A profile of grandparents raising grandchildren in the United States.
This article examines the prevalence of grandparent caregiving in the U.S. and presents a national profile of grandparent caregivers based on current data from the national Survey of Families and Households. More than one in ten grandparents are found to have cared for a grandchild for at least 6 months, with most of these having engaged in a far longer-term commitment. Although custodial grandparenting cuts across gender, class, and ethnic lines, single women, African Americans, and low income persons are disproportionately represented. Multivariate logistic analysis indicates that three groups--women, recently bereaved parents, and African Americans--have approximately twice the odds of becoming caregiving grandparents. Implications for further research, policy, and practice are discussed.
Fuller-Thomson
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Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, Canada. esme@fsw.utoronto.ca
Minkler
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Driver
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D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers; D002648:Child; D002668:Child Rearing; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D016901:Intergenerational Relations; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016487:Parenting; D012923:Social Class