Perceptions of the Losses Experienced by Custodial Grandmothers

The purpose of this study was to investigate factors that influence societal perceptions of grandparents who have become custodians of their grandchildren. Over 1200 adult volunteers evaluated a randomly assigned scenario describing a grandparent raising a grandchild, where scenarios varied in terms of grandchild gender, grandparent ethnicity, the presence/absence of grandchild problems, and the reason for the assumption of the grandparent caregiving role. Subjects rated scenarios according to the extent to which they thought the custodial grandparent was experiencing a variety of losses. Overall, perceptions of loss were greater for grandmothers whose grandchild was experiencing an emotional/ behavioral problem, and for those grandmothers whose grandchild had been abandoned or abused, or whose adult child had died, been incarcerated, or abused drugs. Due to an interaction between ethnicity and reason for role assumption, however, those findings are best interpreted in the context of the ethnicity of the grandparent. Depending on the context, respondents were less sensitive to losses suffered by Hispanic, African American, or Caucasian grandmothers. These data suggest that ethnicity of the grandparent and reason for assuming the custodial role affect the degree to which people are sensitive to the losses that custodial grandparents experience. These differences are likely to affect the extent to which others publicly acknowledge the grief of custodial grandparents. Moreover, ethnic stereotypes may interfere with an equitable allocation of social support for, and services to, grandparent caregivers. In this light, researchers should continue to study these disparities, as they are likely to affect the adjustment of grandparents to the custodial role.