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Objective: We examine whether parental death differentially affects educational and occupational attainment by the socioeconomic status of the parent who dies and the socioeconomic status of the surviving parent and extended kin. Background: An extensive literature has explored the main effect of parental death on offspring attainment, but few studies have examined socioeconomic differentials in the impact of parental death. Understanding the potential role of socioeconomic resources in compensating for disadvantage is important for understanding whether parental death, and disadvantageous events more generally, have an equalizing or exacerbating effect on socioeconomic differences in offspring socioeconomic attainment. Method: Using Swedish population register data on cohorts born 1973—1982 we examine grade point average at age 16, the transition from lower to upper-secondary education, the transition to tertiary education, overall educational attainment, and occupational status by age 30. We match families using antemortem parental socioeconomic trajectories. We also employ sibling fixed effects models. Results: We observe inconsistent results in our between-family regression analyses adjusting for observables. In sibling fixed effects models, we see zero results for moderation by parents’ occupations. Conclusion: We find little clear or convincing evidence that there are socioeconomic differentials in the impact of parental death in Sweden.​ Implications: The Swedish welfare state may reduce socioeconomic differentials in the impact of parental death. However, the lack of socioeconomic variation may also be influenced by factors such as compensatory agency.

Educational attainment depends on parents' material and cultural resources. In many families, the grandparents also provide resources that directly or indirectly support their children's educational careers. That is why we applied a multigenerational view and tested if and under which conditions the resources of grandparents are relevant for the educational outcomes of their grandchildren. Using data from the fifth wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (N = 27,447), we examined the association between the education of children and the resources of their grandparents. The results show that the impact of grandparental resources is not generally negligible and not entirely mediated by the parental generation. The resources of the grandparents can be used as a substitute for a lack of parental resources. In addition, the “grandparent effect” also differs across countries, indicating that certain welfare state provisions seem to enhance or attenuate the relevance of grandparents' resources.

Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing survey linked to respondents' medical records (N=2,870), this study examines the association between grandparents' education and birth outcomes and explores potential pathways underlying this relationship. Results show that having a grandfather with less than a high school education was associated with a 93 gram reduction in birthweight, a 59% increase in the odds of low birthweight, and a 136% increase in the odds of a neonatal health condition, compared to having a grandfather with a high school education or more. These associations were partially accounted for by mother's educational attainment and marital status, as well as by prenatal history of depression, hypertension, and prenatal health behaviors, depending on the specific outcome. The findings from this study call for heightened attention to the multigenerational influences of educational attainment for infant health.

This study investigated the impact of the transition to grandparenthood on employees' psychological involvement in their job, attitude toward retirement, and retirement-related hopes and concerns, taking into account sex and lineage. The participants were 152 maternal and paternal grandparents who were assessed at 2 time points (approximately 2 months before and 3 months after the birth of their first grandchild) and 76 control participants who completed the same assessments with an interval of 6 months. Both grandmothers and grandfathers were less involved in their job and had more family-related hopes and fewer retirement-related concerns about health, finances, and dependence than control participants. The analyses also revealed lineage effects: Maternal grandparents were less psychologically involved in their job and had a more positive attitude toward retirement, in particular fewer fears of uselessness and loneliness, than paternal grandparents.

Families have become increasingly diverse and complex (Brown, Manning, & Stykes, 2015; Cherlin, 2010). This diversity and complexity have led to changes in how kinship, or family membership, is defined (Braithwaite et al., 2010). Traditional indicators of kinship, such as biological and legal ties, are still important, but family membership now is often socially constructed, defined by affective indicators (e.g., love, affection, close emotional ties) and instrumental connections (e.g., feelings of loyalty and obligation because of resources received). For diverse and complex families, kin membership is not always easily determined by outsiders and may even be a source of confusion and ambiguity for family members (Braithwaite et al., 2010; King, Boyd, & Thorsen, 2015).Issues surrounding family identity, belonging, and shared kinship are relevant in many types of complex families (e.g., adoptive, gay and lesbian, assisted reproductive technology), but they are critically important for stepfamilies because relational ties in stepfamilies may be quite convoluted. Stepfamilies often contain genetic kin (e.g., parents and children, half-siblings, grandparents and grandchildren), legal kin (e.g., husbands and wives, parents and children), and step-kin (stepparents and stepchildren, stepsiblings, stepgrandparents and stepgrandchildren). In stepfamilies, family identity and beliefs about shared kinship are related to the quality of relationships (Coleman, Ganong, Russell, & Frye, 2015; King et al., 2015; Suanet, van der Pas, & van Tilburg, 2013) and to individuals' well-being (Coleman et al., 2015). Understanding the processes by which stepfamily members create voluntary kin relationships and share family identity can help researchers better comprehend stepfamily dynamics as well as inform policymakers (Suanet et al., 2013) and practitioners (Burton & Hardaway, 2012). Understanding these processes in stepfamilies also may illuminate similar practices in other types of complex families.Stepfamilies are incompletely institutionalized; they must create and manage family boundaries without the benefit of clearly specified societal norms for family roles and behaviors (Cherlin, 1978). Roles and responsibilities must be defined and negotiated by stepfamily members themselves, which is a process that can be stressful if individuals disagree (Suanet et al., 2013). Many types of complex families are incompletely institutionalized, and these complex families may utilize similar strategies for creating and "doing family" and for making sense of their relationships. For instance, in families of color, the inclusion of "othermothers" and the roles taken by them are based on cultural norms and practices about families (e.g., kinscripts, gatekeeping by genetic kin, and an intention to make family boundaries flexible; Burton & Hardaway, 2012; Collins, 1995; Roy & Burton, 2007). We think it may be likely that similar processes are evident in the family identity practices of other types of diverse families, such as intergenerational stepfamilies. Many individuals who are part of marginalized families have voluntary or intentional kin (Braithwaite et al., 2010), and although there are likely to be differences in ethnicity, race, social class, and other cultural contexts in how these families function, researchers should also investigate the possibility of overlapping dynamics and strategies of how kin are defined in diverse types of complex families.INTERGENERATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS AND THE IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY IDENTITYThe purpose of this study was to explore how stepgrandchildren think and feel about relationships with stepgrandparents, particularly in regard to their perceptions of stepgrandparents as kin. Stepfamilies remain a sizable segment of families in the United States (Lewis & Kreider, 2015). About 40% of all U.S. marriages involve a partner who has been married previously, and nearly two thirds of those remarriages include minor children from former relationships (Stykes & Guzzo, 2015). …

Using data from the Year 9 Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N~3,182), we investigated the characteristics grandfamilies (grandparents raising their grandchildren with no parent present, N = 84) and compared them to other key groups, including children's nonresident parents and other economically disadvantaged families with children. Results show that grandparents raising their grandchildren were generally better off in terms of educational attainment, marital status, and economic well-being than the child's parents. Grandparents raising their grandchildren also had very similar characteristics to other disadvantaged mothers. Academic and socioemotional well-being was poorer among children in grandfamilies compared with those living with their mothers, but parenting practices were very similar. These findings suggest that although children in grandfamilies may be at a disadvantage academically and socioemotionally, grandparent caregivers are in many ways similar to other fragile-family mothers. Overall, this study enhances our knowledge of an important, yet understudied family type.

