Shared activities of grandparents and grandchildren.

Responses of 391 young adult grandchildren to a list of 29 activities gave empirical support to the usefulness of the list by indicating the extent to which each activity was characteristic of their relationship with their most-close grandparent. Analyses of variance indicated the influence of 7 independent variables on the rating of the activities. Information from the study could provide a context to assist in considering the meaning of specific activities as they appear in research directed toward other aspects of the grandparent/grandchild relationship. It could also be helpful in educational programs as part of the anticipatory socialization of grandparents.     

Grandchildren's perspectives on relationships with grandparents: The influence of gender across generations

The study examines the relation between gender of grandchildren, parents and grandparents and grandchild-grandparent relationships. Subjects were 120 young adult grandchildren (ages 18–23) who provided information on the 375 grandparents they had known. Subjects reported how close they felt to their grandparents, how much they liked them, and what activities they engaged in with them. Strong effects were found for sex of grandparent and sex of parent. Grandchildren had closer relationships with grandmothers, particularly maternal grandmothers, and they tended to prefer maternal grandmothers over other grandparents. Maternal grandmothers seem to make themselves particularly accessible to grandchildren. The results suggest that the gender of the grandparent can be more important than proximity in determining the quality of grandchild-grandparent relationships.An earlier version of this paper was presented in March of 1986 at the annual meeting of the Southwestern Society for Research in Human Development. The authors thanks Richard Wenzlaff for his assistance in the analysis of the data, Billy Hoover for his assistance in collecting and coding the data, and Judith Loftus for her comments on earlier drafts of the paper.     

Thinking about Scenarios of Grandparenthood

ABSTRACT

The term “grandparenthood” was first coined by the psychoanalyst P. Redler, to denominate the intrapsychic and interpersonal relationship between grandparents and grandchildren. Grandparenthood involves a specific relationship with specific conflict areas and with its own process of development, named by this author “grandparenthood crisis”. In this phase, grandparents must cope with different experiences of mourning. The joys of becoming a grandparent help compensate for these sorrows. For children, the figure of grandparents evolves during their development and implies different functions across each development stage.

Despite the importance of grandparenthood in the family context, this is a poorly studied topic in Child Psychology. In this paper, we make a review of the scarce literature on this subject, aiming to relate it with the theory of the “Narcissistic scenarios of parenthood” described by Manzano and Palacio (2005). We emphasize the importance not only of the figure of the grandparents in the child’s development, but also the importance of the relation with the grandchild holds for the grandparent in this life stage. We also try to explore the subject of intergenerational transmission.     

Popular images of grandparents: Examining young adults’views of their closest grandparents

Young adults (N= 171) first judged the extent to which 13 stereotyped images of grandparents typified their perceptions of their own closest grandparent and then judged the extent to which they believed the average other viewed these same stereotypes as characteristic of his or her closest grandparent. Compared to those whose relationships with their closest grandparent were emotionally distant, participants who felt close to their closest grandparent reported significantly more favorable own grandparent attitudes. In addition, stereotypes that portrayed the grandparent as loving and supportive were especially diagnostic of the emotional quality of respondents’relationships with their closest grandparents. Comparing judgments of own grandparents with judgments of the average other's grandparent, there was no evidence of own-grandparent superiority among not-close participants’responses. In contrast, close participants demonstrated own-grandparent superiority in their judgments of negative, but not positive, stereotypes.     

Examining the structural validity of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in a U.S. sample of custodial grandmothers

The authors examined the structural validity of the parent informant version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) with a sample of 733 custodial grandparents. Three models of the SDQ's factor structure were evaluated with confirmatory factor analysis based on the item covariance matrix. Although indices of fit were good across all 3 models, a model that included a newly hypothesized positive construal method factor in addition to the 4 symptom factors (Emotional Symptoms, Conduct Problems, Hyperactivity-Inattention, Peer Problems) and the single Prosocial Behavior factor originally intended for the SDQ provided the best representation of this instrument's latent structure. Structural validity was further evidenced by measurement invariance across grandparent race and grandchild gender and age, a conceptually meaningful pattern of cross-scale correlations, and the acceptable internal reliability estimates found for each subscale. Measurement and clinical implications of the results are discussed.     

