RESEARCH PAPER 2
Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
There are various causes towards why grandparents end up having to raise their
grandchildren. This situation can occur under tragic or out of the blue circumstances such as,
teenage pregnancy, divorce, abuse, drug abuse, and even abandonment Grandparents that end up
raising their grandchildren can have both negative and positive effects on not only the
grandparents but the grandchildren as well.
There are many positive outcomes when it comes down to grandparents raising their
grandchildren. In the article Improving self-efficacy in grandparents raising grandchildren:
Results from a strengths-based education intervention. It covers the positive aspects that are
positively compelling to both the grandparents and grandchildren. It was found that almost 3
million grandparents are the parents guardians for their grandchildren and though many of the
grandparents are self-conscious about the parenting billets due to their age it was found that their
grandchildren benefit and are protected against trauma but can also evolve with resilience (Fox,
A. L., Riggs, N. R., Yancura, L., Sharp, J. L., and Fruhauf, C. A., 2023). When it comes to the
grandparents it has been learned that when they have self-efficacy and social support,
grandparents have more emotional well-being, encouragement, resilience, and confidence in
raising their grandchildren in society today. Grandparents that have the opportunity to raise their
grandchildren can positively influence by providing their grandchildren safety, stability, love,
belonging and permanence. These grandparents have already been parents, however when a
situation occurs, and they end up having to be the ones raising their grandchildren they have to
adapt to many changes and challenges that can come with it.
RESEARCH PAPER 3
Another positive outcome on grandparents raising grandchildren is found in the article
Positive Health Behavior Changes in Custodial Grandparents and Grandchildren Following an
Intervention. While many articles talk about the negative aspects this article talks about how one
of the negative aspects can be decreased and even eliminated. Grandparents that raise their
grandchildren show a huge decline in their health and a higher rate of depression compared to the
grandparents that don’t have to raise their grandchildren. This study showed that how an
intervention that focuses on self-care and life-skills can impact both grandparents and
grandchildren’s health and behavior positively. It has been found that due to the fact that
grandparents have already been a parent one already has confidence in their ability to raise a
child, show higher optimism and emotional stability, this then causes the grandparents to have a
sense of control to once again face the parenting challenges (Fruhauf, C. A., Mendoza, A. N.,
Fox, A. L., Greenwood-Junkermeier, H., Riggs, N. R., & Yancura, L. A. 2022). If the
grandparents have the resources and social support group, they end up helping themselves and
not just their grandchildren learning about self-care but also teaches the children positive
communication not only between family, but bonds that will be created throughout their lifespan.
This intervention shows efforts of focusing on both grandparents and grandchildren that learning
skill-building techniques, and group discussion along with reflection can help enhance both their
health and well-being when vulnerable. The study had also shown at the end that the
grandfamilies had showed a positive outcome in their physical, emotional, mental, and social
aspects of their lives. (Fruhauf, C. A., Mendoza, A. N., Fox, A. L., Greenwood-Junkermeier, H.,
Riggs, N. R., & Yancura, L. A. 2022).
RESEARCH PAPER 4
A negative outcome due to grandparents raising their grandchildren is that once the
grandchildren age into early adulthood, its found that the children had dealt its more stress then
normal due to feeling like a burden to their grandparents. The article How Grandparents Inform
Our Lives: A Mixed Methods Investigation of Intergenerational Influence on Young Adults, it
found that there is an increase in social and emotional stress, unfortunate mental and physical
mental health outcomes and feeling like a financial burden. Stephan, A. T. (2024), had found that
children that are raised by their grandparents do have a strong emotional bond with them,
however once the children age into adolescence, and then adulthood, they start making long
lasting bonds outside of their family, and start to find themselves more. Many adolescence or
young adults that were raised by their grandparents can start to drift apart due to beliefs and feel
that their own grandparents tend to overstep their boundaries in what they want to do with their
lives. Some grandparents have tried teaching their grandchildren what they have always done,
while the wife stays home and does the cleaning, cooking, and raising the children while the
husband is the one with a job bringing in the money, and many grandchildren especially young
women don’t want to do that, they want to go out and work for themselves, which can cause a
strain on their relationship with their grandparents. When it comes to the grandparents that raised
their grandchildren, the study shows that they have a lower well-being, but enjoyed being able to
grow a bond with their grandchildren throughout their lifespan. The study found that even if the
grandchildren had distanced their relationship with their grandparents as young adults, they still
showed a deep appreciation, understanding and respect for their grandparents taking them in and
shaping them into who they are, and taught them, emotional, and cognitive support. The
grandparents had a chance to teach their grandchildren family beliefs, values, social support, and
how to create long lasting relationships (Stephan, A. T., 2024).