Demographic changes affect the time that individuals spend in different family roles. Mortality decline increases the time an individual can spend as a grandparent, but childlessness decreases the proportion of people who ever become grandparents, and fertility postponement delays when grandparenthood begins. This article examines changes in the length of grandparenthood at the population level and why it has changed in Canada over a 26-year period. Using the Sullivan method, years spent as a grandparent are estimated by sex for 1985 and 2011. Results show that grandparenthood is coming significantly later to Canadians, in small part due to increased childlessness and in large part to fertility postponement of respondents and their children. The average length of grandparenthood decreased among women from 24.7 to 24.3 years but increased among men from 17.0 to 18.9 years. The changing timing and length of grandparenthood have implications for multigenerational relationships and intergenerational transfers.

Twentieth-century family sociology has focused very much on the nuclear family and conjugal bonds (Bengtson, 2001; Segalen, 2010). Although there are notable exceptions (including Bengtson & Robertson, 1985, and Cherlin & Furstenberg, 1986), there has been much less research on grandparents. Attias-Donfut and Segalen (2007) argued that this emphasis is closely linked to the idea that raising children is the responsibility of the parents and that grandparents ought not to get involved too much.Grand parenthood has been receiving more attention in the literature in recent years (e.g., Arber & Timonen, 2012; Attias-Donfut & Segalen, 2007; Szinovacz, 1998). At least two social developments may be connected with this upturn of scientific interest. First, demographic changes of the past few decades have given more room to grandparent-grandchild relations. Greater longevity implies that more people now become a grandparent and often survive into the adult life span of their grandchildren. At the same time, lower fertility rates in subsequent generations translate into a lower ratio of grandchildren to grandparents and potential greater time and attention for each grandchild (Arber & Timonen, 2012; Szinovacz, 1998; Uhlenberg & Kirby, 1998). A second major development involves the widespread increase in divorce rates. The implication of divorce for grandparent-grandchild relationships is the focus of this study.Some scholars note that divorce may raise the risk of extended family ties being weakened, or even severed (Attias-Donfut & Segalen, 2007; Dykstra & Komter, 2012; Timonen, Doyle, & O'Dwyer, 2009), but others emphasize that the vulnerability of conjugal relations and nuclear families makes intergenerational family ties become ever more important to fulfill essential family functions. In this sense, the rise in divorce rates is expected to raise the involvement of grandparents in supporting and socializing grandchildren (Bengtson, 2001; Johnson, 1998; Thompson, 1999).Scientific evidence on the implications of a parental divorce for grandparent-grandchild relations is limited. The existing literature suggests that grandparents may be an important source of support for their grandchildren, particularly in times of a family crisis such as a parental divorce. They may provide practical and financial help as well as emotional stability (Bridges, Roe, Dunn, & O'Connor, 2007; Ferguson, 2004). In regard to children, some studies have shown that a close relationship with grandparents is associated with lower levels of psychological adjustment problems after parental divorce (Henderson, Hayslip, Sanders, & Louden, 2009; Lussier, Deater-Deckard, Dunn, & Davies, 2002). Conversely, for grandparents, disruption of contact with grandchildren has been found to have an adverse impact on emotional health (Doyle, O'Dywer, & Timonen, 2010; L. M. Drew & Silverstein, 2007).Exchange of support between grandparents and grandchildren is strongly conditioned by the frequency of face-to-face contact. Contact increases the likelihood of exchange of help in kind, not only because it reduces the costs of giving help but also because it makes the support provider aware of the recipient's needs (Dykstra & Fokkema, 2011). The existing studies have reported less frequent contact between grandparents and grandchildren following parental divorce. This is particularly the case for paternal grandparents, which is also the group most at risk for losing all contact (Creasey, 1993; L. A. Drew & Smith, 1999; Geurts, Poortman, van Tilburg, & Dykstra, 2009; Jaskowski & Dellasega, 1993; Kemp, 2007; Myers & Perrin, 1993; Oppelaar & Dykstra, 2004). For contacts with maternal grandparents, some studies have reported no impact of divorce (Cooney & Smith, 1996; Henderson et al., 2009), and Ehrenberg and Smith (2003) even found higher contact frequency between grandchildren and maternal grandmothers after divorce. …

Both emotional closeness and genetic relatedness are known to influence helping behavior between family generations, yet few studies have explored them together. The authors investigated the associations between (a) parenthood and perceived emotional closeness toward own parents and parents-in-law and (b) emotional closeness and receiving child care from grandparents across and within lineage lines. The data include information on the 8 dyads of possible parent–grandparent relations from a nationally representative survey of young adults in Finland (born 1962–1990, sample N = 1,216). The results show that parenthood was associated with women's emotional closeness to their own mothers and men's emotional closeness to their parents-in-law. Maternal grandmothers provided the most grandchild care. After controlling for emotional closeness, the difference in child care provision between one's own mother and one's mother-in-law disappeared for women but was accentuated in men. Thus, emotional closeness shapes intergenerational relations differently for kin and in-laws.

(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA; Pub. L. 104-193) in the United States was a major legislative reform whose main objective was to get low-income parents with children aged below 18 off welfare and into work. The reform replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and introduced the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). Major reform components included a combination of stricter work requirements, time limits on benefits, and increased child care funding.There is a general consensus in the literature that the reform helped decrease welfare caseloads and increased the labor supply of low-income mothers (Blank, 2002; Grogger & Karoly, 2005; Moffitt, 2002). The literature has, however, so far focused on mothers' behavior. If mothers are embedded within an intergenerational family network, other family members, such as the related grandmothers, may have also adjusted their behavior as an indirect consequence of the reform.The intergenerational family forms a natural informal support network, and there is evidence that intergenerational transfers of both time and money are still prevalent in the United States, especially among low-income families (Bianchi, Hotz, McGarry, & Seltzer, 2007; McGarrySSoldoH Minkler & Fuller-Thomson, 2001). In this study, I estimated the effects of the PRWORA reform on grandchild care, financial transfers, and labor supply of single grandmothers related to disadvantaged mothers. Whereas grandmothers with adult children were not directly eligible to receive TANF and CCDF benefits (i.e., based on the age of their own children), the reform may have influenced them through the transfers of time and money that they made to their potentially eligible adult daughters.I used data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS, http://hrsonline.isr.umich.edu/) for the analysis. The HRS comprises a biennial longitudinal data set starting from 1992 onward and has as its main respondents Americans born between 1931 and 1941, making them an ideal group for analysis because this age group tends to be a source of private support to their adult children (Cox & Raines, 1985; Gale & Scholz, 1994). The survey includes information on grandchild care and financial transfers as well as work status and demographics of respondents and their adult children.With increasing life expectancies and a rise in single parenthood, the opportunities for multigenerational family support have increased considerably over the past few decades (Baker, Silverstein, & Putney, 2008; Bengtson, 2001; Pilkauskas, 2012). Understanding how a welfare-to-work reform targeting mothers may have also affected the related grandmothers is important to shed light on the policy relevance of such family support networks. …

