It turns out maternal grandmothers have an advantage that you might not have considered.

PureWow conducted an informal poll and found the majority of women reported being closer with their own mothers than they are with their partner’s parents. This in turn means their moms enjoy stronger relationships with their grandchildren than their partner’s parents do.

The trend held even when the maternal grandmother lived far away, and the paternal grandmother lived nearby.

The New York Times reported on the phenomenon and psychologists say there are two main contributing factors: that mothers and daughters tend to be uniquely close, and that as daughter turn into mothers they tend to take on more of the responsibility of “kin-keeping,” or doing things like maintaining family bonds– this puts her into a spot where she can “cement or thwart grandparental closeness.”