Grandparents Caring for their Grandchildren: Emerging Roles and Exchanges in Global Perspectives

Settles, Barbara H.; Zhao, Jia; Mancini, Karen Doneker; Rich, Amanda J; Pierre, Shawneila; Oduor, Atieno

doi:10.3138/jcfs.40.5.827

Cited by 54 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Beard and Kunharibowo, 2001;Knodel et al, 2000;Lee, 2000;Ofstedal et al, 1999;Settles et al, 2009). We expect that grandparents are still an important source of help in these contexts, since the improved health of such populations may allow grandparents to live longer and have healthier postreproductive periods than in low-income contexts.…”

Section: The Importance Of Contextmentioning

confidence: 97%

Grandparental help in Indonesia is directed preferentially towards needier descendants: A potential confounder when exploring grandparental influences on child health

Snopkowski

Sear

2015

Social Science & Medicine

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A considerable body of evidence has now demonstrated positive correlations between grandparental presence and child health outcomes. It is typically assumed that such correlations exist because grandparental investment in their grandchildren improves child health and wellbeing. However, less is known about how grandparents allocate help to adult children and grandchildren, particularly in lower income contexts. Here we use detailed quantitative data from the longitudinal Indonesia Family Life Survey (data collected in 1993, 1997, 2000, 2007; n = 16,250) to examine grandparental help in a society transitioning both demographically and economically. We test the hypothesis that grandparents direct help preferentially towards those adult children and grandchildren most in need of help. This hypothesis was supported for help provided by married grandparents and single grandmothers, who tended to: provide more help to their adult children when this generation had young children themselves, provide financial help if their adult children were poorer, and provide more household help if their adult daughters worked outside the home. One unexpected result was that help from maternal and paternal grandparents is positively correlated; if one set of grandparents is helping the other set is more likely to help, counter to our predictions. These results provide support for the hypothesis that grandparents preferentially invest in some descendants over others, where married grandparents and single grandmothers tend to invest in those adult children and grandchildren with the most need. Investigating the effect of grandparents on child health outcomes may therefore be confounded by grandparent's preferential investment in needier descendants.

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Section: The Importance Of Contextmentioning

confidence: 97%

Grandparental help in Indonesia is directed preferentially towards needier descendants: A potential confounder when exploring grandparental influences on child health

Snopkowski

Sear

2015

Social Science & Medicine

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“…Research regarding physical and mental health (e.g., Reitzes & Mutran, 2004;Settles et al, 2009;Szinovacz & Davey, 2006) of care-giving grandparents has mostly focussed on those providing custodial care of grandchildren. This literature has identifi ed a number of positive outcomes for grandparents including increased feeling of connectedness within the family, feeling valued, and having an opportunity to invest in their relationship with grandchildren (e.g., Dunne & Kettler, 2007;Reitzes & Mutran, 2004).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological health and provision of grandchild care in non-custodial ‘baby boomer’ grandparents

Young

Denson

2014

Journal of Family Studies

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Our study explored the relationships between baby boomer grandparents' mental health and the multiple roles they commonly fulfi l: Grandchild care, other family care, home duties, and paid work. There is limited research on non-custodial grandparenting. Studies to date have suggested that psychosocial distress may be more associated with satisfaction levels than with actual time spent on activities, but these studies are mainly qualitative and have not always excluded grandparents who only provide secondary grandchild care. Our on-line survey asked 148 non-custodial Australian boomer grandparents (90 female, 58 male) providing regular sole or primary childcare for at least one grandchild about their experiences. Spearman correlations confi rmed signifi cant correlations between satisfaction and psychological health (distress and self-esteem), whereas time spent providing care was not signifi cantly related to psychological health. Unlike previous researchers we identifi ed few signifi cant gender differences, perhaps because we focussed on grandparents providing sole or primary care. These outcomes provide direction for parents, grandparents, and policy makers addressing the needs of this social group.

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“…Most studies regarding role conflict focused on first‐time parents who are coping simultaneously with the responsibility of raising young children and establishing a career (e.g., Nyström & Öhrling, ; Perry‐Jenkins, Goldberg, Pierce, & Sayer, ). Very few studies have focused on role conflict among grandparents (Kulik, ; Settles et al, ). This is despite the fact that contrary to the past, working grandparents face role conflict and multiple commitments, as they are responsible for their own households and careers but called on to help with the grandchildren in order to enable their children to pursue a career (Kulik, ; Settles et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress‐related mental health and growth among first‐time grandparents: The moderating role of family support

Sobol

Shlomo

2019

Stress and Health

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Grandparents play a significant role in modern society, often while struggling to juggle the expectations, demands, and commitments of career and family. The current study examined the unique and combined contribution of stress-related variables associated with multiple roles, such as work stress over commitment, economic stress, and grandchild care burden, to mental health and personal growth of first-time grandparents. The study also examined the role of family support as a moderator of these associations. One hundred ninety-seven first-time Israeli grandparents were asked to complete a series of self-report questionnaires. Higher levels of workrelated stress were associated with lower mental health, whereas grandchild care burden was associated with higher personal growth. Self-mastery and family support contributed to the prediction of mental health. When family support was high, work commitment was positively related to mental health, and economic stress was positively related to personal growth. The findings point to the crucial role of family support in balancing and preserving resources that are important to the mental health of first-time grandparents, while enabling grandparents to be challenged and thrive through their stressors. Therapists who meet with first-time grandparents in the community should take these factors into account when assisting them in adjusting to their new role. K E Y W O R D Sgrandparents, mental health, personal growth

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Grandparents Caring for their Grandchildren: Emerging Roles and Exchanges in Global Perspectives

Cited by 54 publications

References 47 publications

Grandparental help in Indonesia is directed preferentially towards needier descendants: A potential confounder when exploring grandparental influences on child health

Grandparental help in Indonesia is directed preferentially towards needier descendants: A potential confounder when exploring grandparental influences on child health

Psychological health and provision of grandchild care in non-custodial ‘baby boomer’ grandparents

Stress‐related mental health and growth among first‐time grandparents: The moderating role of family support

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