Enhancing Intergenerational Play

• In Event: 1-220 - Play Today: Investigating and Encouraging Play in the Contemporary Developmental Environment

Integrative Statement

Grandparents today are playing a more vital role in the day-to-day lives of kids than we have seen in generations - and that role continues to grow. Case in point - today there are an estimated 7.4 million grandparents living with their grandchildren, and 1/3 of those grandparents are primary caregivers (US Census Bureau, 2016). By 2025, we will see about 1 in 8 U.S. grandparents having a grandchild living with them. In addition, a similar number of grandparents provide ongoing daycare support for their grandchildren who are 8 and under.

While there has been recent media attention on the financial, stress, health, and other impacts between these generations, there has been little focus on the positive impacts that can come from intergenerational communication and play. In addition, grandparents are not often addressed as "play partners" for kids - by academics or the industry. We will bring new insights from our new AARP study on grandparents to identify opportunities, barriers, and support needed for grandparents and grandchildren to help them "play better" together.

This study was conducted in August 2018 with adults 38+ who are grandparents through an online nationally representative sample of 2500 plus 500 in-person intercept surveys across 8 locations. The survey was fielded in English, Spanish, and Mandarin, and had oversamples of multicultural audiences, in order to better understand some of the rapidly changing demographic dynamics of grandparenting. The survey addressed the role that grandparents are playing in their grandchildren's (and in some cases, great-grandchildren's) lives - from daily caregiving, to financial support, to technology, education, and recreation. In addition, the study addressed some key technographic, psychographic, and well-being factors, including feelings of social connectedness and health.

Authors

• Alison Bryant, AARP
  Presenting Author

• Patty David, AARP
  Non-Presenting Author

• Brittne Nelson Kakulla, AARP
  Non-Presenting Author