Grandparent-grandchild Relationship Research Articles

Involvement without interference: How grandparents negotiate intergenerational expectations in relationships with grandchildren

Grandparents play a key role in many families. Examining talk about grandparenting provides a way to understand expectations structured by family roles and wider societal expectations. In this study, 29 grandparents talked about their experiences of grandparenting in New Zealand Participants described the joys and wonder of grandparenting, however, boundaries must be continually negotiated or conflict can occur. Participants described governing their behaviour according to the need to balance connection with their grandchildren and the rights of their adult children to raise children in accordance with their own values. Grandparents constructed relationships with grandchildren as demonstrations of involvement without crossing boundaries into interference. To achieve this, the contemporary grandparent–grandchild relationship was described as based on caring and companionship. Tensions between involvement and interference provide a framework through which grandparents monitor and balance an appropriate level of interaction with grandchildren and may constrain their ability to intervene in family difficulties.

Affectionate Communication and Relational Characteristics in the Grandparent–Grandchild Relationship

The purpose of this study was to test Affection Exchange Theory (AET) in the grandparent–grandchild (GP-GC) relationship. Specifically, it was hypothesized that grandchildren's reports of received affection from their grandparents would be associated positively with the grandchildren's perceived GP-GC relational characteristics (i.e., trust, commitment, and control mutuality). To that end, 220 young adult grandchildren (i.e., 18–25 years old) completed a series of questionnaires in reference to their relationship with a specific grandparent. The results of multiple regression analyses largely supported the predictions. The findings obtained in this study bolster AET's utility in the context of GP-GC relationships and establish factorial and construct validity of the newly developed Grandchildren's Received Affection Scale.

From Family Research to Practice: Argentine Families Coping with the Challenges of Religious Intensification

This intergenerational, qualitative study of Jewish families in Argentina (N = 10 mother/daughter dyads) coping with the religious intensification of their daughters exemplifies cultural change in one or more of their subsystems. We found challenges to family cohesion related to food and television limitations, daughters' lack of acceptance of siblings' partners, and parents' concerns about the way their grandchildren were being raised. Relationships reportedly were not adversely affected by the daughters' religious intensification. The grandparent-grandchild relationship served as a bridge between cultures and generations with grandchildren being regarded as socializing agents. Results were interpreted in terms of strengths, ecological, and interactionist role theories. A community-based intervention model that derives from this research is suggested.

Intergenerational Transmission of Gambling: Links Between Young Adult and Perceived Grandparent Gambling Attitudes and Behavior

This study examined associations between the gambling attitudes and behavior of 213 young adults and their perceptions of the gambling attitudes and behavior of their closest grandparent. Regression analyses showed that young adult gambling attitudes mediated the relations between perceived grandparent gambling attitudes and behavior and young adult gambling behavior. Grandparent-grandchild relationship quality experienced while growing up did not moderate the relations between young adult and perceived grandparent gambling attitudes and behavior. Men experienced gambling at a younger age and reported more positive gambling attitudes, more frequent gambling activity, higher levels of gambling pathology, and higher levels of gambling affinity than women. Implications of results and suggestions for future research are discussed.

The Role of Grandparents in the Lives of Youth.

Recent demographic trends suggest that grandparents may play influential roles in the lives of their grandchildren. Despite this, the role of grandparents in the lives of youth remains an understudied topic. Using data from a nationally-representative group of youth aged 14-19 from the 1992 Wave Two National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), this study seeks to better understand the role of grandparents in the lives of grandchildren by examining which factors predict the quality of the grandparent-grandchild relationship, and what the implications of this relationship are for youth. Key factors influencing the quality of the grandparent-grandchild relationship are distance, the parent's relationship with both the grandparent and the child, and age of both the child and parent. Results do not support the hypothesis that grandparents influence the dimensions of youth well-being examined here.

Grandparents' Expressions of Affection for Their Grandchildren: Examining Grandchildren's Relational Attitudes and Behaviors

Following Affection Exchange Theory, the aims of this study were to (a) examine if grandparents' provision of affectionate communication to their grandchildren differs depending on grandparent-grandchild sex and relationship type (i.e., biological/nonbiological) and (b) to examine the relationships between grandparents' provision of affectionate communication and grandchildren's social relationship development. Undergraduate students (N = 184) completed the Affectionate Communication Index (Floyd & Morman, 1998) in reference to a specific grandparent as well as self-reported involvement in and attitudes toward close social relationships. Results indicated that grandparents express the same amount of affection for their granddaughters and grandsons, but biological grandparents express more affection for their grandchildren than do nonbiological grandparents. Results further indicated that grandparents' expressed affection was related positively to grandchildren's social activities but related negatively to grandchildren's discomfort with closeness and social isolation.