The authors examined whether the provision of child care helps older adults maintain better cognitive functioning. Descriptive evidence from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (n = 5,610 women and n = 4,760 men, ages 50–80) shows that intensively engaged grandparents have lower cognitive scores than the others. The authors show that this result is attributable to background characteristics and not to child care per se. Using an instrumental variable approach, they found that providing child care has a positive effect on 1 of the 4 cognitive tests considered: verbal fluency. For the other cognitive tests, no statistically significant effect was found. Given the same level of engagement, they found very similar results for grandmothers and grandfathers. These findings point to the inclusion of grandparenting among other cognitively stimulating social activities and the need to consider such benefits when discussing the implications of this important type of nonmonetary intergenerational transfer.

This study explored the involvement of grandparents in the care for young children and its effect on subsequent child births in dual-earner families, using data on 898 Dutch men and women aged 18–49 from the Netherlands' Kinship Panel Study. Three theoretical perspectives were used to develop hypotheses: (a) needs and opportunities, (b) normative preferences, and (c) gendered involvement of grandparents. The findings showed that needs and opportunities informed involvement of grandparents but that the availability of formal child care did not predict grandparents' involvement. Maternal grandparents were more likely to provide child care than paternal grandparents, and grandmothers were more likely to do so than grandfathers. Involvement of both maternal and paternal grandparents in turn increased the likelihood of additional child births. The authors conclude that grandparental child care may be part of an emerging reproductive strategy. Implications of these findings for the theoretical approaches used are discussed.

This investigation examined whether intergenerational exchanges of time and money resources between older parents and their adult sons in rural China were conditioned on sons' migration status. Data derived from 2001 and 2003 waves of a longitudinal study of 1,126 parents, aged 60 and older, living in rural areas of Anhui Province, China, and their 2,724 adult sons. Random-effects regression analysis showed that marginal financial returns to parents of providing grandchild care services and financial assistance were greater from migrant sons than from nonmigrant sons. We explain these results in terms of strategic investments in the earning potential of migrant sons and the bargaining power wielded by grandparents who care for dependent children of migrants.

In settings highly affected by HIV/AIDS, households headed by children may result from strained family relations, poverty, and stigma associated with the disease. Understanding local systems and dynamics of support is essential to planning comprehensive models of care. This study measured size and composition of the support and conflict networks of 27 children and youth heads of household in northern Namibia and documented their perceptions of adequacy. Results showed a strong presence of and satisfaction with kin and peers as supporters, which challenges the assumptions that these households have few functional ties to family and that adults are the sole providers of support. Assistance to children without parental supervision should build on existing local strategies and children's resources. Key Words: adolescence, African families, AIDS, children, family relations, social networks. In sub-Saharan Africa, extended families currently care for most orphans (Ansah-Koi, 2006; Arnab & Serumaga-Zake, 2006; Monasch & Boerma, 2004). Nonetheless, HIV/AIDS, urbanization, armed conflict, and widespread poverty often make families unwilling or unable to foster or provide appropriate care (Freeman & Nkomo, 2006; Hamra, Ross, Karuri, Orrs, & D'Agostino, 2005; Townsend & Dawes, 2007). In fact, with escalating adult mortality and orphans rates, the HIV/AIDS epidemic may be disrupting the family's capacity to care in unprecedented ways (Ankrah, 1993). For instance, double-orphan and skip-generation households or households headed by grandparents seem more frequent in contexts where the epidemic is severe (Zimmer, 2009). The emergence of child-only households, households headed by culturally "inappropriate" caregivers (e.g., matrilineal kin in patrilineal societies), and property grabbing by relatives after parental death also reflect the strain of the extended-family system (Foster & Williamson, 2000; Germann, 2006; Oleke, Blystad, & Rekdal, 2005). Whereas some argue that the family system is disintegrating in Africa, other authors believe in the resilience of the informal systems of care and contend that new patterns of social relations "with broad adaptive capacities" emerge in times of difficulty (Chirwa, 2002, p. 93; see also Abebe & Aase, 2007). This study explored the composition and dynamics of the social networks of youth-headed households in Namibia to illuminate this debate and to inform the development of appropriate interventions that build on already functioning ties and avoid sources of conflict. Historically, the extended family has played a key role in the care and social integration of orphans and other children in sub-Saharan Africa (Nyambedha, 2004). Child fostering, very common among Black families, was a survival strategy in times of adversity (Goody, 1982; Madhavan, 2004). Researchers have studied the changes in African families that followed specific crises. In northern Namibia, for instance, the 1 952 - 1 954 famine and the migrant labor system strained social relations and accelerated the redefinition of marital obligations (McKittrick, 1997). During apartheid and the Namibian War of Liberation (1968- 1988), forced separation of families resulted from labor migration, exile, and relocation by military forces (Frayne & Pendleton, 2001; Simon, 1996). Lack of access to food, sanitation, education, and medical care render children vulnerable, particularly in the absence of parental care (Funkquist, Eriksson, & Muula, 2007; Skinner et al., 2006). In assessing the capacity of families in sub-Saharan Africa to care for orphan children, however, research has shown the need to differentiate multiple dimensions of care, of which the provision of material resources is only one (Abebe & Aase, 2007). Advice, companionship, and emotional support oftentimes are the only resources available in contexts of widespread poverty. In addition, a growing body of literature shows that orphaned children experience poorer psychological outcomes than do nonorphans and that children orphaned by AIDS are more likely to report peer relationship problems (Atwine, Cantor-Graae, & Bajunirwe, 2005; Bhargava, 2005; Cluver, Gardner, & Operario, 2007). …

One third of all children in the United States have a nonresident parent. On the basis of 13,085 children with a nonresident parent drawn from the 1997 National Survey of America's Families, this study examines nonresident mothers' and fathers' involvement (visitation and child support) with children who reside in different household types: single-parent families, married and cohabiting stepfamilies, and families headed by grandparents, other relatives, or nonrelatives. The relationship between children's living arrangements and nonresident parent involvement is complex and depends on both the gender of the nonresident parent and the type of involvement. Because nonresident parent involvement is low regardless of household type, policies and programs designed to increase involvement should include children in a variety of family forms.

