Grandparenting after parental divorce: The association between non-resident parent-child meetings and grandparenting in Italy.

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that parental divorce has negative consequences on parent-child relationships and that these effects extend to relations between grandchildren and their grandparents. After parental divorce, grandchildren have less intense and lower quality relations with their grandparents. Some studies suggest that this negative association between union dissolution in the middle generation and grandparent-grandchild relations is explained by the post-divorce residential arrangements and, to a lesser extent, by the gatekeeping role exercised by the resident parent. The role of the frequency of meetings between the non-resident parent and his/her children, however, has been often overlooked in this literature. Using cross-sectional data from the Italian Family and Social Subject Survey, our study explores the extent to which frequent meetings between non-resident separated or divorced parents and their children below age 14 are correlated with grandparent involvement in looking after their grandchildren. The results show that young children who have very frequent meetings with their non-resident parents are more likely to receive care from their grandparents than are those who meet the non-resident parents once a week or less frequently.