Examining the Intergenerational Stake Hypothesis in Grandparent–Grandchild Dyads

Abstract

The intergenerational stake hypothesis posits that older people tend to feel more positively about their relationships with younger people in their family because they have a greater perceived "stake" in the relationship. Pairs of grandparents and grandchildren ( n = 79) completed a brief survey that asked questions about relational closeness, shared activities, and relationship quality. Both self- and proxy reports were gathered from each participant. On average, grandparents reported significantly more favorable self-reports of emotional closeness than their grandchildren. However, proxy reports revealed that grandparents were actually quite accurate at predicting their grandchildren's relational closeness responses. Moreover, difference score calculations identified a portion of the dyad sample (39 dyads) that appeared to refute the hypothesis in their relational closeness responses. Results from this study suggest that the generational stake phenomenon exists in the grandchild/grandparent relationship. However, the degree to which grandparents are aware of their grandchildren's perspectives may vary.

Grandparents’ Relationship to Grandchildren in the Transition to Adulthood

“…According to the intergenerational stake hypothesis, grandparents' assessment of their relationship quality might be positively biased, if compared to grandchildren's views. Even if such bias exists, however, it has been suggested to be rather small (e.g., Spalding & Carpenter, 2019;Triadó, Villar, Solé, Osuna, & Pinazo, 2005) and should thus not affect our results and the conclusions we draw from them.…”

How Grandparents Inform Our Lives: A Mixed Methods Investigation of Intergenerational Influence on Young Adults

“…While research supports the idea that grandparents are influential in their grandchildren's lives (Dunifon, 2013;Spalding & Carpenter, 2019), less clear is how, to what extent, and under what circumstances this influence is most salient (Dunifon et al, 2018). Most scholars agree that the influence of relationships with grandparents during childhood likely remains prominent into adulthood, though the effects of these relationships, both from childhood and in real-time during early adulthood, are not well studied (Li et al, 2018;Scharf, 2016;Taylor et al, 2013).…”

Why Are They Wrong? Exploring Surrogates’ Accuracy When Predicting Patient Treatment Preferences

“…Similar online survey methodologies have been successfully used in recent dyadic studies, including those with married couples (e.g., Helsper & Whitty, 2010), parents and children (e.g., Oh et al, 2016), grandparents and grandchildren (e.g., Spalding & Carpenter, 2018), cancer patients and care partners (e.g., Hamilton et al, 2016), and older adults and their caregivers (e.g., Nahm et al, 2012). To ameliorate a procedural weakness of the original study, an adjustment was made to the manner by which surveys were administered to patient-surrogate pairs.…”