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Birth weight is an indicator of prenatal development associated with health in infancy and childhood, and may be affected by the family environment experienced by the mother during pregnancy. Using data from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, we explore the importance of the mother's access to the father and grandparents of the child during pregnancy. Controlling for household socio-economic indicators and maternal characteristics, the survival and residence of the biological father with the mother are positively associated with birth weight. The type of relationship seems to matter: married women have the heaviest newborns, but co-residence with a non-marital partner is also associated with higher birth weight. Access to the maternal grandmother may also be important: women whose mothers are alive have heavier newborns, but no additional benefit is observed from residing together. Co-residence with any grandparent is not associated with birth weight after controlling for the mother's partnership. Keywords: birth weight; child health; family; grandmother; father; partnership; South Africa [Submitted August 2008; Final version accepted June 2010] DOI: 10.1080/00324728.2010.510201

In order to explore the generalizability of perceptions of the losses experienced by grandparents raising their grandchildren, 610 traditional/ non-custodial grandparents, who had no custodial responsibility for their grandchildren, read a randomly assigned scenario depicting a grandmother and her grandchild, wherein scenarios varied in terms of grandchild gender, the presence or absence of grandchild problems, and the reason for role assumption. They then completed the Perceptions of Loss (PLS) scale, where higher scores indexed greater awareness of loss. Results suggested that perceptions of loss varied by grandchild gender (favoring females), grandchild problem (favoring those with problems), and the reason for role assumption (favoring parental abandonment and parental drug abuse). Moreover, PLS scores were influenced by the interaction between grandchild gender and reason for role assumption, where the impact of role assumption was greater for female grandchildren than for male grandchildren. These findings in part parallel those obtained from young adults, and generally suggest that others in varying degrees are sensitive to the losses grandparents raising their grandchild experience. Such findings have implications regarding the extent to which grandparent caregivers' grief is disenfranchised, as well as impacting custodial grandparents' feelings of loneliness and isolation from age peers brought about by the necessity to raise their grandchildren.

INTRODUCTION Although the transmission of religious values and beliefs across generations is one of the primary means by which continuity is maintained in the American family, cultural critics of contemporary […]

The papers in this special issue of Pacific Studies signal a growing interest in grandparents and the roles that they play in times of profound social, cultural, and demographic change. In this Epilogue we attempt to distill from the preceding seven essays' themes that reflect the various ways in which grandparenthood is adapting to these conditions in selected Pacific Islands. The challenge, as we see it, is to establish how senior citizens, including grandparents and great-grandparents, are embedded in a ser of social relationships, and then to determine which variables--lineage and household structures, economic contributions, proximity, activities participated in, conceptions of rights and obligations, etc.--account for their circumstances.

For Marshallese, grandparents do not exist as independent types of kin. A grandparent is a partner in a reciprocal grandparent/grandchild relationship. The relationship is not grounded in either biology or unchanging social status; rather, it is constructed out of practical activities as members of a shared community. Grandparents who actively earn respect in their relationships with others are recognized collectively as senior grandparents of the community or communal grandparents. This paper examines continuities and changes in the activities and social significance of grandparents of the community across three decades and four different social settings. The paper focuses on how shifting social conditions enable certain forms of grandparent/grandchild relationships and communal grandparent activity and hinder the realization of other forms.

This paper examines change in grandparent adoption and care of grandchildren on the Austral island of Raivavae in French Polynesia. The focus is on how Raivavaens have utilized the flexible, negotiable, and contingent institution of grandparent adoption as a strategy for coping with changing global/local linkages, out-migration for employment, and introduction of nonindigenous institutions and processes. The inherent flexibility of the adoptive relationship is apparently enabling Raivavaens to mold it in ways that serve a new set of needs and circumstances, most of which reside with the grandchild's parents rather than the grandparents. Grandparents appear to have extended and otherwise altered their adoption roles and responsibilities in large part to meet the needs and aspirations of the grandchild's parents, their adult children. This represents a significant shift in Raivavaen attitudes and values.

