and mothers' psychopathology to child psychopathology (i.e., total internalizing and externalizing problems). We hypothesized mediation pathways through maternal psychological and physical aggression and tested grandmother coresidential stability as a moderator. A nationally representative sample of three-generation families was selected from the Future of Families and Child Well-Being Study. Most mothers in the sample were Black or Hispanic, single, young, and living in low-income households. Based on grandmother coresidence stability from Year 3 to Year 5, families were divided into a disrupted (N = 248) and continued (N = 189) group. Multigroup structural equation modeling results showed similar and unique pathways across the groups. Similarly, in both groups, grandmothers' behavioral health risk at Year 3 was related to maternal physical aggression at Year 5, whereas maternal psychopathology at Year 3 was related to maternal psychological aggression at Year 5. Uniquely in the disrupted group, but not in the continued group, evidence was found on the intergenerational transmission of psychopathology: maternal psychopathology at Year 3 had a direct link to children's psychopathology at Year 9, and this was also mediated by psychological aggression at Year 5. These findings demonstrate the heterogeneity of multigenerational families and emphasize developmental implications for risk and resilience. Grandmother coresidential stability appears to have a protective role for young children's socioemotional development in socioeconomically disadvantaged families. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).