Grandparent-grandchild Relationships Research Articles

Grandparents’ Affectionate Communication toward Grandchildren and Grandchildren’s Mental Health Difficulties: The Moderating Role of Future Time Perspective

ABSTRACTGiven that grandparent-grandchild relationships often last for several decades of grandchildren’s lives, it becomes important to examine how grandparents’ affectionate communication might be associated with their adult grandchildren’s mental well-being. Using a sample of college-aged grandchildren (n = 401), this study examined whether or not grandparents’ affectionate communication is indirectly associated with grandchildren’s loneliness, depressive symptoms, and stress, via shared family identity. It also considered whether or not grandchildren’s assessments of their grandparents’ futures as expansive versus restricted moderated these associations. Affectionate communication was indirectly associated with less loneliness via heightened shared family identity, but only for grandchildren who judged grandparents’ futures as expansive. These findings suggest the importance of healthy grandparents conveying to grandchildren that their lives as older adults are still full of possibilities and open to new growth.

Adult grandchildren’s perspectives on the grandparent-grandchild relationship from childhood to adulthood

ABSTRACTThe relationship between grandparents and grandchildren is usually quite close and satisfying, rather than conflictual, and is considered positive and important by both generations. The present study explores the nature of the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren in the United Kingdom. The aim of the study is to investigate adult grandchildren’s perspectives on the grandparent-grandchild relationship and its transition from childhood to adulthood. Using a Grounded Theory approach 10 young adults, aged 20–24, were interviewed about the relationship with their grandparents. Results showed that adult grandchildren perceive the relationship to continue from childhood to adulthood and to transition in terms of support, contact, attitude, and emotion. Support in childhood was reported as being more practical such as caregiving or help with education, whereas in adulthood as being more emotional. Contact was shown to be reduced from more frequent and face to face in childhood to less frequent and more telephone or internet based in adulthood. As to attitude and emotion participants reported a change in how they felt towards their grandparents from childhood to adulthood, with feelings of excitement being replaced with appreciation and respect. Implications of these transitions within grandparent-grandchild relationships are discussed.

THE BENEFITS OF GRANDPARENTING WHEN GRANDPARENTS OR GRANDCHILDREN ARE NOT AVAILABLE

Grandparent-grandchild relationships can contribute to individual development and relational health. However, these relationships are not always available to the youth and elders who might join them. Families emigrating from other countries may leave grandparents behind and have limited opportunity for exchange of cultural traditions, for example. Even when a grandparent-grandchild relationship exists, the relationship quality may be poor, denying members the chance to benefit from familial intergenerational contact. For these and other reasons, the potential benefits of non-familial intergenerational relationships should be considered. The current presentation addresses address non-familial intergenerational relationships that allow youth and elders to experience grandparent-like relationships when grandparents or grandchildren may not be available to each other, giving consideration to contemporary demographic, structural, and historical influences affecting availability of familial intergenerational relationships, theories addressing the imperative of intergenerational relationships, and evidence of the impact of non-familial intergenerational contact on youth and on elders.

Grandparent-Grandchild Relationships in Turkish Children's Novels

Grandparent-Grandchild Relationships in Turkish Children's Novels

Cross-Cultural Differences in the Experience of Grandparent-Grandchild Relationships and Related Psychosocial Outcomes.

This study examined grandchildren’s perceptions of the quality of their relationship with their grandmothers and how these perceptions relate to psychosocial outcomes. Eighty-two youth from Mexico and 99 youth from the United States aged between 13 and 16 participated. Results suggested that both cultures benefit in unique ways from positive relationship with their grandmothers. Yet, there were also differences in the relational experience of grandmother–grandchild relationships across cultures. Specifically, grandchildren in the U.S. sample reported higher relationship quality, relational competency, and self-efficacy than the grandchildren in the Mexico sample. Within the U.S. sample, relationship quality was associated with grandchildren’s relational competence, while in the Mexico sample, relationship quality was associated with self-efficacy. Limitations of the present study include restricted generalizability to other age groups and to grandfathers and that only one element of the grandparent–grandchild dyad was sampled. Longitudinal research will improve our understanding of the causal dynamics of grandparent–grandchild relationships.

