Teachers' perceptions of the emotional and behavioral functioning of children raised by grandparents

Increasing numbers of grandparents are becoming full‐time surrogate parents to their grandchildren. Grandparents who raise their grandchildren reportedly endure high levels of stress, and grandchildren purportedly experience childhood trauma that can lead to poor psychological adjustment. While anecdotal reports have suggested that grandchildren experience significant behavioral problems, there is a dearth of data to empirically support this view. This research was an initial endeavor to ascertain whether teachers perceive children raised by grandparents as exhibiting serious emotional and behavioral problems. Fifty‐four African American children raised by their grandparents and a comparison group of 54 African American children living with their parents were studied to determine the grandchildren's functioning. Teachers perceived the children raised by their grandparents as experiencing significantly more emotional and behavioral problems than their similar schoolmates. Children in these families appear in need of school‐based intervention services. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 43: 565–572, 2006.     

Theory‐Based Interventions for School Children Cared For by their Grandparents

The growing social phenomenon of grandparents caring for their grandchildren has implications for educational psychology practice, since children who are wards of their grandparents frequently experience problematic school functioning. In this paper, the literature regarding children cared for by grandparents is reviewed. Issues concerning attachment, social support, and the children’s school‐related functioning are emphasised. In addition, theoretical and practical school‐based interventions to help these grandchildren are described.     

Children''s Relationships with Maternal Grandparents: A Longitudinal Study of Family Structure and Pubertal Status Effects

This longitudinal study assessed the effects of parents' marital transitions and pubertal development on grandparent-grandchild relationships. 9- to 13-year-old children, their mothers, and maternal grandparents from 186 Caucasian, middle-class families including 73 intact families, 64 mother-custody, single-parent families and 49 stepfamilies completed questionnaires focusing on the degree of children's "relationship involvement" (perceived closeness and frequency of contact) with maternal grandparents at 2 time periods 13 months apart. Children also completed questionnaires 9 months later during a third interview. Grandparents, and especially grandfathers, were more involved with grandchildren from single-parent families (supporting the "latent function" hypothesis). The pubertal status results supported the "emotional distancing" hypothesis for grandfather-granddaughter relationships (higher pubertal status, less involvement) and the "stress buffer" hypothesis for grandsons' relationships with both grandparents (greater change in physical development, more involvement and greater perceived closeness).     

DEVELOPING CURRICULA FOR GRANDPARENTS IN JAPAN

The purpose of this study was to determine how three generations view the contribution and needs of grandparents in Japan. A sample consisting of 239 grandparents, 266 parents, and 274 grandchildren from, urban and rural areas completed the Grandparent Strengths and Needs Inventory (Strom & Strom, 1993). Grandparents reported more satisfaction, success, and involvement in teaching than was observed by parents or grandchildren. Grandparents experienced greater difficulty as well as frustration and saw themselves as less informed about their role than was reported by younger people. Significant main effects were generation, grandchild gender, grandchild age, generations living together, frequency of grandchild care by the grandparent, and amount of time the generations spent together. Implications for building curricula and guidelines for program development are identified.     

Grandparents of Children with Disabilities: a review

Grandparents are important sources of support to children with disabilities and their families. However, there has been very little published research concerned with grandparents’ roles and experiences in relation to their grandchild with disabilities. Existing research is reviewed in the present paper. Although both parents and grandparents themselves report a wide range of supportive activities and increased involvement with the child with disabilities, grandparents may also be an additional burden to families. In particular, parents may find it difficult to deal with grandparents’ immediate and longer term emotional responses to their grandchild's disability. Clinical, educational, and other professionals have an important role to play working with grandparents and facilitating their role as a resource for families of children with disabilities. The implications of the review for research on grandparents are also discussed.     

Grandparent Involvement in the Communication Development of Children Who are Deafblind

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of grandparents in the communication development of children who are deafblind. The two-tiered study was conducted through State Projects for Deafblind Children in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee with 143 parents and 80 grandparents. The grandparents identified as “most involved” provided information about factors that influence their levels of involvement. The results suggest that maternal grandparents are the most involved. A needs analysis in areas of communication, nurturing, and school indicated the need for grandparents to be included as participants in developing communication plans.     

Grandparents Against Homework

America now possesses not only the largest and fastest-growing population of older adults in our history but also the healthiest, most vigorous, best educated and civic-minded. By the year 2025, one of every four Americans will be a grandparent. However, the real potential is not in the numbers, but in the emotional attachment between grandparents and their grandchildren. Their devotion to their grandchildren, in addition to the wisdom and skills learned over a lifetime, may well be the greatest social capital children and parents have in their battle against the “sacred cow” that is homework.     

