Parents largely mediate the grandchild-grandparent relationship by serving as a "lineage bridge" between the first and third generations (Baranowski, 1982; Hill, Foote, Aldous, Carlson, & MacDonald, 1970). Several studies document the effect of parents as the intergenerational link between grandchildren and their grandparents. According to longitudinal research based on 400 white rural families, grandchildren with parents who have a positive relationship with the child's grandparents are more likely to have a strong relationship with their grandparents than are those grandchildren whose parents report a negative relationship with the child's grandparents (V. King & Elder, 1995). Cross-sectional research on a small sample of adolescent-grandparent dyads found that two-thirds of the 86 young-adult grandchildren sampled indicated that their parents set the pace or standard for their relationship with their grandparents (Robertson, 1976). A different cross-sectional study, on 398 two-parent, middle-class families, found that parents who reported negative relationships with their parents were more likely to have adolescents who reported lower levels of closeness and frequency of contact with their grandparents (Whitbeck, Hoyt, & Huck, 1993). Finally, cross-sectional research of 208 late adolescents found that young-adult grandchildren tend to look to their parents' relationship with their own parents as a model for how to act towards their grandparents (Hodgson, 1992). Hodgson (1992) suggests two possible explanations for parents' influence on the grandchild-grandparent relationship. One, parents spending time with their own parents may establish family norms that foster cross-generational relationships. Second, parents who interact with their own parents often bring their own children, which in turn foster grandparent-grandchild interaction.