Come play with me: designing technologies for intergenerational play

Despite research showing that interaction between the elderly and young people is beneficial to the health and well-being of both, little is known about the grandparent–grandchild relationship. Consequently, it is difficult to make informed design decisions about technologies to support their intergenerational interactions. This paper investigates one particularly important type of intergenerational interaction, namely play. The paper presents research that examines grandparent–grandchildren interactions in preschool playgroups. Through the use of vignettes drawn from observation of playful activity, pertinent features of intergenerational play are identified, focussing on the roles grandparents and grandchildren use when playing together. The results are relevant to researchers wishing to understand intergenerational play and to technology designers wanting to support it.

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.

“How Can You Just Cut Off a Whole Side of the Family and Say Move On?” The Reshaping of Paternal Grandparent‐Grandchild Relationships Following Divorce or Separation in the Middle Generation

On the basis of a qualitative study of 31 grandparents, this article highlights how separation in the middle generation can result in an erosion of trust and quality of paternal grandparent‐grandchild relationships. Notwithstanding these changes, grandparents endeavor to support and remain involved in the lives of their grandchildren by, inter alia, compensating for a perceived lack of their sons' parenting skills, affirming their grandchild's position in the paternal kin network, and acting as a mediator between the separated couple to ensure continued contact with grandchildren. The findings suggest that the actions of paternal grandparents can potentially have important future implications not only for the grandparent‐grandchild relationship, but also the relationship trajectories of their adult son and child in the post‐separation family.

Grandparent-Grandchild Relationships from the Children's Perspective: Shared Activities and Socialization Styles

The objective of this study is to describe the relationships between grandchildren and their favourite grandparents, by studying the socialization styles used by latter and the shared activities undertaken. The participants were 360 children between 10 and 12 years old, who completed the grandparent-grandchild relationship questionnaire of Rico, Serra and Viguer (2001) and the socialization questionnaire of Rey and Ruiz (1990). The results demonstrate the importance of gender and family line in the selection of the favourite grandparent, differences being shown in the types of shared activities and in socialization styles. It is concluded that in the majority of cases the profile of the favourite grandparent is the maternal grandmother, retired or a house wife, aged between 60-70, who lives in the same city as his/her grandchild, and who has contact with them several times a week. Furthermore, favourite grandparents get more involved with granddaughters than with grandsons, both in support and care activities and in cultural-recreational activities, and they primarily employ a democratic style. However, there are differences depending on the gender of the grandchild, with democratic principles being used more with girls and authoritarian ones with boys.

“My Grandparent Has Dementia”

The study examined the grandparent–grandchild relationship when the grandparent has dementia. Grandchildren living in Barcelona, Spain, participated in the study ( n = 145). These participants completed a questionnaire that included questions on: (a) the frequency of 15 emotions they may have experienced in this relationship, (b) their current relationship with a grandparent who has dementia (frequency of contact, emotional closeness, and satisfaction with the relationship), and (c) perception of changes in the relationship. Results showed that the dementia process has a negative impact on the relationship between grandparent and grandchildren. However, in some cases, there was also potential for positive changes, which are mainly related to the ability to keep emotional contact and express positive emotions. Findings suggested the need to take into account grandchildren when planning training programs for families caring for relatives with dementia, such as providing information about the disease and improving their coping strategies.

Intergenerational Relationship Characteristics and Grandchildren's Perceptions of Grandparent Goal Influence

This study examines grandparent influence on goal preferences of young adult grandchildren as a function of grandparent-grandchild relationship characteristics. The current sample consists of 404 grandchildren between the ages of 18 and 25. The results of multiple regression analyses indicate that the relationship model predicts overall grandparent goal influence. An analysis of the contribution of specific activities indicates that emotional closeness makes a significant positive contribution to the regression model.