Gardening with grandparents: an early engagement with the science curriculum

In many cultures, elders are revered within the extended family as a source of wisdom gained from long experience. In Western societies, this role has been marginalised by changes in family structure, and grandparents' significant contribution to children's upbringing often goes unacknowledged. A research study with families of three‐ to six‐year‐olds in East London reveals how grandparents from a variety of cultural backgrounds passed on knowledge about growing fruit and vegetables to their grandchildren through joint gardening activities. Children learned to identify different plants, and to understand conditions and stages of plant growth. Grandparents from Bangladesh introduced children to a wide range of fruits and vegetables, and concepts were reinforced through bilingual communication. Analysis shows that these intergenerational learning encounters fostered children's scientific knowledge in ways that supported and extended curriculum work in the early years.     

浅析隔代教育对幼儿早期阅读的影响及对策

隔代教育是当前中国家庭教育中客观存在的一种教育形态。由于受年龄、教育背景、文化层次、教育观念等因素的影响,祖辈和父辈两类主要教养人在不同学历层次上的分布的差剐对幼儿早期阅读能力的培养具有显著差异。隔代教育给幼儿早期阅读带来的负面影响为：缺乏对幼儿发展规律的尊重,缺乏开放性和灵活性,教育方式单一,缺乏多样性。解决对策为：在不完全隔代教育的家庭中提倡亲子分享阅读,在完全隔代教育的家庭中构建隔代家长的科学阅读观,加强家园共读。     

Confirmatory factor analysis of the Values Aspired for the Future Scale in grandparents

Although the engagement of grandparents in grandchildren’s life has increased, there is a lack of research that explores the values that grandparents desire to transmit to their grandchildren. The aim of this study was to analyze the factor structure, the validity, and the reliability of the Values Aspired for the Future Scale in a sample of grandparents. Three hundred grandparents participated in this study. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a three-factor structure with an excellent overall fit: personal and relationship values, abilities and knowledge values, and materialistic values. Grandparents’ sex did not have a moderating effect on the factor structure. An adequate internal consistency was obtained. Signi?cant associations between values, health-related quality of life, social support, and psychological well-being were found, with the exception of the materialistic values. This scale should be tested in different cultural contexts in order to confirm the results found. The implications of the results are discussed.     

The influence of grandparents’ social class on children’s aspirations

Social class mobility from grandparent to grandchild is a relatively neglected topic. Grandparents today are often healthier and more active, and have longer relationships with their grandchildren than in previous generations. We used data from the UK’s Millennium Cohort Study (n = 8570) to investigate the influence of maternal and paternal grandparents’ social class on the aspirations of children at age seven. Using path analysis and controlling for family income, mother’s and father’s education, lone motherhood, and child’s ethnicity and gender, we found very small direct effects from the paternal grandmother’s social class to the grandchild’s classed aspirations, and small, indirect effects, via parents’ class, of grandparents’ class on child’s classed aspirations. Multi-group analyses found few differences by ethnicity and gender. There was no evidence that, at this age, mixed-class parentage raises the aspirations of working-class children (the ‘sunken middle-class’ hypothesis).     

Working With Grandparent-Headed Families in Schools: School Professionals' Perspectives

This qualitative study explores the experiences of school professionals working with grandparent-headed families. Twenty individual interviews with an array of professional school staff were conducted. Thematic analysis was utilized, and 3 key themes emerged: (a) compassion for grandparent-headed families' unique challenges; (b) lack of adequate knowledge about grandparent-headed families; and (c) strategies for engaging grandparents raising their grandchildren. Implications address the importance of understanding the unique needs of grandparent-headed families and ways to maximize the success of these marginalized families through active family engagement and school-linked services.     

Family walk-in centre—Eaton socon: Evaluation of a project on preventive intervention based in the community

The Family Walk-In Centre opened November 1978 as a pilot project at Eaton Socon in Cambridgeshire with the aims: to encourage parents to visit the centre on “their terms,” including parents who have abused or who fear they will abuse or neglect their child who may be difficult or handicapped, or because of chronic or acute family problems; further to mobilize “Self Help” groups and offer professional support. “Help” offered to the families included informal and formal group work, family casework and education in social and physical skills. Volunteer and professional support was given at the Centre and at home. Close liaison with specialist agencies was maintained to enable families to receive appropriate help. Periodic reviews and visits were made to maintain contact. An analysis of 50 families who attended the Centre between October 1979 and May 1980 was made to assess: the attendance and reattendance rate which indicated their acceptance of help offered and their motivation to use the Centre; the types of problems presented to the Centre, the types of action taken, the progress made when reviewed after three months and the degree of involvement by the volunteers. A final analysis will comprise 100 families. A preliminary summary found: significant reduction in the registration of new cases of child abuse; self-referrals exceeded significantly other modes of referral; loneliness and parenting difficulties formed the major proportion of families seeking help; 48% of families continued to attend for 3 months or more; work done centered upon discussion of parenting problems in 30% of the cases and involvement in activities with other families in 28%; 18% were assessed as showing improved child care after 3 months. The children are being monitored and will be assessed when they enter the infant school.     

