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Backup Parents, Playmates, Friends: Grandparenting Roles by Family Structure and Child Age

Tue, August 15, 8:30 to 10:10am, Palais des congrès de Montréal, Floor: Level 5, 513A

Abstract

Grandparents often play a substantial role in their grandchildren’s lives as caregivers, yet remain understudied as a part of child development. Prior work has examined historical trends and effects of grandparent coresidence, but has not studied the different roles that grandparents may play in their grandchildren’s lives, particularly when they do not live together. Using time-use diary data from the 1997-2007 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Development Survey (PSID-CDS), we examine patterns in the amount of time American children spend with their grandparents and how they use this time, differentiated by family structure and child’s age. Results show that a substantial proportion of children spend time with their grandparents even when they do not live together, and that rates and amount of grandparent involvement are lower for intermediate children. How this time is spent also varies with the child’s age and family structure, with grandparents spending more time in basic caregiving if the children are younger and if they are coresident, relative to teens and non-coresident children. Yet total amount of time together in play and in social or entertainment activities does not differ substantially by family structure. This suggests grandparents often play multiple roles in their grandchildren’s lives, but when parents face time constraints in caring for their children they then are likely to rely on grandparents to serve more as “backup parents.”

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