Children’s Relationships With Grandparents in Married and in Shared and Sole Physical Custody Families

ABSTRACTGrandparents can be an important source of support for their grandchildren in the often difficult time during and after parents’ divorce or separation. Grandchild–grandparent relationships can be hampered or even totally lost when parents separate, however. What happens with grandparent relationships when parents break up is closely linked to postdivorce physical custody arrangements. This article focuses on the beneficial role that grandparent relationships can play after parents separate and examines how grandparent–grandchild relationships differ in shared and sole physical custody arrangements.

Outdated assumptions about maternal grandmothers? Gender and lineage in grandparent–grandchild relationships

ABSTRACTThe impact of lineage and gender on the quality of grandparent–grandchild relationships has become more complicated in recent decades. ‘In countries with high rates of couple dissolution and re-partnering, the number of a child’s potential grandparents increases as the parents of parents’ new partners or the new partners of grandparents become part of the family. The broadening of ‘family’ potentially puts new types of grandparents on an equal footing with biological grandparents. Loosening conventions around gender and more ‘maternal fathers’ may lead to ‘new grandfathers’ who are as hands-on as grandmothers. This paper re-examines the issues with quantitative and qualitative UK data. The evidence shows the persistence of a hierarchy of involvement, with maternal grandmothers at the top and paternal grandfathers the bottom but also counter-examples pointing to the possibilities of and limits on wider social change, as three generations negotiate relationships in the shifting socio-economic conditions of their national and local context.

Grandparent-Grandchild Relationships in Chinese Immigrant Families in Los Angeles: Roles of Acculturation and the Middle Generation.

Being a grandparent is an important social role for Chinese older adults. Despite an increasing number of older Chinese immigrants in the United States and the uniquely differing culture of the United States relative to Chinese culture, few studies focused specifically on Chinese immigrant families in the United States. By conducting four focus groups (n = 32) in Los Angeles, CA, this study aimed to explore grandparent–grandchild relationships in Chinese immigrant families in the U.S. We found that the majority of Chinese immigrant grandparents maintained close relationships with their grandchildren. Grandparents’ adjustments of acculturation played an important role in maintaining close relationships with their grandchildren through improved English language proficiency, acceptance of American culture, and adjusted expectations. In addition, the middle generation acted as instructors, models, and interpreters in grandparent–grandchild relationships. The study contributed to literature by finding that Chinese immigrant grandparents and middle generation parents play important roles in their grandchildren’s lives via cohesive relationships. Practical services or programs can consider decreasing the acculturation gaps with grandchildren and linking three generations together when strengthening grandparent-grandchild relationships in the United States.

Representations of intergenerational care on BBC children’s television

ABSTRACTThis paper contributes to research on media representations of care with a textual analysis of BBC children’s television. As a public service broadcaster, the BBC is tasked with the fostering and sustaining of citizenship. This paper argues that representations of care are an important way by which the BBC can potentially meet its remit and inform children’s perceptions of informal care. It takes a focused look at the portrayal of grandparent–grandchild relationships of care in three programmes: Mr Alzheimer’s and Me, Katie Morag and Topsy and Tim. All three programmes show narrative moments which map onto Tronto’s concept of good care, including attentiveness, responsibility, competence, responsiveness, solidarity and trust. Grandparents and grandchildren are shown to be caring for each other. However, programmes do not challenge the inequalities which continue to structure the realities of informal care work. Neither the inequalities of power between carers and care receivers, nor the lack of public and government support for carers is addressed, and adult informal care is gendered. This paper argues that while BBC children’s programmes provide important opportunities for children to learn the meaning of good care, in order for it to meet its public service remit, it should also provide opportunities to learn about the relationships of power that structure informal care.

American Grandchildren’s Use of Relational Maintenance Behaviors With Their Grandparents

ABSTRACTThe present investigation sought to advance extant relational maintenance research in the context of grandparent-grandchild (GP-GC) relationships from the perspective of grandchildren. Specifically, this study examined the extent to which American grandchildren’s use of relational maintenance behaviors with their grandparents is (a) dependent on grandchildren’s and grandparents’ biological sex, (b) dependent on family lineage (i.e., maternal versus paternal grandparents), and (c) associated with grandchildren’s perceived GP-GC relational characteristics (i.e., trust, commitment, and control mutuality). Young adult American grandchildren (N = 220) completed a series of established instruments in reference to their relationships with a specific grandparent. The results of three MANOVAs and a series of Pearson correlations indicated that grandchildren’s use of relational maintenance behaviors with their grandparents is not dependent on the grandchildren’s or the grandparents’ biological sex, nor is it dependent on family lineage. However, grandchildren’s tendencies to sustain their GP-GC relationships were closely associated with their perceived GP-GC relational characteristics. These findings both corroborate and contradict extant GP-GC and relational maintenance research.

