GRANDPARENTHOOD

Shifts to low or very low fertility in many developed countries have had, and will continue to have, the effect of making lateral kinship links–such as those with siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles, and nieces and nephews–less available than in the past. However, falls in mortality have increased the "vertical" extension of kinship networks, including grandparent–grandchild. A 1999 British survey, designed by Emily Grundy and Mike Murphy, found that over 75 percent of adults were members of families including at least three living generations. Half of all adults were a grandparent by the age of 50, and 80 percent of 20-year-olds had at least one grandparent alive. This implies that most children in low mortality populations now have the grandparent relationship potentially available to them throughout childhood. In countries with higher mortality and fertility, grandparenthood is also important. Even though higher mortality implies a lower probability of an individual of a given age having a grandparent available, this may be partly offset by earlier childbearing and shorter intergenerational age gaps. The scholars Albert Hermalin, Carol Roan, and Aurora Perez, for example, found that in Thailand in 1995, over 70 percent of people aged 50 to 54 were grandparents, higher than the equivalent proportion in Britain. Moreover, the high prevalence of intergenerational coresidence in many less developed countries implies high levels of interaction between grandparents and at least some of their grandchildren.

From a biological perspective, grandparenthood can be defined as the relationship with the children of one's children. Family dissolution and reformation may also produce social or "step-" grandparent relationships. Older people may become step-grandparents through their own repartnering with a person who has grandchildren or through a child's partnership with someone who has children from a previous relationship.

Family Change and the Role of Grandparents

The increasing complexity of family relationships in many societies has prompted greater policy interest in the role of grandparents as potential "stressbuffers" in times of crisis and as a back-up for grandchildren faced with family disruption. Policy attention has also focused on the rights of grandparents in cases where their relationship with grandchildren is threatened by divorce. In the United States, a recent increase in custodial grandparenthood has led to the development of policies designed to support such families. The role of grandparents is also recognized to have become more important in populations seriously affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. One survey conducted in Zaire in the early 1990s found that 34 percent of HIV/AIDS orphans were being cared for by a grandparent.

Even in less extreme circumstances, grandparents may make substantial contributions to the welfare of their children's families. Many grandparents babysit or provide childcare while parents work. Surveys in Thailand, Taiwan, and the Philippines have shown that some 40 percent of people aged 50 and over live in households including minor grandchildren, and about half of those with a coresident grandchild under ten provide child care. In the United States in the mid 1990s, over a quarter of young children with working parents were looked after by a grandparent; studies in European countries have found similarly high, or higher, levels of grandparent involvement in child care. Such support can be particularly important for single parents.

In addition to the practical help that grandparents provide, they may also perform a number of important symbolic functions and undertake the role of "family watchdogs," as well as provide emotional support and advice to their children and grandchildren.

Contact between Grandparents and Grandchildren

Studies in both Western and other populations have found high levels of contact between grandparents and grandchildren. In Britain around half of grandparents see their eldest grandchild at least weekly. Research on variations in the strength of grandparent/grandchild relationships, the extent of contact, and the provision of help by grandparents has identified several consistent themes. There is a strong gender dimension to such relationships, with grandmothers seeing grandchildren more frequently than grandfathers do and providing more help. In the 1999 British survey, for example, two-thirds of grandmothers aged 50 to 59 saw their eldest grandchild at least once a week compared with only 52 percent of grandfathers of the same age. As might be expected, physical proximity has been identified as one of the most important factors affecting intergenerational contact. Grandparents see more of grandchildren when they live close to each other, and of course most of all when they are coresident. In the 1999 British survey referred to above, over half of grandparents aged 50 to 59 lived within 30 minutes journey time of their eldest grandchild, but among grandmothers in their seventies this proportion was only 30 percent, presumably because the older grandparents' eldest grandchild is more likely to have moved away from the childhood home. Level of education (itself associated with proximity) has been found to be negatively associated with the provision of grandchild care, at least in Britain and the United States.

In the early twenty-first century, grandparent-hood is attracting growing attention in both popular culture and research. Possibly this reflects a perceived greater need for grandparent involvement because of the increase in family disruption in some societies, including disruption due to parental death in populations with a high HIV/AIDS prevalence. More positive images of older people, or at least of the so-called "young old," and increases in the disposable incomes and health status of significant segments of the older population may also be important. As has been pointed out in several commentaries, though, these changes and the associated greater opportunities for travel and leisure, and in some societies opportunities or pressures to postpone retirement, may mean that at least some grandparents will be less available to maintain intensive contacts with and to help take care of grandchildren. However, the changing ratio of grandchildren to grandparents implied by population aging suggests that younger generations will increasingly benefit from the wisdom, stability, and resources provided by their grandparents.

GRANDPARENTHOOD

Family Change and the Role of Grandparents

Contact between Grandparents and Grandchildren

BIBLIOGRAPHY