Guided by the Common Ingroup Identity Model (S. L. Gaertner & J. F. Dovidio, 2000) and Communication Accommodation Theory (C. Shepard, H. Giles, & B. A. LePoire, 2001), we examined the role of identity accommodation, supportive communication, and self-disclosure in predicting relational satisfaction, shared family identity, and group salience in multiracial/ethnic families. Additionally, we analyzed the association between group salience and relational outcomes as well as the moderating roles of multiracial/ethnic identity and marital status. Individuals who have parents from different racial/ethnic groups were invited to complete questionnaires on their family experiences. Participants (N = 139) answered questions about relationships with mothers, fathers, and grandparents. The results of the multilevel modeling analyses are discussed in terms of implications for understanding multiracial/ethnic families and family functioning. Key Words: communication, family processes, interracial/ ethnic, multilevel modeling, race/ethnicity. Research on interracial/ethnic contact has traditionally focused on group-based conflict or contact, or both, between strangers of different racial/ethnic groups (Brown & Hewstone, 2005). Recent scholarship focuses on more personal contact such as that which takes place within friendships (e.g., Diggs & Clark, 2002) and romantic relationships (e.g., Foeman & Nance, 2002). Given the increasing prevalence of interracial/ethnic families, scholars should focus on understanding family functioning and communication in these relationships (Orbe, 1999) as interactions in multiracial/ethnic families may be affected by the macrosocietal influences of the differing racial/ethnic identities. This can create unique circumstances for individuals and the family as a whole. Thus, guided by intergroup theorizing, the current study addresses this need by investigating family communication, identity concerns, and relational outcomes from the perspective of the multiracial/ethnic individuals. In 1967, the U.S Supreme Court's decision in Loving v. Virginia put an end to stateconstituted bans on interracial marriages. Since this court decision, there has been a steady increase in interracial/ethnic marriages. According to the latest U.S. Census, 7.4% of marriages are composed of individuals from different ethnic/racial backgrounds and, throughout the literature, estimates range that 5% to 10% of families are made up of individuals with different racial/ethnic backgrounds. The number of popular press books, websites, and the like serve as further evidence of the increase in this family form. Scholars are devoting more attention to learning about individuals' experiences as members of multiracial/ethnic families (e.g., Root, 2003) including the identity and experience of multiracial/ethnic children. Specifically, multiracial/ethnic individuals and their familial experiences ' 'challenge received notions of family, community, and identity" (Wallace, 2004, p. 196). As the idea of multiracial/ethnic identity receives more scholarly attention (Phinney, 2000), researchers recognize the multidimensional aspect of identity for these individuals. For instance, more recent theorizing (e.g., Rockquemore & Brunsma, 2002; Root, 2003) extends multiracial/ethnic identity "options" from traditional dichotomous (monoracial/ethnic vs. biracial/multiethnic) views to more diverse identity "choices" (e.g., ^protean identity in which individuals embrace a racial/ethnic identity depending on the context and goals of an interaction). Whereas these experiences can lead to greater appreciation of multiculturalism resulting in less favoritism of one's racial/ethnic group and discrimination of others, individuals' experiences may also negatively affect their overall wellbeing (Vivero & Jenkins, 1999). Specifically, when monoracial/ethnic identity is the norm, individuals may struggle with selecting a particular group with which to identify, establishing the authenticity of the identity, and experiencing marginal ization through their group membership (Root, 1996). …

Cross-sectional and repeated surveys from household components of Demographic and Health Surveys in sub-Saharan Africa were examined to determine whether household composition indicators for older adults (N = 52, 573), involving offspring and grandchildren, correlated with national levels of AIDS mortality. One in 4 was living with a grandchild whose own parents were absent. Absence was a result of residence elsewhere and parents being deceased. Older adults in countries with a high accumulation of AIDS mortality were more likely to live in a skip-generation household and with a double-orphaned grandchild and less likely to live in a 3-generation household. Change in living arrangements toward skip generation and a double orphaned household was experienced in countries with high accumulation of AIDS mortality. Key Words: African families, aging, AIDS, cross-national, intergenerational relations, living arrangements. Harsh living conditions, including poverty, a severe AIDS epidemic, and high rates of communicable and infectious causes of mortality such as malaria and tuberculosis, characterize much of sub-Saharan Africa. Because of limited research on elders, defined currently as those 60 and older, the impact of these conditions on household composition of older people is unclear. Yet, household composition of elders is considered by many an indicator of their well-being, in large part because of physical, material, and social support that can be garnered through co-residence (Aboderin, 2006; Adamchak, Wilson, Nyanguru, & Hampson, 1991; Albert & Cattell, 1994; Cattell, 1990; Cliggett, 200 1 ; Cowgill, 1 986; Devisch, Makoni, & Stroeken, 2002; Schatz, 2007; United Nations, 2005). Past research has indicated that the skip-generation household, in which older grandparents live with grandchildren whose own parents are absent, is common in the region and may be considered a normative part of family life (Madhavan & Schatz, 2007; Zimmer & Dayton, 2005). One reason for a skip-generation household is migration for work among younger adults who leave own children behind to be fostered by grandparents (Isiugo-Abanihe, 2002). Therefore, it is common to find households that consist of one or more elders and one or more grandchildren, with the grandchildren's own parents living elsewhere. But, a widening of the HIV/AIDS epidemic may be increasing proportions of skip- generation households and leaving older adults with obligations of raising grandchildren. The current study examines this and other household compositions that relate to older adults living with own offspring and grandchildren across countries with heterogeneity in levels of AIDS mortality. Although causality is difficult to assert, observing associations can implicate the epidemic and provide a base from which to examine the impact of HIV/ AIDS on the living conditions of older adults in the region. The first sign of an HIV/AIDS epidemic, defined as a rapidly expanding and widely prevalent infection, was detected in the 1970s in middle Africa (Lamptey, Johnson, & Khan, 2006; UNAIDS/WHO, 2003). The virus began to spread west and to eastern parts of the continent in the 1980s. By the early 1990s prevalence rates were highest in middle and eastern countries such as Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia. By that time, the epidemic had also begun a virulent move into southern reaches of the continent, and by the late 1990s prevalence rates (defined as the percent aged 15 to 49 with the HIV virus) had increased to over 20% in some southern countries. Today, the epidemic is by far most severe in the south. Being transmitted mostly through sexual activity, the virus has always been concentrated in the young to middle adult aged population, who are of the age where they would have both their own offspring and living grandparents. There is also about a one in three chance of a child contracting the virus in utero. Today, 30 to 40 million people worldwide are living with HIV, about 30 million have died of AIDS, and there are about 5 million new infections per year, but by far the hardest hit region is sub-Saharan Africa, which experiences two thirds of new infections globally and the bulk of AIDS deaths (Lamptey et al. …

This study draws data from the Family Life Project to examine parenting behaviors observed for 105 mothers and grandmothers raising an infant in rural low-income multigenerational households. Multilevel models are used to examine the relationships between maternal age and psychological distress and parenting of the infant by both generations. The findings indicate that young maternal age is a risk factor for less sensitive parenting in the presence of other risks, including psychological distress. Further, young maternal age is associated with negative parenting behaviors by grandmothers only. Grandmothers and mothers displayed similar levels of negative intrusive parenting, but different factors were linked to the observed parenting of each generation. These findings contribute to understanding the benefits and risks of three-generation households.