Performative Embodiment and Unraveling Grandparent–Grandchild Relationships

This article seeks to intertwine women’s embodied experiences of wartime, dancing, and chronic illness. The author introduces “Granny” through the unraveling rhythms of grandparent–grandchild relationships. Through narrative poems, the author shares Granny’s dramatic stories of World War II. Bodies are socially and historically located, which therefore illuminates the ways in which her past is sedimented into her body and provides an understanding into the multi-layered ways her wartime, her performing bodily experiences, and asthma, encompass the past, the present, and the anticipated future. The author reflects on how some of these stories echo the breathless battle weary heroes referred to by Homer in the Illiad, which is where asthma can be traced back to.

Grandparent-Grandchild Relationships in Israel: A Comparison between Different Jewish Religious Groups

This article is a review of studies concerning the effect of religiosity on the relationships between grandparents and grandchildren in Israeli Jewish society. The main findings of the studies indicated that religious grandparents are more involved with grandchildren in the context of transmitting traditions, knowledge, values, and behaviors. However, secular grandparents provided more instrumental support for their grandchildren than Haredi grandparents. In addition, adult religious grandchildren provided more assistance to their grandparents than secular grandchildren. The few differences that were found between religious and secular grandparents indicate the universality of the grandparenthood role and its importance for all grandparents.

Grandparents' Expressed Affection for Their Grandchildren: Examining The Grandparents' Own Psychological Health

Affection Exchange Theory postulates that affectionate communication may be beneficial to both senders and receivers. To test AET and to extend extant intergenerational communication research, the purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which grandparents' expressions of affection for their grandchildren are associated with the grandparents' own psychological health (i.e., loneliness, stress, and general mental health). A total of 104 grandparents completed several self-report scales. The results of zero-order Pearson correlations largely supported the predictions and therefore also bolster AET's utility in the context of grandparent–grandchild relationships because it is the first study to test the theory from the grandparents' perspective.

Emotional Closeness between Grandparents and Grandchildren in Rural China: The Mediating Role of the Middle Generation

Grandparent-grandchild relationships are important in Chinese society and the middle generation plays an important role in them. The present study drew on data from the 2009 wave of the Longitudinal Study of Older Adults in Anhui Province, China, to examine variation in emotional closeness between grandparents and their grandchildren. Our focus was on the middle generation as a relational bridge to grandchildren in terms of grandparents’ gender, emotional closeness to their adult children, and kinship status (paternal versus maternal lineage). We analyzed reports from 926 grandparents about their relationships with 1,982 grandchildren. Logistic cluster regression analyses revealed that closeness between grandparents and their adult children was strongly associated with grandparent-grandchild closeness. Paternal grandparents reported closer relationships with their grandchildren than did maternal grandparents, and these relationships were particularly strong for paternal grandmothers. Contrary to what we had hypothesized, the influence of emotional closeness to adult children was not moderated by lineage. We conclude that the middle generation provides an important bridge between grandparents and grandchildren and that gender and lineage type serve as strong facilitators of these relationships.

Reciprocal Effects of Grandparent and Grandchild Contact Frequency and Closeness Over Time: Grandchildren’s Perspectives

With an extended longevity, grandparenthood, especially of older grandchildren, has become increasingly important for many older adults. While numerous studies have examined multiple aspects of and factors associated with grandparenthood, less is known about how grandparent-grandchild (GP-GC) relationships change over time. Therefore, the main purpose of the current study is to examine adult grandchildren's perspectives of closeness with their grandparents in relation to contact frequency, particularly of reciprocity between the two. An online survey assessed adult grandchildren's (N = 470) views of their grandparents and of older adults in general retrospectively in three stages (childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood). Path analysis revealed that directional effects between GP-GC contact frequency and relationship closeness reversed its direction as grandchildren grew older. Possible mechanisms of why directional effects between contact frequency and relationship closeness change over time are discussed. Multiple suggestions for grandparents to enhance their relationship with geographically distant grandchildren are also discussed.

