title: Grandparents who parent their grandchildren: circumstances and decisions.
abstract: This research is based on in-depth interviews with 114 grandparents who responded to advertisements that appeared in the media, schools, and courts. Three major categories of grandparent roles emerged from the data: custodial, living with the grandchild, and day-care roles. At one end of the continuum of care, custodial grandparents often obtain that relationship because of severe problems in the nuclear family. At the other end, day-care grandparents provide regular help to the grandchild's nuclear family. The decision to provide care is often based on an "impulse to care," especially among custodial and living-with grandparents. Grandparents who provide regular day care to grandchildren generally have offered to do so.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056.
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Jendrek
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002668:Child Rearing; D005190:Family; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008875:Middle Aged; D009679:Nuclear Family; D016487:Parenting; D012380:Role; D014481:United States