The Relationships Between Children's Perceptions Toward Grandparents and Their Intimate Behavior

This study is focused on the causal relationship between children's intimate behavior and the level of perception towards their grandparents. Their perceptions are related to factors such as proximity, similarity, superiority, favorableness, and self-disclosure. We clarified the relation between intimate behavior and perception using effect factors of children's behavior regarding their grandparents so that this study could be used as an elementary material in developing a solution to improve grandparent-grandchild relationship where the grandparent actively encourages grandchildren's intimate behavior. Regression analysis was used as a hypothesis testing method. The results indicated the following three points. First, perception factors affect active intimate behavior in the order of favorableness, superiority, self-disclosure, and similarity. Second, perception factors affect intimate behavior will in the order of favorableness, superiority, and self-disclosure. Lastly, it was shown that a child's active intimate behavior has an influence on their intimate behavior will.

Responses of Young Adult Grandchildren to Grandparents’ Painful Self-Disclosures

This study examined grandchildren’s relational and communicative responses to grandparents’ painful self-disclosures (PSDs). From the perspective of young adult grandchildren ( N = 297), discomfort with PSDs is more significant in differentiating positive and negative aspects of the grandparent—grandchild relationship than simply the occurrence of such disclosures. Furthermore, results reveal that the family communication environment and communicative responsiveness of the grandchild are important factors in predicting discomfort with PSDs as well as grandchildren’s communication with grandparents.

Investigating the Role of Identity Gaps among Communicative and Relational Outcomes within the Grandparent–Grandchild Relationship: The Young-Adult Grandchildren's Perspective

This study focused on the identity gap construct and examined its impact within the grandparent–grandchild relationship. It was hypothesized that identity gaps consist of three distinct dimensions: the personal-relational, personal-enacted, and relational-enacted gaps. Further, it was hypothesized that identity gaps would be positively related to topic avoidance and negatively to communication and relationship satisfaction. Undergraduates completed an online survey (N = 181), and the results supported the distinction between the three identity gaps. SEM analyses revealed that only the personal-enacted gap significantly predicted all outcomes, whereas the other gaps did not, thus providing partial support for the second hypothesis.

The Coming-Out Process of Gay Grandfathers: Perceptions of Their Adult Children's Influence

The coming-out process of adolescent and adult gay and lesbian individuals has been examined; however, individuals in late adulthood who come out to family members have been largely overlooked. Specifically, the coming-out process of grandparents to their grandchildren has received scant attention. Guided by the life-course perspective, a qualitative study was conducted to examine the coming-out experiences of gay grandfathers to their grandchildren. Face-to-face, one-time, semi-structured interviews lasting 35 to 90 minutes with 11 grandfathers were conducted to examine their coming-out experiences to grandchildren. Grandfathers reported that their adult children played a profound role in their coming-out process to grandchildren. Adult children were viewed as being a positive force during this process, and grandfathers reported that coming out to their grandchildren was easier than coming out to their own children. Future research would benefit from understanding the grandparent-grandchild relationship from the perspectives of adult children and grandchildren.

Intergenerational ties across borders: Grandparenting narratives by expatriate retirees in Mexico

A thematic narrative analysis was applied to transcripts and notes derived from depth interviews with 46 expatriate retirees living at the Lake Chapala Riviera in Jalisco, Mexico. The analysis generated seven themes about grandparenting and relationships with geographically distant grandchildren. Five positive themes identified were a) attachment to and love for grandchildren, b) geographic distance has benefits, c) communication technologies mitigate the separation, d) the retirement migration decision is reversible, and e) children and grandchildren are likely to relocate. Two negative themes were a) diminishment of the relationship because of loss of common interests and b) a total rupture of the relationship. Also revealed is a suggestion that the presence of great-grandchildren reduces the relevance of the grandparent–grandchild relationship. The findings of the narrative analysis are consolidated into an analytically constructed master-proposition that relates the findings more theoretically to identities of expatriate grandparent retirees.

Patterns of intergenerational support in grandparent-grandchild and parent-child relationships in Germany

ABSTRACTThe paper focuses on intergenerational support relations between grandparents and their grandchildren in Germany, and how they have changed from 1996 to 2002. The paper begins with a brief review of the literature on functional aspects of the grandparent-grandchild relationship, after which the research hypotheses about intergenerational support in the relationship are elaborated. Following a description of the data source, theGerman Ageing Survey, and its samples and measures, the evidence on the patterns of grandparents' provision and receipt of intergenerational support to and from their grandchildren are presented and compared with parent-child support patterns. The analysis also considers variations by age groups and birth cohorts and changes over time. The main empirical finding is that there was a greater likelihood of financial transfers to grandchildren in 2002 than six years earlier. Nevertheless, the grandparents' relationships with their grandchildren remained imbalanced or asymmetrical, at the older generation's expense. It was found that financial and instrumental support patterns between grandparents and grandchildren were best explained using an ‘intergenerational stake’ hypothesis rather than one of ‘intergenerational solidarity’; the latter is more consistent with parent-child support patterns.