Language selection by Hispanics in a small upstate New York community

Fifty-four Hispanics from Utica, NY completed questionnaires about the languages that they spoke in three domains (family, friends, and formal) during their childhood and adulthood. The social variables considered were age, level of education, time in the USA and Utica, gender and generation. The latter two most influenced reported language selection. The participants overwhelmingly answered that they used Spanish during their childhood with parents and grandparents. However, comparing the participants' reported language use between childhood and adulthood, the parent-child and grandparent-grandchild relationships showed the largest decreases in reported use of Spanish among all the family relationships. This result is consistent with language shift to English in the family. The informants also report less exclusive use of Spanish with friends in adulthood than in childhood. However, 78 % of them said that they use both English and Spanish with friends in adulthood. In the formal domains of religion, stores, workplace, and restaurant, more responses of only English are registered in adulthood than in childhood. Nevertheless, adults report using Spanish or both English and Spanish in Utica in all the formal domains. The reported use of Spanish is especially high in the religious domain.

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.

Predictors of Grandparent–Grandchild Closeness: An Ecological Perspective

ABSTRACT Improved health and extended life expectancy have provided opportunities for more adult grandchildren to interact with their grandparents. Applying an ecological perspective, the current study examined demographic, personal, and environmental factors associated with close grandparent–grandchild relationships. Participants were 470 young adults aged 18–27 (M = 20.16). Adult grandchildren's perceptions of their relationships with their favorite/close grandparents were examined retrospectively in three stages (childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood). Predictors of grandparent–grandchild closeness include grandparent–grandchild contact frequency, grandparents’ education levels and general health, and personality traits. Path analysis revealed intertwined directional effects of these predictors of grandparent–grandchild closeness.

Relations between Grandparents and Grandchildren in the Context of the Family System

The demographic change which has taken place in recent decades, and in particular the considerable increase in life expectancy, has resulted in intergenerational relationships that are lasting much longer. Despite the increase in people’s median age at first child birth, members of different generations now have the opportunity to live together for periods that are unparalleled in human history. Especially the medical and technical progress has led to grandparents being increasingly capable in both health and cognitive terms at an advanced age that they provide active support for their children and grandchildren in many ways. This article addresses the question to what extent the relationship potentials - also against the background of modernisation processes within society (e.g. increasing demands as to mobility, problems in reconciling family and work) - are transformed into actual support by grandparents for the grandchildren’s generation. The analyses are based on data from the parents of the primary respondents (“anchor persons”) in the German Family Panel (Beziehungs- und Familienpanel - pairfam, 2nd wave 2009/2010, parents’ questionnaire) with a grandchild aged between 8 and 15. The significance of various factors influencing the strength of relationships between grandparents and their grandchildren is empirically examined. Firstly, social-structural characteristics and family-related attitudes on the part of the members of the various generations are considered, and secondly, various family members’ personal and social resources. All in all, it is revealed that grandparent-grandchild relationships are largely independent from personal resources such as employment status, but that they are associated with social resources, that is the relationships between grandparents and parents, as well as with grandparents’ partnership status. Moreover, there are pronounced regional differences (i.e., stronger grandparent-grandchild relations in Eastern Germany) and a positive impact of familialism.

Grandparents of Grandchildren with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD): Strengthening Relationships through Technology Activities

This study of grandparent-grandchild relationships was embedded in the context of technology workshops offered for young children on the autism spectrum. The purpose of this research was to examine the perspectives of six involved grandparents regarding their social interactions with their grandchildren in the context of this shared technology experience. Content analysis of transcribed focus group sessions with the grandparents indicated two key themes: expectations were reframed and communication bridges were built through shared interests. Grandparents perceived that their grandchildren learned technological skills, and increased their social interactions with peers, family members (parents, siblings), and grandparents themselves. The positive experience the grandparents perceived their grandchildren to have in the program gave them hope for future educational and employment opportunities for their grandchildren. The grandparents also indicated that the shared interests in the computer program facilitated communication opportunities with their grandchildren, with other grandparents of grandchildren with ASD, and with their adult sons and daughters.