In this study, 258 volunteers in human services and 104 nonvolunteers were asked to rank in importance 28 motives for volunteering that had been identified in a thorough literature review. According to the literature, most researchers assume that motivation to volunteer (MMV) is a two-or three-dimensional phenomenon, but very few studies have carried out an empirical analysis of the internal dimensionality of MTV. The present findings indicate that when all 28 motives were subjected to various types of factor analysis, most items were grouped together on one factor. In other words, a unidimensional scale was obtained.

This cross-sectional study of 129 grandparents raising their grandchildren examined the extent to which social supports are related to the grandparents' stress (psychological anxiety). A hierarchical regression analysis, with variables entered in blocks, revealed that contextual factors, stressors related to caregiving, and lack of supports accounted for 35% of the variance. Younger grandparents, grandchildren with psychological and physical problems, and low family cohesion were associated with stress. Implications for clinical and educational intervention are discussed.

Increasing numbers of children are living in families consisting of grandparents and grandchildren. This paper presents findings of a study in which 123 caregiving grandmothers were interviewed. Fifty-eight percent of these grandmothers were "career caregivers," whose homes were always filled with a child or grandchild. Most of them were in good to excellent physical health and their mental health was at least as good as that of a national sample. Regression analyses found that having a life-threatening physical condition, being younger and white explained psychological anxiety; and having a life-threatening physical condition and not being employed explained psychophysiological mental health symptoms. These findings suggest that some grandmothers are at risk for mental health symptoms and raise questions about the implications of caregiving of grandchildren for women.

Prior research on grandparent caregivers has focused on stress, depression, and other negative outcomes. This paper describes research on factors that are associated with grandparents' positive well-being. In particular, it investigated the extent to which the perception of grandparental stress and grandparents' resources are associated with grandparents' well-being, after controlling for sociodemographic and health factors. A sample of 129 grandparents had individual interviews. Using a hierarchical block multiple regression analysis, the authors found that a low perception of stress related to caring for grandchildren and resources were responsible for a high level of wellbeing. The findings of this study suggest that social workers can best help grandparent caregivers by lowering their perception of stress and enhancing their informal supports and community resources. This can be incorporated into supportive, strengths-based individual or family counseling.

Our purpose was to describe and compare Cambodian, Vietnamese, Soviet Jewish, and Ukrainian refugee caregivers and elders on life experiences, health status, and knowledge of available services. Detailed interviews were conducted with 105 female caregivers and 52 elders. Similar patterns emerged across all groups with regard to filial obligation, minimal knowledge of services, impact of immigration, and retention of cultural ties. Findings confirmed the special health and social service needs of refugee families in transition.

In recent years, there has been a blurring of the traditional boundaries between the public and the nonpublic (for-profit and voluntary nonprofit) sectors. Studies in volunteerism to date have not yet addressed the issue of differences and similarities of volunteers in public and nonpublic agencies. In this article, we report on the first empirical study conducted of volun teers from the public and nonprofit sectors.

‘Skipped generation’ families, consisting of grandparents and grandchildren with parents absent from the home, are frequently served in social work agencies. These families have unique multigenerational patterns and family structures that are important for service providers to recognize. This paper uses a multigenerational systems perspective to highlight the diversity among grandparent-headed households. Twenty families who were previously part of a larger study of stress, well-being, and life satisfaction among caregiving grandparents constituted a follow-up case study involving videotaped family interviews one year after the first study. Three families representing the range of diversity among the twenty are described with accompanying genograms. Differences in structure, interactional processes, and links with prior generations are identified in each case. These examples reveal the strengths and vulnerabilities, as well as the diversity, of grandparent-headed families.

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