RESEARCH PAPER 5
Another negative aspect is what the grandparents have to go through in order to raise
their grandchildren. The article Mental/Behavioral Health no Educational Outcomes of
Grandchildren Raised by Custodial Grandparents, found that these grandparents face various
barriers when having to find services that are necessary for their grandchildren such as legal
support, support groups, financial services, mental health services and many more (Xu, Y.,
Wang, Y., McCarthy, L. P., Harrison, T., & Doherty, H. 2022). Grandparents that are not able to
receive these services for their grandchildren put them as risk for a lower well-being, lower
quality of life, poor mental health and poor outcomes for their futures. The study had also found
that children that are raised by their grandparents have a higher risk of behavioral problems
including social and emotional skills, mental disorders, delayed development, substance abuse
and many more (Xu, Y., Wang, Y., McCarthy, L. P., Harrison, T., & Doherty, H. 2022).
Another negative aspect was the grandchildren educational outcome. Grandchildren raised by
their grandparents had a lower academic performance, which included low grades, not wanting
to attend, and needed special help to stay caught up with the other children. Another part of their
educational outcome is due to their grandparents. Grandparents had a different educational
experience, different ways of learning, absence of communication with teachers, and low
financial resources to help their grandchildren with school. While this article proves the outcome
of the grandchildren’s well-being with mental/behavioral health along with education the article
above, How Grandparents Inform Our Lives: A Mixed Methods Investigation of
Intergenerational Influence on Young Adults focuses on the children’s well-being being impacted
and continues to lower as they become a young adult affecting how they are able to grow into the
RESEARCH PAPER 6
world and how they can create lasting bonds outside their family, and how their beliefs can
possibly cause a rift between them and their grandparents.
One last negative aspect of grandparents raising grandchildren, is on how the
grandparents cope having to go through parenting again. In the article Stress, Coping, and
Quality of Life Among Custodial Grandparents not only focuses on their well-being and barriers
they may face in raising their grandchildren like the last two articles, however this article focuses
on the stress they go through and if grandparents are able to cope, while raising their grandchild
and taking care of themselves. This article found that many grandparents that don’t have a way to
get the resources they need for their grandchildren face the difficulties of economic insecurity,
isolation, a decline in their mental and physical health, and inadequate housing (Tang, F., Li, K.,
Rauktis, M. E., Farmer, E. M. Z., & McDaniel, S. 2023). Grandparents that are the caregivers for
their grandchildren show a higher rate of stress, which leads to depressive symptoms, and is a
higher rate then grandparents that are not caregivers for their grandchildren. There are millions
of grandparents raising their grandchildren in the world right now and many are at a
disadvantage due to financial strains, grandchildren’s behavior problems/ mental health, absence
of a social support group, marital conflict, and their own health if it’s declining (Tang, F., Li, K.,
Rauktis, M. E., Farmer, E. M. Z., & McDaniel, S. 2023). Many of these grandparents are under a
great deal of stress and have no way of getting the resources they need, many don’t know how to
cope with the fact that they are now parenting again, all of these factors can greatly affect the
grandparent's well-being negatively which in turn impacts the grandchildren’s well-being
negatively.
RESEARCH PAPER 7
There are multiple causes on why grandparents are raising their grandchildren. However,
these causes can lead to both negative and positive effects on not only the grandparents but the
grandchildren as well. The positive affects are only towards the grandchildren in these studies
and finds how they have a way to learn better self-care and life-skills and can learn
communication skills with not only their family but relationships outside the family all
throughout their lifespan. However, with every positive there is a negative, many of the articles
that spoke negatively about grandparents raising their grandchildren, found that while the
grandparents are being negatively affected due to the lack of getting the resources they need,
decline in health, stress and many other factors tend to negatively affect their grandchildren
throughout the childhood, into their adolescence, and even their adulthood.
RESEARCH PAPER 8
References:
Fox, A. L., Riggs, N. R., Yancura, L., Sharp, J. L., & Fruhauf, C. A. (2023).
Translating Discovery Science. Improving self‐efficacy in grandparents
raising grandchildren: Results from a strengths‐based education intervention.
Family Relations., 72(3), 966–975. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12695
Stephan, A. T. (2024). How Grandparents Inform Our Lives: A Mixed
Methods Investigation of Intergenerational Influence on Young
Adults. Journal of Adult Development., 31(1), 40–52.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-023-09446-7
Xu, Y., Wang, Y., McCarthy, L. P., Harrison, T., & Doherty, H. (2022).
Mental/behavioural health and educational outcomes of grandchildren raised by
custodial grandparents: A mixed methods systematic review. Health & Social
Care in the Community, 30(6), 2096-2127. https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.13876
Fruhauf, C. A., Mendoza, A. N., Fox, A. L., Greenwood-Junkermeier, H.,
Riggs, N. R., & Yancura, L. A. (2022). Positive health behavior changes in
custodial grandparents and grandchildren following an intervention.
RESEARCH PAPER 9
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health,
19(7), 4027. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19074027
Tang, F., Li, K., Rauktis, M. E., Farmer, E. M. Z., & McDaniel, S. (2023).
Stress, coping, and quality of life among custodial grandparents.
Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 66(3), 354-367.
https://doi.org/10.1080/01634372.2022.2103764
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