Grandparents play varied roles in their grandchildren's lives. Prior work has focused mostly on historical trends in and implications of grandparent coresidence and has not considered more broadly ...how grandparents and grandchildren interact. Using time‐use diary data for 6,762 person‐years from the 1997 to 2007 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Development Survey, the authors examine patterns in the amount and activity composition of time American children spent with their grandparents, differentiated by family structure, adult employment, and child's age. Results showed that although only about 7% of children lived with their grandparents, many more children spent time with their grandparents: about 50% of young children, 35% of elementary‐age children, and 20% of teens spent at least some time with their grandparents in a typical week. This suggests that grandparents play a variety of roles in their grandchildren's lives, depending on the amount and kinds of support needed.
Grandparents play an essential role in childrearing and fill the parenting gap for dual-earner Chinese families. Many Chinese grandparents engage heavily in childcare, which may increase the risk of ...child abuse.
This study aimed to examine grandparental use of psychological and physical aggression toward children and explore its associated risk factors.
This was a cross-sectional study which involved purposive sampling of 278 grandparents (204 females and 74 males) taking care of at least one grandchild below 18 years old in Shenzhen, China.
Information on childcare was collected, including grandparents' use of psychological and physical aggression and their involvement in childcare in terms of intensity and activity.
An alarming percentage (57.1 %) of grandparents had used psychological aggression, while 26.5 % had used corporal punishment, in the past year. The average use of psychological aggression and corporal punishment was 16.10 times and 10.08 times per year, respectively. Grandparents taking care of two or more grandchildren were more likely to use psychological aggression and corporal punishment compared to those taking care of only one grandchild. Higher mental and physical health summary scores were associated with lower likelihood of psychological and physical aggression of grandparents.
This study advances our understanding of negative grandparenting behavior in childcare. As grandparents play a significant role in childcare, we need to improve their grandparenting skills, provide more formal childcare services to ease their childcare burden, and support their physical and mental well-being to reduce the risk of child abuse.
This study investigates the complex roles of the social environment and genes in the multigenerational transmission of educational attainment. Drawing on genome-wide data and educational attainment ...measures from the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), I conduct polygenic score analyses to examine genetic confounding in the estimation of parents’ and grandparents’ influences on their children’s and grandchildren’s educational attainment. I also examine social genetic effects (i.e., genetic effects that operate through the social environment) in the transmission of educational attainment across three generations. Two-generation analyses produce three important findings. First, about one-fifth of the parent-child association in education reflects genetic inheritance. Second, up to half of the association between parents’ polygenic scores and children’s education is mediated by parents’ education. Third, about one-third of the association between children’s polygenic scores and their educational attainment is attributable to parents’ genotypes and education. Three-generation analyses suggest that genetic confounding on the estimate of the direct effect of grandparents’ education on grandchildren’s education (net of parents’ education) may be inconsequential, and I find no evidence that grandparents’ genotypes significantly influence grandchildren’s education through non-biological pathways. The three-generation results are suggestive, and the results may change when different samples are used.
This manual is a 14-session workshop designed to help grandparents who are raising their grandchildren alone. Group leaders can revise and expand upon the themes presented here to fit the needs of ...their particular work groups. Some of the main issues that are explored are: useful tips for grandparents on how to communicate effectively with their grandchildren on all topics ranging from drugs and sex, to sexually transmitted diseases; helping them learn how to deal with loss and abandonment issues; helping them develop and maintain self-esteem; dealing with special behavior problems; and appropriate ways of instilling and maintaining rules in the home. Designed to complement To Grandmother's House We Go and Stay, it is very reader-friendly and easy to understand, and can be read by anyone who has assumed a parenting role of any sort and is interested in raising a happy and healthy child.
Aims and objectives
The findings presented in this manuscript address two key research questions: (a) What factors contribute to the initiation and maintenance of the caregiving role as performed by ...the grandparent‐caregivers; and (b) What are the perceived benefits of caregiving as reported by grandparent‐caregivers?
Background
Grandparents in sub‐Saharan Africa have cared for their grandchildren for generations, yet little is known about this role in the context of the HIV epidemic. Although the impact of the epidemic is overwhelmingly negative, specifically in Uganda, knowledge of familial context and underlying motivations and rewards that incentivise grandparent‐caregivers remains limited in the literature.
Methods
Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, we explored the experiences of 32 Ugandan grandparents of grandchildren affected by HIV. Data were collected using a semi‐structured and open‐ended interview guide, participant observation and fieldnotes. Data analysis included open, focused and axial coding.
Findings
The data revealed the influences of extended familial structures and of cultural and gender expectations on the decision‐making processes and rewards of caregiving as perceived by the grandparent‐caregivers.
Discussion and recommendation
These findings provide a broad foundation for policy, practice, research and education interventions needed to support grandparents so they can enjoy the benefits of raising their grandchildren.
Implications for practice
Our findings can guide education programs and clinical practice for nurses, nursing students, and other health providers on cultural considerations for holistic care provided for older adults—especially older caregivers.
This paper uses Swedish administrative data to examine the impact of grandparenthood on retirement behaviour. For causal identification, I exploit conditionally random variation in the births of ...first grandchildren using an event study design. The results show a significant increase in the retirement probability for grandmothers and grandfathers when the first grandchild is born, with no significant differences between them. The effects of the arrival of the grandchild on retirement increase over time after the grandchild is born. The incremental effects are larger among grandparents in the upper half of the earnings distribution than among their counterparts. The findings suggest that grandparenthood makes grandfathers and grandmothers less elastic to financial incentives and other regulations that also promote longer working lives in a country with generous family policies, such as Sweden.