Who Will Care for the Grandparents? Exploring Relationships Between Grandparents and Grandchildren

Adult children are often identified as primary caregivers for their older adult parents; however, in a growing number of cases, the adult child does not become the caregiver. Evidence of this includes the growing social phenomenon of grandparents raising their grandchildren. In this qualitative research project, the long-term caregiving relationship between grandparents and grandchildren living in grandparent-headed households was explored through interviews with three grandparent-grandchild dyads. The ongoing relationship in the dyads did not seem to mimic a parent-child relationship or a grandparent-grandchild relationship, but instead a third kind of relationship that requires further exploration.

Detrimental Effects of Living with a Grandparent: Cross-National Evidence

Co-residing grandparents would generally be regarded as beneficial to modern families. Grandparents can help with the general running of the household - cooking, cleaning and child-minding - allowing younger adult members of the household to spend more time in the paid labor force. Grandparents almost invariably have close emotional ties with their grandchildren and are most often very supportive (Silverstein & Marenco, 2001 ). Grandparents are one of the most highly regarded sources of social support to families (Findler, 2000). The grandparent-grandchild relationship is generally based on love, mutual support, respect and obligation (Kemp, 2005). The presence of grandparents in a household has been found to be associated with less deviant behavior and fewer depressive symptoms (Hamilton, 2005). Although grandparents are usually quite distant from contemporary school curriculums, they often support their grandchildren's educational careers by being interested and supportive of the children's school work (Silverstein & Marenco, 2001). Educated grandparents tend to facilitate their grandchildren's education (Crosnoe & Elder, 2002). Social capital theory implies that another related adult living in the household would strengthen supportive social networks which would benefit the grandchildren's educational careers.However, the association between co-residing grandparents and the educational performance is unexpectedly negative according to data from the OECD's 2000 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) Study. This international study investigated student performance in reading, mathematics and science among some 172 000 fifteen-year-old students in over 6000 schools across 32 countries (OECD, 2001,2002). The list of countries in the accompanying tables includes all but two of the PISA participating countries: Japan, because there was too much missing data on parental occupation, and liechtenstein where the sample was too small. Item Response Theory (IRT) modelling was used to create students' scores which were standardised for each subject area at an international mean of 500 and standard deviation of 100. The general and technical reports (OECD, 2001, 2002) detail the data, tests and sampling procedures.In the student questionnaire, the question 'Who lives at home with you' was followed by a response set that included 'Grandparent(s)'. Table 1 presents the frequency distributions for this item. The percentage of 15-year-olds living in the same household as one or both grandparents range from less than 3 per cent in Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden to over 20 per cent in Austria, Brazil, Italy, Latvia, Mexico, Russia and Spain. Apart from Austria and Germany, the percentage of students with co-residing grandparents tends to be lower in the more industrialized countries. In Southern and Eastern European countries sizable proportions of 15-year-old students have grandparents living in the same household. These figures correspond well with the distributions for co-residing grandparents among eighth graders according to the 1995 Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), for most (but not all) countries where a comparison can be made (see Table 1 ).In many countries the mean scores for students with co-residing grandparents are considerably lower than that for other students. Table 2 presents the mean scores by country for all students, students with co-residing grandparents and students in households without grandparents. (For this and subsequent analyses the estimates are weighted). In New Zealand, the 6 per cent of students co-residing with grandparents had mean reading scores a remarkable 85 score points below that for other students. For mathematics the difference was 70 score points. Other countries in which students living in the same household as grandparents showed much lower scores were Belgium (81 score points for reading and 75 for mathematics), Denmark (63 and 58), France (59 and 58), Luxembourg (53 and 44), Mexico (45 and 42), the Netherlands (73 and 72), New Zealand (85 and 69), Sweden (67 and 60), Switzerland (63 and 49), the United Kingdom (52 and 45) and the United States (69 and 60). …