“If She’s Sad, I’m Sad Too” Emotional Closeness Between French Grandparents and Emerging Adult Grandchildren: Between Emotional Bonding and Emotional Worries

The present study examines emotional closeness between French grandparents and their emerging adult grandchildren. The present study explores facets of the grandparent–grandchild relationship that have not been extensively investigated. It highlights the importance of the grandchildren’s relationship with their grandparents as they reach adulthood and the facets of intergenerational emotional closeness during this period of transition. Semi-structured interviews were conducted individually with 13 grandparents and their emerging adult grandchildren. Four themes were extracted from the thematic analysis of the interviews (emotional bonding; sharing identity, values, and personality; emotional worries and concerns about illness and death; adult role acquisition). The study reveals the depth of the grandparent-emerging adult–grandchild relationship, which is a source not only of love, support, and companionship in their daily life, but also of worries about the future. This study also identifies some hitherto unexplored facets that demonstrate the complexity of this relationship as grandchildren become adults.

Grandparents childhood exposures and religious belief in their granddaughters: possible transgenerational associations

The prevalence of religious belief has fallen dramatically. A possible reason is that environmental exposures to previous generations are involved, e.g., evidence of an association between childhood exposures of grandparents and outcomes in their grandchildren including obesity, autistic traits, and survival have been reported. Generally, the associations between the grandparent’s exposure and grandchild’s outcome varied with sex of grandparent, his/her age at exposure and sex of the grandchild.Using data collected by the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) we investigate whether exposures such as smoking and/or traumatic events experienced by any of the grandparents are associated with the likelihood that their adult grandchildren have a religious belief. We show that the granddaughters (but not the grandsons) were more likely to have reported such a belief if one of their maternal grandparents had experienced traumatic events pre-puberty (age 6-11), or their paternal grandmother had experienced such events in adolescence. Conversely if their maternal grandfather had started smoking regularly during childhood or their paternal grandmother had smoked prenatally, the granddaughter was substantially less likely to be a believer. These associations were mutually independent and not explained by demographic factors. They may account for a small proportion of the fall in prevalence of religious belief over time, but the association needs confirming in other studies.

Received Affection and Caregiving in the Grandparent–Grandchild Relationship

Grounded in Affection Exchange Theory’s assumptions that affectionate communication fosters relational benefits and increases people’s likelihood of survival, this study sought to examine young adult grandchildren’s willingness to serve as their grandparents’ caregivers as a function of received affection from their grandparents. Young adult grandchildren ( N = 209) independently completed a questionnaire in reference to a specific, biological grandparent. The results of a multiple regression analysis revealed partial support for the hypothesized positive relationships between grandchildren’s received affection from their grandparents and the grandchildren’s willingness to care for their grandparents. These findings are indicative of both practical and theoretical implications.

Are perceptions of grandparenthood related to family and life satisfaction? A study with emerging adults

Given the crucial role that grandparents play in the upbringing and well-being of their grandchildren, research regarding the perceived importance of grandparents for their emerging adult grandchildren is of particular relevance. This study examined the relations between perceived grandparents’ roles and family and life satisfaction in Portuguese emerging adults. Participants (N = 387), aged 18–25, completed a structured self-report questionnaire. Findings of structural equation modeling showed that emerging adults’ perceptions of grandparental roles of counselor, enjoying the relationship, and indulgence are positively related to their family and life satisfaction. The mediation analysis showed that family satisfaction mediated the relation between perceptions of grandparents acting as counselors and the life satisfaction of emerging adult grandchildren. Implications of family relationships and grandparenting in the context of emerging adulthood are discussed.

Рre-war Personal Pensions for Relatives of Prominent Citizens

The article is devoted to the practice of awarding a personal pension on the occasion of the loss of a breadwinner to the relatives of people outstanding in the sphere of culture, science and revolutionary movement in the period of 1920–1930. The main sources for analysis include the pension documents kept in the State archive of the Russian Federation as well as the personal cases on the issue of granting pensions being in the process of consideration. In particularly, the archival documents revealed information concerning the pension provision of the relatives and inheritors of L. Tolstoy’s, F. Dostoevsky’s, N. Chernyshevsky’s, M. Glinka’s, and F. Dzerzhinsky’s. The documents in questions describe the difficulties they faced during the early decades of the Soviet period. A special emphasis in the applications is placed on health problems as personal pensions were granted only to disabled or elderly citizens. The author underlines that the number of relatives of outstanding people was more numerous than the one of ordinary people receiving personal pensions. It included not only minor children, brothers, sisters, spouse and parents, but adult grandchildren, nephews and nieces. It is noteworthy that the dependence of the applicants on the deceased breadwinners was not always proved. The results of the research indicate that awarding a personal pension for the loss of a breadwinner became one of the means to honor the memory of those who provided outstanding service to the Soviet Republic.

From Generation to Generation: The Role of Grandparents in the Intergenerational Transmission of (Non-)Voting

The literature on the reproduction of political participation across generations has focused almost exclusively on parental effects. Yet, other family members may plausibly play an important role as well. This study explores the role of grandparents in the intergenerational transmission of the propensity to vote. Grandparental effects are theorized in terms of both social learning and status transmission. The analysis takes advantage of a unique dataset that links official turnout data for grandparents, parents, and adult grandchildren with demographic and socioeconomic information from administrative sources. Even controlling for a variety of status-related characteristics, grandchildren are significantly less likely to vote when their grandparents are non-voters. The association between grandparental turnout and the turnout of their adult grandchildren is only partly explained by the mediating effect of parental turnout. Having non-voting grandparents appears to reinforce the effect of having parents who do not vote and may even offset the effects of having parents who are both voters. These results suggest that it is time to take the role of grandparents seriously if we want to understand how political disadvantage is transmitted across generations.

Social engagement technologies and their use among grandparents and adult grandchildren

The quality of close family relationships can affect the health and well-being of older adults. Further, research suggests that relationships between grandparents and adult grandchildren can have a positive impact on the lives of each generation, particularly regarding social and emotional support. Social engagement technologies may provide new opportunities for older adults to foster and maintain family relationships, including those between grandparents and adult grandchildren. The current cross-sectional study examined associations between the use of social engagement technologies and health and well-being outcomes in 177 younger adults (M = 26.67, SD = 7.83; 81.4% female) and 202 older adults (M = 71.09, SD = 8.17; 77.8% female). Social technology use was assessed through five mediums that are used to enhance social connectivity (e.g., e-mail, social network sites, online video or phone calls, instant messaging, and smartphones). Higher use of social engagement technologies was associated with better self-rated health, subjective well-being, and social support among younger and older adults. Interestingly, social technology use was associated with less depressive symptoms only for older adults (r=-.26, p<.05). There was, however, no correlation between social technology use and loneliness at the bivariate level. Of all five media, only smartphone use was correlated with more positive evaluations of the grandparent-grandchild relationship. After controlling for age, both grandparent-grandchild relationship quality and social technology use were associated with better self-rated health, subjective well-being, and social support for grandparents and adult grandchildren. Key messages Taken together, these findings indicate the need for a nuanced perspective on the benefits of social engagement technologies. More research is needed to explore the use case for social engagement technologies among older adults and their family members.