Today, many families find that they are unable to fulfill the goal of maintaining a household by living together under the same roof. Some members migrate internationally. This article addresses the consequences of a transnational lifestyle for children who are left behind by migrant parents. Using ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with a total of 141 members of Mexican transnational families, I explore how children who are left behind react to parents' migrations. I focus on how Mexican children manifest the competing pressures they feel surrounding parents' migrations and consequently shape family migration patterns. The article shows that children may experience power, albeit in different ways at different ages, while simultaneously being disadvantaged as dependents and in terms of their families' socioeconomic status. Key Words: children, family, Mexico, parent-child relations, transnationalism. Today, many families find that they are not able to fulfill the common goal of maintaining a household by living together under the same roof. By diversifying the residence of family members, families are able to take advantage of the disparities in the world economy. Able-bodied sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, mothers, and fathers move to areas where they can earn more for their human labor, whereas other family members remain in areas where the cost of living is low. Families move transnationally (Bryceson & Vuorela, 2002; Schmalzbauer, 2004). Although the international separation of families is not a new phenomenon (Foner, 2000; Nakano Glenn, 1983; Thomas & Znaniecki, 1927), one type of transnational family, mat in which mothers leave their children behind to work abroad, is increasingly common causing a plethora of new research focusing on the fives of these transnational families (Dreby, 2006; Hirsch, 2003; Hondagneu-Sotelo & Avila, 1997; Salazar Parrenas, 2005). This article addresses some of the consequences of the transnational lifestyle for children who are left behind by migrant parents. Using ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with a total of 141 members of Mexican transnational families, I explore how children who are left behind react to their parents' migrations. The overall study is based on interviews with migrant mothers and fathers residing in Central New Jersey, and children and their caregivers, most often grandparents, residing in the Mixtec region of south central Mexico. It analyzes the ways that members of transnational families accommodate changes in each other's lives over time. Here, I focus on how children who are left behind manifest the competing pressures they feel surrounding their parents' migrations and consequently shape families' migration patterns. Background Over the past 20 years, an emerging area of research on childhood has focused on understanding children as autonomous actors creating their own social worlds as distinct from and in dynamic relationship to those of the adults in their lives (Corsaro, 1997; Wrigley & Dreby, 2005). According to Qvortrup (1999), the new sociology of childhood has been relatively divorced from traditional, structural approaches to understanding children's fives, which emphasize the economic and political inequalities children experience in different societies. Primarily, ethnographic studies of children's social worlds have not been successful in describing how children's power, or lack of power, in their families and in other institutions relates to their families' relative position in the society in which they live (Wrigley & Dreby). In this article, I consider the power of children left behind in transnational families in relation to their families' social position as transnational migrants. I explore how children in Mexican transnational families are, on the one hand, the least powerful actors within their families, but on the other hand, very influential, both as intended recipients of the benefits their families gamer via international migration and as independent agents with divergent needs that are intensified by the separation from parents. …

This article examines whether children living with single mothers benefit when they also live with a grandparent, using data from the 1979 to 2002 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth merged mother-child file (N = 6,501). Results indicate that for White children, living with a single mother and a grandparent is associated with increased cognitive stimulation and higher reading recognition scores, compared to living with a single mother alone. For Black children, grandparent coresidence is associated with less cognitive stimulation. Thus, in some instances, living with a grandparent can benefit children, but the pattern of results differs by race. Key Words: children, family structure, grandparents, race, single parent. Considerable policy and research attention has examined the role of marriage in the lives of adults and children. In particular, policy activity associated with welfare reform has been influenced by research evidence (McLanahan & Sandefur, 1994; Waite & Gallagher, 2000), executive priorities, and popular opinion that a married family setting benefits children and the families in which they live, and that living with a single parent is harmful for children. All single-parent households are not alike, however. In particular, 13% of children living with a single parent also have a grandparent in the household (U.S. Census Bureau, 2005). It is currently not known whether living with a grandparent benefits these children, and whether such children fare as well as those living with married parents or whether they are more similar to children of single mothers living alone. The goal of this study is to examine these issues, focusing on the development of children living with a single mother and a grandparent. Understanding the role of grandparents in single-mother families is important at a time when federal expenditures on programs designed to promote marriage are on the rise (Dion, 2005). Such programs are based on the assumption that living with two married parents is better for children than living with a single mother. The results from this study will allow us to understand whether this assumption holds for the substantial subgroup of children who live with a single mother and a grandparent, thereby informing policy activity in this area. Using data from the 1979 to 2002 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) merged mother-child file, we examine children living in three-generation households and evaluate differences in outcomes between these children and those living with a single mother alone, and those living with married parents, using lifetime measures capturing the total number of years a child has lived in various family structures. All analyses are performed separately by race and also address issues of potential bias from omitted variables. To measure child functioning, we focus on three measures of children's cognitive achievement, as well as a measure of the amount of cognitive stimulation provided in the home. We examine test scores because they are relatively objective; specifically, each child is administered an identical assessment, and differences across children are attributable solely to the child's ability to complete the assessment. In contrast, measures such as behavior problems rely on maternal reports and therefore could be influenced by mothers' emotional well-being, parenting styles, or other factors that may also be related to children's living arrangements. Additionally, test scores provide an important measure of child development that is closely linked to future educational and eventual occupational success. We include in our analysis the measure of cognitive stimulation in order to examine if the provision of cognitive stimulation in the home differs across family living arrangements, and whether it accounts for any associations between family structure and children's test scores. Other research has noted that grandparent residence may result in less positive parenting (e. …

