London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Two out of three (60%) grandparents in the UK see their grandchild or grandchildren every week and slightly more (64%) live no more than half an hour away. And most find their role highly satisfying even if it involves hard work and responsibility for childcare when parents need to work.

These are the findings of a new study, published today, and carried out by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine's Centre for Population Studies. The study was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council as part of its Growing Older Programme focusing on the quality of life of older people.

The findings dispel the myth of the elderly grandparent, with too much time on their hands and a propensity to interfere. Today's grandparents are likely to be young (a third of those studied were under 60), to be holding down a full-time job and to value having time to themselves.

Grandparents still play a vital role in the family. They provide support and advice where needed, yet are also aware that they have not asked to be grandparents and need to respect their children's wishes and not 'overstep the mark'. They also play a key role in the event of family breakdown, providing practical, emotional and sometimes financial support to families experiencing crisis and change. Some do feel pressured to take on more childcare responsibilities than they wish to, in particular where their daughter (or daughter-in-law) has to work. Most are prepared to help when needed but some are more adamant that they also want time for themselves.

The study also reveals that a grandparent's contact with his or her grandchildren has much to do with whether they were a son's, or a daughter's children. If they are a son's, the grandparents are likely to see less of them than if they are a daughter's. Step-children enjoy fewer visits from step-grandparents, while grandparents are more likely to visit younger grandchildren, with those over the age of 10 less likely to see their grandparents on a weekly basis.

Another interesting finding is that some grandfathers were likely to be particularly caring of grandchildren in the event of family break-up. One grandfather interviewed had taken on the role of father rather than see his granddaughter adopted.

'The Government's Green Paper, Supporting Families, which was published in 1998, took a simplistic and vague view of grandparents, simply advising that they could be useful in communities or to help in schools, and that social services should consider placing children with grandparents before placing them in care, but it said nothing positive or concrete about the role of grandparents in society.

'When we began our study, we were careful not to assume that grandparents were always going to be available to look after grandchildren, and offer support to their adult children', says Lynda Clarke, lead researcher. 'There are a lot of young grandparents around who are still working and who have a limit to the amount of free time they have available.

'Also, the effect of family change is having a marked impact on grandparents and numbers of grandchildren and family patterns. One in four grandparents we spoke to had experienced family breakdown in at least one of their sets of grandchildren and a fifth had one or more step-grandchildren, with this being particularly common in the under 70s'.

'Yet we found that despite the constraints on their time, most grandparents continue to feel a strong emotional closeness to their grandchildren, and many are eager to be involved in looking after their grandchildren. A third of the under 60s we interviewed were working, yet 18% of people in this group were providing childcare for their grandchildren three or more times a week.

'It is also clear that women are very much the social networkers, with daughters more likely to keep in touch than sons, and grandmothers also working to maintain contact. While grandfathers were found to be just as likely to see their grandchildren as grandmothers, this was only the case if they were living with their wife, the child's grandmother.

'In conclusion, we discovered that despite the fact that family networks are becoming less important in terms of social networks, grandparents are still the people families turn to in times of crisis, or when they need help'.

To interview Lynda Clarke, and to discuss the findings in further detail, please contact the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine's Press Office on 020 7927 2073/07941 294885 or contact Lynda Clarke on 0207 299 4614. lynda.Clarke@lshtm.ac.uk

To view the findings in full, please visit:
www.shef.ac.uk/uni/projects/gop/index.htm

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