Grandparents are known to spoil children but a new study has ditched this perception by proving that, they have strong influence on the improvement of social child behavior and skills.

Staying close to granny to grandpa appears to help children with one parent such as divorced according to the study findings. The results were published in the Journal of Family Psychology.

“Grandparents always have a supportive role but especially, they play a role of backbone in the families suffering from crisis. They can neutralize the negative effect of separation on the children and save them from the changes taking place within the family,” the study’s lead author, Shalhevet Attar-Schwartz said in the news release.

In the study, researchers interviewed with teenagers, 11 to 16 years old, they founded that the youngster who had enough discussions with their grandparents, regarding all walks of life, have improved life quality and few problem in comparison with their peers, such as disruptive behavior and deficit disorders.

Findings were almost similar in all three family setups but children of single parents and stepfamilies showed the much more improvement. Their deep attachment was also observed with the grand parents than the parents. The study participants were not living with their grandparents solely.

The results suggest the benefits of grandparents in the life of American children. Grandparents, in America, are even more sharing their living place with their grandchildren, according to the data, lead researcher added.