As scholars engaged in the sociological study of families, we generally rely on the method of comparison as we explore how such critical variables as social class, race and ethnicity, marital status, age, and geographical location shape the manner in which individuals manage the everyday problems of making a living and constructing intimate life. Perhaps inevitably, in drawing these comparisons, we treat our subjects as if they are permanent residents of the category in which we find them at the moment of examination even though we know full well that membership in many of these categories (though clearly not all of them) is transitory. The Social Economy of Single Motherhood: Raising Children in Rural America (Nelson, 2005), the broader project from which "Single Mothers 'Do' Family" emerged, is no exception. In a study designed to examine how single mothers gather the resources necessary to sustain themselves and their children, I treated a particularly transient group as representatives of the "official" marital status in which they were located for the purpose of data collection and analysis. In "Single Mothers 'Do' Family," however, I highlight instability by turning the spotlight to moments of transition in status to explore how these single mothers define themselves as the "mother-in-charge" and draw boundaries of both exclusion and inclusion in the process of constructing and reconstructing their new families. As refracted through the lenses of the very different interests and perspectives of the four commentators, four new sets of related questions emerged about the consequences of just this instability and these transitions. These questions appropriately probe issues related to multigenerational families, "missing" men, the structure of "recombinant" families, and the perspective of actors other than single mothers themselves. Though most of these questions were-quite clearly-not the focus of my analysis, I speculate happily about them. Other scholars will, I hope, explore the full range and depth of these questions as well as others raised in the comments. In these explorations the "doing" perspective outlined in "Single Mothers 1Do' Family"-a perspective that examines the processes that emerge as people enact family life within both structural and ideological constraints-can illuminate the patterns that quantitative studies reveal. MULTIGENERATIONAL FAMILIES IN PERSPECTIVE The commentators raise challenging questions about the frequency and cause of multigenerational families and about the experience of the "middle" generation within them. The Turn to Maternal Grandparents Bianchi's (2006, p. 813) query, "why are ties along the maternal line so strong, especially in times of crisis," flirts with biological and evolutionary theory and raises the issue of the incompatibility of those perspectives with my own in "Single Mothers 'Do' Family." Because the social constructionist perspective from which the "doing" concept emerges is always conscious of the role of actors in creating social life, it acknowledges the possibility of variation. Of course, it simultaneously acknowledges limits to that variation: Although theoretically we can "do" any kind of family we imagine, in actuality our accomplishments and even our imaginations are constrained both by material conditions and by the need to be accountable. Hence, rather than infinite variety, we find patterns of family life and variations of those patterns both within and across social groups. These patterned variations challenge more determinist perspectives. With respect to the patterned variation in the degree to which individuals turn to the maternal Une at moments of crisis, we find a sharp difference between the United States and other countries (Harper, 2004). In the United States, 11% of single mothers live with their parents (Acs & Nelson, 2001) and 13% of the children of single mothers also reside with a grandparent, 10% in the grandparent's home and another 3% in their own mother's home (Fields, 2004). …

Ever since Carol Stack's influential study of low-income African American families in "The Flats" was published in 1974, the ethnographic literature on single mothers has focused on alliance and reciprocity: the ways in which single mothers build supportive linkages and maintain them (Stack, 1974). Stack conducted her study before West and Zimmerman (1987) made "doing" the favorite metaphor of sociologists of gender and family, but there is no doubt that she was describing how single mothers "do" family. Researchers have studied how common these networks are, the conditions under which they form, and the barriers to forming them. These questions all assume that single mothers seek to extend their networks by exchanging goods and services whenever possible. Margaret K. Nelson's thought-provoking and well-written article demonstrates, however, that creating ties also involves creating boundaries. In other words, the networks of single mothers are not seamless, free-flowing arrangements in which roles are interchangeable but rather partnerships with limits and tensions, at least among rural Whites. This may seem like an unremarkable statement once it is made, but it suggests a perspective that few sociologists have taken. Perhaps because the needs of many single mothers and their children are so great, sociologists have focused on how mothers solve the social problem of meeting those needs. Indeed, much of Nelson's (2005) book-length treatment of her Vermont ethnography addresses this problem. That the solutions may have their own problems has not been much remarked upon. The exception may be Stack herself, who described how participation in a sharing network made it difficult for mothers to amass enough resources-such as enough money for a security deposit or a second-hand car-to leave the network and set out on their own or with new partners. THE NORM OF NONINTERFERENCE But the idea of tension between mothers and grandmothers over issues of discipline and control-over who has the authority to say "no" to children-was absent in Stack's book and most of the ensuing literature. I wonder if that may be because much of that literature, including Stack's work, focused on African American families, whose ideas about who gets to say no may differ from European-American families. When Frank Furstenberg and I conducted a study of American grandparents in the 1980s, we found that Black grandparents were routinely assumed to have authority over their grandchildren in ways most White grandparents did not (Cherlin & Furstenberg, 1992). White grandparents and their adult children subscribed to what we called the "norm of noninterference." Over and over, White grandparents told us that they were loath to "interfere" with how their children were raising their grandchildren. One grandmother said: Quite often it is said that the mother and the father would still be together if the mother-in-law had not interfered. So I feel that situations between a mother and a father are very, very touchy situations. I feel that the mother-in-law has to be very careful, very tactful, how she gets in the picture, if she gets in the picture at all. I feel that unless it's ... a problem developing into a situation where the daughter or the granddaughter's life may be at stake, or something detrimental might be done to them, I think if possible the grandparent should stay out of it. (Cherlin & Furstenberg, 1992, p. 57) For these grandparents, a boundary around parental authority clearly existed, and the worst thing they could do was to cross it. Instead of playing the role of authority figures, White grandparents talked enthusiastically of being loving companions. They had raised their children, paid their dues, and now, they said, it was time to enjoy their grandchildren while leaving their upbringing to the parents. But this boundary was, if not absent, then at the least more permeable for Black grandparents, who rarely voiced fears of "interfering. …

