The Construction of Grandparenthood

Abstract

This article presents a short summary of a recent research project on grandparenting conducted in France on the basis of a representative quantitative national sample of three-generation families and of in-depth interviews with young adults, their parents and their grandparents. Grounded in affective closeness allowing autonomy to the different generations, relationships with new grandparents are characterized by greater intensity than in the past. The bond between grandparents and grandchildren is becoming more important as couples are becoming more fragile. Grandparents who have themselves divorced sometimes contribute to filiation crises, but more often they act as agents of reconciliation and guarantors of family continuity.

intergenerational learning between children and grandparents in east London

“…Intergenerational studies has recently emerged as an academic discipline (Newman et al, 1997;Granville and Ellis, 1999;Van, 2004) including research on grandparenthood (Smith and Drew, 2002;Attias-Donfut and Segalen, 2002).…”

Cultures of Intergenerational Transmission in Four-Generation Families

“…A growing body of evidence from other European countries testifies to the considerable volume of inter vivos transfers across family generations of money and material goods even where public support in the form of cash and services is provided by welfare states (see Attias‐Donfut and Arber, 2000; Bawin‐Legros, 2002; Kohli, 1999; Gulbrandsen and Langsether, 1997, 2001). In respect of care, national and cross‐national studies have emphasised the major role that continues to be played in many affluent countries by informal carers, in particular by relatives, both in the care of children and elderly people (EC Childcare Network, 1996a; OECD, 2001), with up to 80 per cent of care for elderly people provided informally (Jacobzone, Cambois, Chaplain and Robine, 1998; Attias‐Donfut and Segalen, 2002). In the UK, relatives, mostly grandparents, continue to be the main providers of childcare for working parents (most recently, see Woodland, Miller and Tipping, 2002; Mooney and Statham, 2002).…”

“…Divorce, while being a time when material resources may be redistributed, is also a time when they may be also be in short supply. Divorce is likely to put an increased burden on matrilineal ties (Trifiletti et al , 2003) requiring older female generations to help younger divorcing daughters (Attias‐Donfut and Segalen, 2002; Bengston, 2002). While the study was designed to exclude divorcees, one grandmother in the study was divorced.…”

Družina ostaja pomembna za medgeneracijsko sodelovanje in učenje

“…Danes imamo torej pred seboj bistveno več let skupnega življenja več generacij kot kadarkoli prej v človeški zgodovini 6 (Attias-Donfut in Segalen, 2002). Na podlagi tega lahko sklepamo, da bodo večgeneracijske vezi (vezi med več kot dvema generacijama) v prihodnosti vse bolj pomembne tako za posameznike kot za družino in družbo; večgeneracijske vezi bodo občasno tudi nadomestile funkcije jedrne družine.…”

“…Pomen proučevanja medgeneracijskega sodelovanja in učenja izhaja iz ugotovitev raziskovalcev, ki proučujejo demografske spremembe v družini (Uhlenberg, 1996;Bengtson 2001;Attias-Donfut in Segalen, 2002) in ugotavljajo, da je trajanje družinskih vezi med generacijami danes bistveno daljše kot v preteklosti. Zaradi podaljševanja življenjske dobe živijo tri ali celo štiri generacije sočasno, kar vzpostavlja nove odnose terdaje možnosti za vzajemno pomoč in učenje.…”