隔代教养对幼儿音乐表现力培养的利弊浅析

隔代教养在当今社会已经屡见不鲜,是中国的一大特色。通过查阅相关文献,笔者发现关于隔代教养对孙辈发展的利弊研究主要是从对其的身心发展、社会适应力、学业成绩、人际交往方面加以展开的,而本文将从隔代教养对幼儿音乐表现力培养的利弊加以探讨,并提出相关启示和建议,以期提高隔代教养的质量,促进幼儿音乐表现力的提高。     

Grandparent Education: Raising Grandchildren

Grandparent-headed households are increasing in the United States. Most caregivers believe their role will be permanent. The responsibilities are more difficult because previous parenting experiences do not apply to some current challenges, and there are no paradigms to provide guidance. Accordingly, caregivers want to know the goals that successful grandparents share to consider them as a source of direction. Identification of grandparent success is based on the separate and combined responses from three generations to 60 Likert-type items in the Grandparent Strengths and Needs Inventory. Results detect assets and knowledge gaps, and they are used to determine content for group interventions. This presentation unites findings drawn from three-generational studies, community program initiatives, and case studies. The purpose is to show how goals of successful grandparents can be used to inform a paradigm for caregivers so that they are able to establish suitable priorities, recognize the necessary adjustments in their thinking and behavior, and discover how to assess progress. Grandparents develop these strengths when they are willing to amend their dreams, get to know grandchildren by spending time together, and adopt a perspective that enables management of stress. Cooperation with a parent who shares an obligation for childcare is essential along with an understanding of family rights and benefits. Success also requires resilience to confront predictable setbacks and provide lessons for grandchildren about overcoming adversity.     

GRANDPARENTS RAISING GRANDCHILDREN: GOALS AND SUPPORT GROUPS

More grandparents are raising grandchildren than ever before. Success in overcoming their unique problems requires that grandparents be optimistic and adjust to their new role; learn about child and adolescent development in today's society; cooperate with the parent who shares responsibility for providing care; monitor social and academic development; become aware of available services, obligations, and rights; and obtain periodic relief from the demands of the role. Full‐time grandparents often rely on support groups for advice and comfort. The merits of this approach are identified, along with ways to improve group interaction by encouraging hopeful attitudes and constructive behavior, setting guidelines for discussion, emphasizing communication with family members, and making education the basis for grandparent development.     

Who cares for me? Grandparents, nannies and babysitters caring for children in contemporary Italy

This paper illustrates the factors and features of the revival of paid care and domestic work in Italy. While Italy is experiencing a boom in the recourse to carers for the elderly, there is not a corresponding expansion in paid private childcare, in spite of growing female employment and limited public services for children. One of the reasons for this is the growing involvement of grandparents in childcare. In Italy, a country characterised by a “Mediterranean welfare regime”, people also have recourse to their own mothers (and fathers) to care for their children, in spite of the fact that they can afford to pay for childminding and babysitting. Thus it is not only (migrant) domestic workers who frequently rely on their parents to care for their own children, an issue widely discussed in the literature on global care chains. Their employers, too, may rely on them. Grandparents, however, have turned out to play an important role in childcare not only in Italy but also in Western countries with better childcare services. Focusing on these issues, the paper contributes both to the debate on global care chains and to that on the role of the family within different welfare systems.     

Education and Learning for the Elderly: Why,How, What

Seventy‐seven children of divorce and their selected grandparents completed questionnaires that included a demographic section, the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale‐II (FACES II; Olson, Bell, &; Portner, 1982) to assess their relationships, and an instrument designed to identify shared activities and desires in these areas. Partners had similar present and future perceptions of relationship and activity factors. All participants desired future increases in both areas. Grandchildren and grandparents connected emotional bonding with grandparents’ listening, keeping them safe, and gift giving; grandparents also thought a good relationship with the custodial parent was important. Most healthy and least healthy subgroups were identified. Membership in the healthiest group was related to geographic proximity, feminine gender for both partners, and being married and employed full‐time for grandparents. Grandparents who were related by blood to custodial parents, had a good relationship with them, and negotiated their role were more likely to have a healthier relationship. Helping professionals are encouraged to explore these variables as they help family members negotiate the grandparent‐grandchild relationship, use skill training to foster development in areas amenable to change, and use supportive tactics in areas of liability.     

隔代教育之反思

隔代教育是指祖辈、孙辈两代人之间的教育。在我国,隔代教育历史已久,今天有愈演愈烈之势。面对这一普遍现象,特别是在孩子的早期教育阶段,如何做才能既克服隔代教育中容易出现的弊端,充分发挥老年人的作用,又能够方便年轻父母腾出精力更好地投入工作,打拼出一番事业呢?本文认为隔代教育的存在有其合理性,但也有不利的因素,要善加调节,把握一个度,否则容易引发一系列的社会问题。