Despite the dramatic increase in incarcerated mothers that has occurred in the past decades, there is a paucity of family research focusing on the children affected by maternal imprisonment. The present study investigated family environments and intellectual outcomes in 60 children between the ages of 2 and 7 years during their mothers' incarceration. Multiple methods were used to collect data from children, mothers, and children's nonmaternal caregivers. Results indicated that most children experienced multiple risks across contextual levels. Cumulative caregiver sociodemographic risks predicted children's cognitive abilities, although quality of the home and family environment mediated this relation. Results underscore the importance of children's family environments and highlight the need for increased monitoring, service delivery, and longitudinal research with children of incarcerated mothers and their families. Key Words: children, family, incarceration, intellectual, poverty, risk. The number of incarcerated mothers has increased dramatically in the past three decades (Harrison & Beck, 2005; Mumola, 2000). Estimates indicate that more than 1.3 million children in the United States have mothers who are in jail, prison, or on parole, and most affected children are less than 10 years old (Mumola). Although several studies have documented negative behaviors and emotional reactions, poor school performance, and stressful life events in older children following parental imprisonment (Hagen & Myers, 2003; Hale, 1988; Jorgensen, Hernandez, & Warren, 1986; Thompson & Harm, 1995), few studies have relied on direct assessment of children of incarcerated parents or their family environments (Gabel & Johnston, 1995). The present study investigated quality of the home and family environment provided to young children during maternal incarceration and its relation to children's intellectual outcomes. Although nearly 90% of children remain with their mothers when fathers go to prison, grandparents usually care for children when mothers are incarcerated (Johnson & Waldfogel, 2002; Snell, 1994). A burgeoning literature has documented risks to grandparents raising their grandchildren, including poverty, single parenting, health problems, and depression (e.g., Poehlmann, 2003). Little is known, however, about how caregiver risks relate to the quality of family environments provided for children or about children's outcomes. Transactional developmental theory (Sameroff & Fiese, 1990, 2000) and a growing body of research conducted with children and adolescents not affected by parental incarceration indicate that multiple environmental risks increase a child's likelihood of developing problematic outcomes (Burchinal, Roberts, Hooper, & Zeisel, 2000; Evans, 2003; Gerard & Buehler, 2004; Sameroff, Seifer, Baldwin, & Baldwin, 1993). In their comparison of various cumulative risk models in predicting children's cognitive development, Burchinal et al. recommend using a risk index approach (the sum of binary coded risks such as large household, single-parent household, caregiver with less than high school education) when assessing a large number of risks with a relatively small sample, such as that described here. Research with children not affected by parental incarceration has found that stimulating, safe, and responsive family environments foster children's cognitive and language development, including that of children at risk for developmental problems, whereas low-quality environments contribute to negative outcomes (e.g., Bradley et al., 1989; Bradley, Corwyn, Burchinal, McAdoo, & Garcia Coll, 2001; Bradley & Whiteside-Mansell, 1998; Burchinal, Campbell, Bryant, Wasik, & Ramey, 1997). Indeed, Linver, Brooks-Gunn, and Kohen (2002) found that quality of the parental home environment accounted for (or partially mediated) the relation between poverty and cognitive outcomes for high-risk infants. …

We used data from the study of Marital Instability Over the Life Course to examine links between divorce in the grandparent generation and outcomes in the grandchild generation (N= 691). Divorce in the first (G1) generation was associated with lower education, more marital discord, weaker ties with mothers, and weaker ties with fathers in the third (G3) generation. These associations were mediated by family characteristics in the middle (G2) generation, including lower education, more marital discord, more divorce, and greater tension in early parent-child relationships. In supplementary analyses, we found no evidence that the estimated effects of divorce differed by offspring gender or became weaker over time. Our results suggest that divorce has consequences for subsequent generations, including individuals who were not yet born at the time of the original divorce.

Routine child care by grandparents was examined for 1,229 children who were participants in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care. Four groups were identified: extended full-time care, extended part-time care, sporadic care, and no routine care during the first three years. The odds of sporadic child care by grandparents were higher when mothers were relatively young and worked nonstandard hours. The odds of extended full-time grandparent care versus extended part-time grandparent care were higher for mothers of color and mothers with more extensive full-time employment. All types of grandparent care were more likely when a grandparent lived in the household. These findings suggest that grandparent care is heterogeneous and may occur in response to different family circumstances. Key Words: child care, child-care selection, grandparents, maternal employment. In the United States, 63% of children under the age of 5 years receive nonmaternal child care on a routine basis (Smith, 2002). Researchers have typically focused on two types of child care: in centers and in child-care homes (cf. Lamb, 1998). Informal care settings have received much less attention, even though substantial numbers of children are cared for in these settings (Smith, 2002). In his comprehensive review of child-care research, Lamb (1998) called for an expanded research agenda that investigates informal arrangements. This research is needed because the development of policies to support working families necessitates understanding which families use informal care and for what reasons (Kuhlthau & Mason, 1996; Presser, 1999). Additional research also is needed to identify meaningful variations in informal care arrangements because it is unlikely that these settings are homogeneous. The goal of the current study is to examine variations in one type of informal child care-care provided by grandparents, or "grandparent care." Interestingly, several widely used child-care surveys such as the National Child Care Survey, the National Household Education Survey, and the National Survey of American Families, provide only indirect evidence about grandparent care. In these surveys, grandparents are subsumed under the broader category of relative care. Other surveys, however, have specifically considered care that is provided by grandparents. In a substudy of the National Child Care Survey that focused on low-income families, Brayfield, Deich, and Hofferth (1993) reported that grandparents provided routine child care for 29% of children who were under the age of 5 years. A recent report from the 1997 Survey of Income and Program Participation (Smith, 2002) indicated that grandparents were the single most common form of nonmaternal care for children under the age of 5 years, with 21% of the children reported to be cared for by grandparents during the previous month. An important issue is the identification of the factors that are associated with grandparents providing routine child care. An elucidation of these factors can help to understand the conditions under which grandparent care is used. Is it more likely when families have limited financial resources or when other types of arrangements are not available? Is grandparent care used because it is convenient or because it is consistent with cultural values, or both? The available research suggests that the routine grandparent care is related to a number of maternal and family factors. There are indications that grandparent care is more likely when families have lower incomes (Crispell, 1994; Kuhlthau & Mason, 1996; Smith, 2002); and when mothers work nonstandard hours (Presser, 1989), are younger (Baydar & Brooks-Gunn, 1998; Jayakody, Chatters, & Taylor, 1993; Presser), are less educated (Folk, 1994), and are single parents (Brayfield et al., 1993; Folk; Presser; Smith). Grandparent care also is more common when grandparents reside in the household (Baydar & Brooks-Gunn). …

Family relationships do not occur in isolation but rather are embedded within greater systems of family ties. In recognition of the need to study families holistically, we explore how relations between grandparents and grandchildren are contingent upon a matrix of intergenerational relationships. Using data from the Iowa Youth and Families Project, our analyses focus on person-centered types of grandparent-grandchild relationships and the legacy of social ties across the generations, as mediated by other family relationships. We find multiple dimensions of grandparents' involvement with their grandchildren to be associated with (a) whether the grandparents knew their own grandparents when they were young, (b) the grandparent's perceptions of contact and closeness with the target grandchild, and (c) nuances in the relationships of grandparents with the parent generation.