•Children affect parents’ labour supply, but little is known about grandparenthood.•I use Swedish data and event study to estimate grandparenthood’s impact on retirement.•Grandchildren increase retirement likelihoods for both grandparents, equally.•Grandchild’s arrival affects retirement in subsequent years.•Stronger effect on grandparents who can cope with labour exits.
To examine the association of caregivers’ concern about children's overweight and obesity status with family structure (grandparent versus parent-headed households).
Caregivers reported their ...relation to the child aged 10 to 17 years and the child's weight and height (National Survey of Children's Health 2016–20). Overweight/obesity was calculated using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention growth charts. We estimated associations (prevalence odds ratio) of residing in a grandparent-headed household with lack of weight concern (responding “Yes, it's too low” or “No, not concerned” to “Are you concerned about this child's weight?”) among propensity score-matched children with overweight and obesity. Covariates included child's sex, race, ethnicity, age, family poverty ratio, primary household language, highest level of education among reported adults, caregiver mental and emotional health, usual source of care and survey year.
The prevalence of child overweight/obesity was higher in grandparent-headed households. Among children with overweight/obesity, 64.65 (SE = 3.27)% of grandparents and 66.55 (SE = 0.81)% of parents did not express concern about the child's weight status. Among children with obesity, it was 52.42 (SE = 4.63)% and 49.04 (SE = 1.28)%, respectively. Family structure was not associated with caregiver lack of weight concern in propensity score-matched samples.
Appropriate caregiver concern about child's weight status was low in both grandparent and parent-headed households in the United States.
Grandparents are becoming an increasingly important source of childcare. However, caring for grandchildren may have negative health consequences particularly for grandparents with intensive ...commitments such as those with primary care responsibilities. To date most studies on this issue are based on cross-sectional data and do not take earlier life circumstances into account. Thus, it is not known whether (or to what extent) the relationship between grandparental childcare and health is due to cumulative advantage or disadvantage throughout the lifecourse or to the impact of grandchild care per se.
Employing data from waves 1–3 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe we investigated the longitudinal relationship between grandparental childcare (i.e. intensive and non-intensive) and health once cumulative histories of advantage or disadvantage are taken into account. We used latent class analysis to categorise respondents according to childhood socio-economic and health conditions drawing on life history information. Experiences in adulthood (e.g. periods of ill health) were also captured. We created a latent continuous physical health variable based on self- and observer-measured indicators. OLS regression was used to explore the association between physical health at wave 2 and grandparental childcare at baseline, controlling for conditions in childhood and adulthood, and for health and socio-economic characteristics.
We found a positive longitudinal association between grandchild care and health even after earlier life health and socio-economic conditions were taken into account. However, this significant association was found only for grandmothers, and not grandfathers. Our results suggesting the health benefits of grandchild care are important given the widespread provision of grandparental childcare in Europe. However, further research on underlying mechanisms and causal pathways between grandchild care and grandparent health, as well as on gender differences in the pattern of association, is needed.
•Early and later life health and socio-economic circumstances are associated with grandparenting.•Grandmothers providing childcare experience better physical health.•Grandparenting effect on health remains significant even in a life-course approach.
Grandparents caring for grandchildren has increased globally in the past two decades, but we have a limited understanding of its effects on custodial grandchildren's mental/behavioural health and ...educational outcomes. This mixed methods systematic review aims to synthesise mental/behavioural health and educational outcomes of custodial grandchildren within custodial grandparent‐headed families and with comparison to other types of household structure and further examine factors associated with these outcomes. A systematic review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses guidelines was conducted. We searched ERIC, Family Studies s, PsycINFO, PubMed, Scopus, Social Work and SocINDEX in March 2021 and screened 14,515 articles, which resulted in the inclusion of 42 studies, including 33 quantitative, seven qualitative and two mixed methods studies. The quality of included studies was assessed. This review covered 10 countries, yet most studies revealed that grandchildren raised by grandparents had adverse mental/behavioural health and educational outcomes compared to their peers raised by biological parents. This review further identified multi‐level factors contributing to custodial grandchildren's adverse outcomes. Methodological limitations and implications for future practice and research were discussed.
Abstract
University-assisted community schools (UACS), which work as partnerships between schools and universities that assist the mobilization of coordinated services to children, families, and ...communities, can build capacity for schools and neighborhoods to better serve the needs of marginalized families, such as grandparent-headed households. Despite the increase of grandparents raising grandchildren, school staff are often ill equipped with the necessary skills and resources to support these children and their caretakers, who have multifaceted needs and complicated family contexts. In this conceptual article, the authors utilize social capital theory to propose social work practice implications for implementing UACS to support grandparent-headed families, focusing on three target areas: (1) social obligation and social trust, (2) network and information flow, and (3) norms and effective sanctions. The UACS model can be a vehicle for building social trust among grandparent-headed families, schools, and local communities that can lead to a shared model for grandchildren’s academic success. Strengthened networks and information flows are necessary to enhance engagement with these marginalized caregivers. Last, details of how to create norms of cooperation that utilize grandparent-headed families as partners and experts are suggested for effective implementation of the UACS model that engages grandparent-headed families.
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