What Matters Most to the Left-Behind Children’s Life Satisfaction and School Engagement: Parent or Grandparent?

This study compared the role of the parent and grandparent in the adjustment of children who had, and who had not, been left behind when their parents moved to urban areas for work, and tested whether self-esteem mediated the association between these family relationships and child adjustment. The sample included 428 middle school students in central China, 204 of whom were left-behind children who were cared for by grandparents and 224 of whom were not left behind. The students responded to five questionnaires measuring parent–child relationships, grandparent–child relationships, self-esteem, life satisfaction and school engagement. Regression analyses showed that self-esteem mediated the association between parent–child and grandparent–child relationships and children’s adjustment, but there were different patterns of association for the non-left-behind children and left-behind children groups. Furthermore, the unique effect of parent–child relationships was higher than that of grandparent–child relationships for the non-left-behind children, but for the left-behind children, grandparent–child relationships played a more important role than grandparent–child relationships in predicting their school engagement, and parent–child relationships played a more important role in predicting their life satisfaction. Parents who are far away and grandparents who are close at hand can shape different psychological and behavioral development outcomes of left-behind children.     

Grandparent-grandchild contact and attitudes toward older adults: moderator and mediator effects

Two studies tested the intergroup contact hypothesis in the context of the grandparent-grandchild relationship. The hypothesis suggests that contact with an out-group member has more influence on attitudes toward the out-group when group memberships are salient. In Study 1, the predicted link was found but only for grandparents with whom the grandchild had more frequent contact. The second study examined only the most frequent grandparent relationship and replicated the effect. This study also investigated the role of various mediators of the link between quality of contact and attitudes, as well as quality of contact and perceived out-group variability. Perspective taking, anxiety, and accommodation mediated the effects of contact on attitudes, whereas individuation and self-disclosure mediated the effects of contact on perceived out-group variability. Moderated mediational analysis indicated that the moderating effect of group salience occurs between quality of contact and the mediator, not between the mediator and attitudes.     

Intergenerational transmission of values: family generativity and adolescents' narratives of parent and grandparent value teaching

In this longitudinal study, we compared family stories told by 32 Canadian adolescents at ages 16 and 20 about how parents and grandparents had taught them values. Relations to parents' and children's levels of generativity were also examined. Adolescents' stories of grandparent value teaching were less readily recalled and less interactive in their content compared with stories about parents. Stories of value teaching by more generative parents were more likely to involve specific episodes, to be more interactive, to be more likely to emphasize caring content, and to be less likely to have their message rejected by the teens. Similarly, when parents were more generative, adolescents' stories about grandparents' value teaching were also more likely to involve specific and interactive episodes. Finally, stories told about parents and grandparents that were more positive on these dimensions predicted higher generative concern scores for the adolescents themselves, measured subsequently at age 24. Adolescents' stories about parent and grandparent socialization in more generative family contexts thus have features that suggest a more compelling process of intergenerational value transmission.     

Coparenting Conflict and Cooperation between Parents and Grandparents in Vietnamese Families: The Role of Grandparent Psychological Control and Parent–Grandparent Communication

Shared care between parents and grandparents is common in Asian cultures. This cocare practice provides many benefits to families but is also particularly complex, as both parents and grandparents must simultaneously fulfill their roles as cocaregivers as well as maintain their relationship with each other. This study aims to explore the determinants of coparenting relationships between parents and grandparents in Vietnam. Data were collected from 501 Vietnamese parents whose aging parents are active carers for their children. The results indicated that grandparent psychological control and parent–grandparent quality of communication explain the largest variance in both parent–grandparent coparenting conflict and cooperation. The results suggest that parenting interventions aimed at the Asian cultures, where grandparent care is common, may benefit from the inclusion of a content focus on promoting the coparenting relationship between parents and grandparents.     

