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Support Grandparents Give to Their Adult Grandchildren

Author

Listed:
  • Meng Huo
  • Kyungmin Kim
  • Steven H Zarit
  • Karen L Fingerman

Abstract

Objectives Many grandparents are involved in young grandchildren’s lives, but we know little about grandparents’ support of adult grandchildren. This study assessed frequency of different types of support that grandparents provided to adult grandchildren and examined potential explanations for such support (e.g., affection, grandchildren’s needs, parents’ support).MethodGrandparents in The Family Exchanges Study Wave 2 (N = 198; Mage = 80.19) reported how often they provided six types of support to a focal adult grandchild.ResultsMultiple regressions revealed that grandparents’ affective ties with an adult grandchild were associated with more frequent listening, emotional support, and companionship. Grandparents also provided more frequent emotional support to adult grandchildren when parents incurred life problems, and more frequent companionship and financial support when parents were not employed. Moreover, grandparents’ listening, advice, and companionship with adult grandchildren were positively associated with the parents providing these types of support to grandchildren.DiscussionConsistent with solidarity theory, grandparents experiencing greater affective ties with their grandchildren are invested in these ties regardless of family needs. Findings also offer limited evidence for the family watchdog model in that grandparents provide more support to grandchildren when parents incur problems, even though those parents may still provide support.

Suggested Citation

  • Meng Huo & Kyungmin Kim & Steven H Zarit & Karen L Fingerman, 2018. "Support Grandparents Give to Their Adult Grandchildren," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 73(6), pages 1006-1015.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:geronb:v:73:y:2018:i:6:p:1006-1015.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/geronb/gbw208
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    Cited by:

    1. Benedict Ogbemudia Imhanrenialena & Wilson Ebhotemhen & Anthony Aziegbemin Ekeoba & Andrew Asan Ate, 2023. "Exploring how unemployment and grandparental support influence reproductive decisions in sub-Saharan African countries: Nigeria in focus," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    2. Mathilde Duflos & Caroline Giraudeau, 2022. "Using the intergenerational solidarity framework to understand the grandparent–grandchild relationship: a scoping review," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 233-262, June.
    3. Sofia Gimenez-Serrano & Marta Alcaide & Maria Reyes & Juan J. Zacarés & Montserrat Celdrán, 2022. "Beyond Parenting Socialization Years: The Relationship between Parenting Dimensions and Grandparenting Functioning," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-13, April.
    4. Ellwardt, Lea & Hank, Karsten & Mendes de Leon, Carlos F., 2021. "Grandparenthood and risk of mortality: Findings from the Health and Retirement Study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).

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