Twenty-first century grandparents: global perspectives on changing roles and consequences

This special issue on Grandparents highlights the increasing role that they are taking in raising the next generation, not only in the United Kingdom, but across the world. Why are grandparents playing a major role in rearing the next generation? Firstly, older people are living longer and are healthier so they are more available. Also rising divorce rates, increases in single parenthood, more working mothers and the globalisation of work has fuelled family change. The expanding body of interdisciplinary research in cross-generational relations has raised key questions such as: how has human evolution shaped grandparental behaviour? How is grandparenting different from parenting? How do lineage, gender or marital status influence grandparenting? How does grandparental involvement affect the well-being of children and is this different when they are caring for them full-time? How is contemporary grandparenthood shaped by cultural patterns and what are the social policy implications? This introduction outlines some key topics which are further developed by the 11 papers in this special issue. Contributors come from many disciplines and countries and employ a vast range of research methods. The overall conclusion is that societies need to re-evaluate the role of grandparents, pay attention to the support they need, and systematically integrate kin and grandparental care into family policies. As caretakers of many of their grandchildren, who will be our future citizens, grandparents are guardians of all our tomorrows.