Using Consumer Input to Tailor Evidence-Based Parenting Interventions to the Needs of Grandparents

Grandparents provide a significant amount of child care to their grandchildren. However, there is limited research investigating whether grandparents would view a parenting program developed specifically for them as useful. Our study adopted a consumer focused perspective to program design and examined the challenges encountered by grandparents in their role as an informal child care provider. Focus groups were conducted with fourteen grandparents (11 females, 3 males) aged 45–76?years (M?=?60.14) the majority of whom provided 11–20?h of care per week to their grandchild. A thematic analysis indicated that grandparents have difficulty managing the relationship with the parents and remembering effective parenting strategies. In addition, grandparents also indicated wanting further strategies to cope with the stressors associated with the role, particularly surrounding feelings of frustration and guilt. These results suggest that grandparents could benefit from a parenting program and this paper argues that an existing evidence-based parenting program should be modified. In terms of implications for program design the inclusion of a module centered on improving grandparent–parent communication and partner support may buffer potential conflict and tension that can arise in co-parenting situations.     

A Systemic Examination of Grandparents' Emotional Closeness With Their Custodial Grandchildren

In this article, we present the results of a qualitative analysis of grandparents' emotional closeness with their custodial grandchildren. Using attachment and systems theories as guides, in this study, we examined individual, relational, and contextual factors related to grandparents' perceptions of the emotional closeness of the grandparent–grandchild relationship. A total of 41 grandparents raising grandchildren participated in semistructured qualitative interviews. Findings indicated that disruptions in grandparents' emotional closeness to their grandchildren were related primarily to grandparents' perceptions that their grandchildren were experiencing emotional and behavioral problems. However, contextual factors such as financial limitations and the generation gap were also influential. Nonetheless, grandparents still reported close emotional bonds with their grandchildren that included sharing, demonstrations of affection, and mutual support. We discuss applications for future research.     

Attitudes toward older adults: The perceived value of grandparent as a social role

The present study examined the discrepancy between young and middle-aged adults' persistently negative attitudes toward older adults in general and their consistently positive attitudes toward grandparents. Two hundred-twenty young and middle-aged college students completed the Aging Semantic Differential and indicated or estimated (where appropriate) the average age for three categories of older adults: old people in general, typical (i.e., hypothetical, prototypical) grandparents, and their own grandparents. A pattern of results emerged in which students viewed older adults less positively than typical grandparents, who generally were viewed less positively than known grandparents. Because older people in general and typical grandparents were estimated as being similar in age, the positive attitudes expressed toward typical grandparents may be attributed to the social role of grandparent over and above any bias against increased age. Because students were most positive about their own grandparents, aspects of their individual grandparental relationships appear to have an additional, additive effect.     

The grandparent–grandchild relationship in childhood and adulthood: A matter of continuation?

This study examined whether grandparents perceive adult grandchildren as frequent and important contacts by analyzing network membership. It additionally examined whether this network membership is related to relationship intensity during childhood. Network membership was assessed in 1992 (397 grandparents, 1,594 adult grandchildren) and at the 2005–2006 follow‐up (155 grandparents, 429 adult grandchildren) from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. Relationship intensity during childhood was assessed in 1992. One out of 4 grandparents identified at least 1 adult grandchild in their personal network. Adult grandchildren who had an intense relationship with their grandparents during childhood were more often in grandparents' network than others. An intense relationship during childhood promotes continuation of the relationship into adulthood and might contribute to grandparent's support potential.     

Young People's Musical Taste: Relationship With Gender and Gender‐Related Traits1

The present study extended previous findings of gender differences in young people's musical taste by examining whether identification with gender‐related expressive or instrumental traits contributes to these differences, and by examining the underlying structure of musical taste by gender. The results confirmed greater liking of heavier contemporary music among men and of chart pop music among women. Gender was a stronger predictor of taste for gender‐stereotyped styles than identification with gender‐related traits. The structure of style preferences in dimensions relating to mainstream styles varied by gender. Men and participants with higher scores on expressiveness gave higher ratings to more styles. The findings are discussed in relation to gender differences in the use of music and gender‐role socialization.     

