Grandparenting in Chinese Immigrant Families

Abstract

In light of the life course perspective, this semistructured interview study with 29 grandparents involved in the caregiving of their grandchildren in Chinese immigrant families revealed three major themes: intergenerational connectedness and continuity of cultural practices, role varieties and responsibilities, and adjustment and adaptation. Despite immigration, Chinese grandparents continued the tradition of providing care to grandchildren. Although the grandparent role entailed responsibilities and there were adjustments to make when living in the new place, overall, grandparents considered their caregiving experiences positive. Support to these grandparents, however, was needed at both family and community levels to ensure their stay in the United States and their continuous contribution to their adult children's lives.

The Time Intensity of Childcare Provided by Older Immigrant Women in the United States

“…These results corroborate qualitative studies describing the demanding nature of informal childcare provided by older immigrants (Treas & Mazumdar, 2004; Xie & Xia, 2011; Zhou, 2013b). Results show that recent immigrant women provided almost a full workday of unpaid childcare in the previous day (7.5 hours), significantly more than non-recent immigrant women (4.9 hours) and native-born women (3.5 hours).…”

“…While there were no differences across groups in the amount of time they engaged in primary childcare activities, recent immigrant women provided more secondary childcare than both native-born and non-recent immigrant women. This finding may be explained by the tendency for recent immigrant women to assist with the domestic responsibilities such as cleaning, washing, cooking, laundry and other domestic responsibilities in addition to caring for grandchildren (Treas, 2008; Treas & Mazumdar, 2004; Xie & Xia, 2011). It is possible that childcare is part of a myriad of domestic responsibilities for recent older immigrant women but represents an isolated activity for other women.…”

“…The results of the present study illuminate the importance of older immigrants in providing unpaid informal care, aside from that which they provide with remuneration to the American upper middle-class. These migrants often make significant personal sacrifices in order to help their adult children with domestic responsibilities in hopes of helping them integrate into U.S. society (Tienda & Glass, 1985; Treas, 2008; Xie & Xia, 2011; Zhou, 2013a). Their contributions should not be viewed as a stopgap solution to America's childcare problem, but rather, should be acknowledged alongside prevailing estimates of their direct economic costs (e.g., Smith & Edmonston, 1997).…”

“…Studies based on open-ended interviews suggest that childcare can be physically and emotionally taxing (Xie & Xia, 2011; Zhou, 2013b). One quote from an 84-year-old Filipina caring for her son's five-year-old twins illustrates this point:…”

A cultural understanding of Chinese immigrant mothers' feeding practices. A qualitative study

“…Moreover, Chinese culture values the involvement of grandparents in caregiving (Mjelde-Mossey, 2007). Although grandparents may not be present in the homes of immigrant families to the extent that they are in Mainland China, they still play a role in the child-feeding practices of Chinese immigrant families (Xie & Xia, 2011). Thus, future research may consider examining fathers’ and grandparents’ feeding practices to understand the complexity of food-related familial interactions in this understudied group.…”