This study assesses the implications of divorce in the grandparent generation for grandparent-- grandchild relationships. The sample of 538 grandparents comes from the Iowa Youth and Families Project. Results indicate that many aspects of grandparenting are negatively associated with ever experiencing a divorce. Some of the negative effects of divorce are explained by ever-divorced grandparents' greater geographic distance from, and weaker bonds to, their adult children. Negative effects of divorce are stronger for grandfathers and paternal grandparents. Furthermore, a good grandparent-parent relationship can compensate for the negative effects of a grandparent's divorce on relations with grandchildren. Implications of these findings are discussed in the context of the increasing percentage of individuals moving into the later years who have experienced a divorce. Key Words: divorce, grandchildren, grandparents, intergenerational relations, life course. A grandparent's divorce is likely to have repercussions throughout the family system, affecting children, grandchildren, and other relatives, and prompting changes in family roles. Understanding the significance of divorce for grandparent-grandchild relations is imperative given the vital role grandparents play in the lives of children. Grandparents serve as storytellers, confidants, and mentors, provide child care and family support in times of crisis, and in more extreme cases, become primary caregivers for grandchildren (King, Elder, & Conger, 2000; Tomlin, 1998). In addition to the positive benefits children receive, grandparents themselves benefit from engagement in their role, deriving meaning, enjoyment, and companionship from relationships with grandchildren (Tomlin). This study addresses three questions: (a) Does the experience of divorce negatively influence the saliency of the grandparent role or involvements with grandchildren? (b) If so, what factors explain the negative influence of divorce on grandparenting? (c) What circumstances moderate the influence of divorce on the grandparent-grandchild relationship? The number of grandparents who have experienced a divorce is substantial and increasing rapidly (Uhlenberg & Kirby, 1998). This situation reflects both the increasing divorce rates in all age groups and the movement of newer cohorts, who experienced much higher levels of divorce, into the ranks of older adults. About one third of all ever-married individuals in the cohort that reached age 65 in 2000 will experience a divorce at some point in their lifetimes; this is projected to increase to 50% for the cohorts reaching age 65 after 2010 (Norton & Moorman, 1987; U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2000). Little prior research has directly examined the link between grandparental divorce and grandparenting behaviors or attitudes. A few grandparent studies have controlled for the current marital status of a grandparent when examining behaviors such as grandparent-grandchild contact and relationship quality, and report few or no significant effects (Cherlin & Furstenberg, 1986; King & Elder, 1995). However, Silverstein and Marenco (2001) considered a broader array of grandparenting measures and found that unmarried grandparents reported weaker involvement with grandchildren in several domains, including less frequent baby-sitting, activities, family gatherings, feeling less close, and attributing less meaning to the grandparent role. Unfortunately, by comparing married and unmarried grandparents, these studies do not differentiate among the unmarried group-- some are divorced, but many others are widowed. Widowhood is not likely to influence ties to children and grandchildren in the negative way that divorce can (Aquilino, 1994; Pezzin & Schone, 1999). In addition, the married group includes those who have divorced and remarried-a group that is likely to differ significantly from grandparents still in first marriages (Uhlenberg & Hammill, 1998; White, 1992). …

Drawing on past research and prominent theoretical orientations, this research note suggests new approaches to intergenerational dynamics. For 316 grandparent-grandchild pairs, we found that the transition of grandchildren to higher education, controlling for other transitions, improves the quality of the grandparent-grandchild relationship. For grandparent mentoring, however, we see evidence of a generational stake, with grandparents overestimating their mentoring role, compared to grandchildren, during this transition. This generational stake reflects the importance of grandparent education, with increased mentoring for the college-going grandchildren of college-educated grandparents. These findings indicate that the intergenerational literature can be significantly advanced by taking a long-term perspective, incorporating multiple points of view, and examining contextual variation. Moreover, greater understanding of these intergenerational ties will benefit research on families and individual development.

Family relationships across several generations are becoming increasingly important in American society. They are also increasingly diverse in structure and in functions. In reply to the widely debated “family decline” hypothesis, which assumes a nuclear family model of 2 biological parents and children, I suggest that family multigenerational relations will be more important in the 21st century for 3 reasons: (a) the demographic changes of population aging, resulting in “longer years of shared lives” between generations; (b) the increasing importance of grandparents and other kin in fulfilling family functions; (c) the strength and resilience of intergenerational solidarity over time. I also indicate that family multigenerational relations are increasingly diverse because of (a) changes in family structure, involving divorce and stepfamily relationships; (b) the increased longevity of kin; (c) the diversity of intergenerational relationship “types.” Drawing on the family research legacy of Ernest W. Burgess, I frame my arguments in terms of historical family transitions and hypotheses. Research from the Longitudinal Study of Generations is presented to demonstrate the strengths of multigenerational ties over time and why it is necessary to look beyond the nuclear family when asking whether families are still functional.

Key Words: aging, decade review, family gerontology, middle years, older adults. Research on families in the middle and later years came into its own during the 1990s, documenting the complexity, malleability, and variety of older family connections. We examined 908 articles on family gerontology topics, observing 4 trends: Conceptually, an appreciation for pluralism and resilience as individuals and families age is apparent. Theoretically, life course, feminist, socioemotional selectivity, and family solidarity theories are increasingly applied to intergenerational family relations. Methodologically, new interest in qualitative methods for studying diverse groups has improved the depth with which aging studies can account for variability in old age; new quantitative methodologies have allowed greater sophistication in dealing with longitudinal data. Substantively, there is greater understanding of family caregiving, social support, parent-child relationships, marital transitions, and grandparenting relationships. The field is poised to take even greater risks in fulfilling the promise of studying linked lives over time. Research on families in the middle and later years came into its own during the 1990s. Earlier decade reviews of the 1960s (Troll, 1971), 1970s (Streib & Beck, 1980), and 1980s (Brubaker, 1990) chronicled the emergence of family gerontology as an area of inquiry, charting the structures, functions, roles, and interactions associated with aging individuals in families. In the 1990s, a shift occurred in describing the complexity, malleability, and variety of family connections in the second half of life, generating a more complex view of older families. Our aim in this review of a decade of research is to illuminate innovations and themes in a broad subject matter and to interpret directions in which the field is going. OUR APPROACH We examined the titles and abstracts of articles with a relevant family-level focus from 13 social science journals in which family gerontologists routinely publish. Reflecting the multidisciplinary nature of the field, these included journals in family studies (Journal of Marriage and the Family, Family Relations, and Journal of Family Issues), gerontology (The Gerontologist, International Journal of Aging and Human Development, Journal of Aging Studies, Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, Journal of Women and Aging, Psychology and Aging, and Research on Aging) and personal relationships (Journal of Social and Personal Relationships and Personal Relationships). We compiled a list of 908 articles from these publications and identified 30 books on family gerontology topics published over the past 10 years. We also asked six experts on families and aging to nominate works they considered most influential in the 1990s. We coded the predominant theme of each publication (see Table 1). Almost half of the journal articles covered aspects of caregiving or social support, and more than fourfifths of the articles were in the top five categories. There is some overlap in subject matter, but our purpose was to highlight the major substantive focus of the articles to demonstrate the scope of family gerontology research in the 1990s. Several advances characterize the research on midlife and older families in the 1990s. Conceptually, the study of later life families is no longer depicted in monolithic ways. An appreciation for pluralism and resilience as individuals and families age is apparent. The emphasis on difference has expanded from unitary traits to social relations and process, and formerly ignored and stigmatized topics have appeared in the literature. The study of middle aged and older families has been strengthened by the incorporation of life-course and feminist approaches. Theoretical advances created for the specific study of older individuals and families, such as socioemotional selectivity theory and family solidarity theory, have brought greater focus to intergenerational relations over the life span. …