Grandparents as family stabilizers during economic hardship in Bulgaria

T he present study of three generations' families living together during a period of marked economic dislocation investigates whether supportive grandparents can ameliorate the negative effects of economic stress on parenting and on teen outcomes. The study focuses on harsh parenting and adolescent depression, which has been shown to be especially responsive to economic stress. Three hypotheses were investigated: (1) in extended families there is a link between economic adversity and adolescent depression that is mediated by harsh parenting; (2) grandparent support diminishes the relationship between economic pressure and harsh parenting; and (3) grandparent support diminishes the relationship between harsh parenting and adolescent depression. Data were collected from a community sample of 62 extended families with an adolescent during a period of marked economic dislocation in Bulgaria. Mothers, fathers, and adolescents completed questionnaires about perceived economic pressure, parents' harsh parenting, and perceived support of grandparents. Adolescents also completed a measure of self‐reported depression. Additional interviews were conducted with every eligible family member about family relations. Results showed that even though there was significant economic stress reported by parents, adolescents reported moderate levels of depression and low levels of harsh parenting by mothers and fathers. Correlation and regression analyses revealed that whenever respondents experienced support by grandparents, it made a difference for family members. More specifically, despite economic stress, mothers who experienced the support of grandparents tended to exercise less harsh parenting practices than mothers who lacked such support. Furthermore, when grandparents were supportive, harsh parenting was not associated with adolescent depression. These findings are discussed in the light of existing studies of families under economic pressure with a special focus on extended family relations and the role of cultural context.     

Distance,Contact, and Intergenerational Relationships: Grandparents and Adult Grandchildren from an International Perspective

In previous studies of intergenerational relationships, geographic distance has been considered the most obvious factor influencing opportunity for frequency of contact between grandparents and grandchildren. This study presents findings from a survey of 70 international college students in the Unites States regarding perceived grandparental influence and relationship satisfaction with their “closest” grandparent. Results showed that participants' perceived influence of grandparents and relationship satisfaction was maintained despite decreased contact between grandparents and grandchildren. In addition, grandchildren who initiated contact were found to have a significant impact on relationship satisfaction. This study provides an understanding of distance, contact, and intergenerational relationships in an international context.     

Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

Children and youths are being raised by grandparents in greater numbers than would be expected by choice or by chance. These new households represent a transfer of child-rearing responsibilities from an absent or incapacitated parent to an older adult who could also be at risk for disability. This article discusses the implications of this trend for the helping professions, particularly as they apply to interventions required to assure the mental and physical stability of both grandparent and child.     

Partner Support and Grandparent Support as Predictors of Change in Coparenting Quality

Young ethnic minority parents may lack psychological and financial resources to handle parenthood, increasing the risk of negative psychosocial and parenting outcomes. Partner support has been associated with positive coparenting, although findings have been mixed. Support from young parents’ own parents (“grandparents”) has been linked to adaptive family outcomes and may be particularly protective for African American and Latino parents whose cultures espouse interdependence. This study examined partner support and grandparent support as individual predictors of change in coparenting quality, and tested whether grandparent support moderated the relationship between partner support and change in coparenting quality over the first postpartum year. Participants were 136 African American and Latina adolescent mothers (age range?=?15–21 years) and their babies’ fathers (15–41 years). Partner and grandparent support were measured at 6 months postpartum. Coparenting quality was measured at 6 and 12 months postpartum, and change in coparenting quality was measured using latent change scores. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesis that the relationship between partner support and change in coparenting quality would be moderated by grandparent support. Fit indices indicated a well-fitted model. Results demonstrated that the moderator term (partner support?×?grandparent support) significantly predicted change in coparenting quality. Specifically, partner support was positively associated with changes in coparenting quality when grandparent support was high; however, that association became weaker and changed direction for lower levels of grandparent support. Findings highlight the need to assess parents’ social support networks and grandparents’ impact on the coparenting quality of this at-risk population.     

College students' relationships with grandparents

Literature on the role and attitudes of grandparents is increasing, even as is the number of grandparents. However, data on the attitudes of grandchildren toward their grandparents are spare. This article reports attitudes of 574 college students toward their grandparents. Their geographic closeness to at least one grandparent, and their patterns and motivations for contacting their grandparents are included.