This paper uses a combination of household census data and case material to examine change in grandparent status and role in Fiji in the context of development and the impacts of modernization and population aging. On one hand, there is more need and pressure for grandparents to be caregivers of grandchildren and sources of stability and continuity within family and home. On the other, there are the increased costs associated with greater longevity among the grandparent generation, such as care of a frail and dependent grandparent. Social exchange theory is used to compare these costs and benefits across five grandparent household types that vary according to composition and headship.

The contributors to this special issue represent the orientations and approaches of several social science disciplines and are variously involved in interdisciplinary endeavors. However, anthropology is the primary discipline and ethnography a shared methodology. It is a main task of any ethnography to make the exotic familiar and to treat the familiar as though it were exotic. The papers in this special issue achieve this for grandparenthood in the Pacific. The familiar concept of grandparenthood is shown to have multiple meanings in close examinations of how the status is achieved, for example, what it means for a person's position in society, what roles are attached, and how grandparents may contribute to the survival and development of their communities and societies and adaptations to sociocultural change.

Relationship quality, social contact, and support provided by grandparents to single and married parents were examined using data from the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH). Contributions from the respondents' own parents, parents-in-law, and step-parents were examined using ANOVA and chi-square analyses. In general, respondents reported stronger ties with parents than in-laws, and with female rather than male relatives. Custodial mothers' relationships with their parents and in-laws were more strained than those of custodial fathers, and included less social contact with former in-laws. As a result, custodial mothers received less support than custodial fathers, even though their needs were greater. Custodial fathers had more income than single mothers, and they received a broader range of support from a larger network of extended kin. Therapists, family practitioners, and legal professionals can use this information to encourage custodial mothers to view former in-laws as a resource rather than a threat, doi:10.1300/J087v47n01_03 KEYWORDS. Single parent, custodial father, intergenerational support, post-divorce contact, grandparents, divorce

Results of a growing body of literature regarding multigenerational relationships indicate that grandparents directly and indirectly influence their grandchildren's development. However, multiple generations have been difficult to assemble for research purposes, with refusal rates ranging from 40 percent to over 80 percent. Despite difficulties in obtaining information from more than one generation of family members, data examining potential biases in the selection of participants have rarely been reported. The present study explored predictors of grandmother participation in a multigenerational study with 84 mothers, 84 infants, and 52 maternal grandmothers. Results indicated that grandmothers were less likely to participate in the study when grandchildren experienced preterm birth and when mothers reported less family of origin support. However, grandmothers who participated in the study reported high levels of intergenerational involvement and contact with daughters and grandchildren.

A sample of 64 2-grandparent, working-class families with a teen and her child under 2 was used to test the hypotheses that grandmothers have a direct influence on their grandchild and that grandparents also have an indirect effect on the young child through their influence on the teen's nurturance and perceptions of family support. Hypotheses were based on research concerning fathers, our previous research showing direct grandfather effects, and the literature on modeling, mediation, and surrogate parenting. Major findings from the path analyses were that grandfathers had a direct effect on children and that grandmothers had neither direct nor indirect influence. Results are discussed in terms of the salience of nurturant grandfathers in these families and the unique role they may play in the family.

This stud explored the significance of grandparents in the lives of young adult grandchildren. A convenience sample of 142 college students completed a questionnaire that examined four areas: frequency of activities, value development, relationship solidarity, and role conception. While current interactions with grandparents were infrequent, grandchildren did perceive their grandparents, and grandmothers in particular, as influential in their value development. Grandchildren reported stronger relationships with grandmothers than with grandfathers. Differences in participation, value development, and relationships were also found according to the role in which grandchildren conceptualized grandparents. Discussions centers on the factors that may have influenced grandchildren's perceptions and interactions with grandparents.

Findings from a controlled study of intergenerational approaches to family therapy are presented. Results indicate that follow-through was problematic with the intergenerational approaches. For families that completed one of the three assigned approaches (no involvement of grandparents, contacting grandparents outside of the therapy session, and inviting grandparents to attend at least one therapy session), few significant differences in effectiveness emerged. There were, however, indications that the two intergenerational approaches have some unique benefits and problems.

This study examines life course and sociodemographic variations in the ways grandparents are involved with grandchildren in terms of structural, functional, shared activities, and affective-cognitive aspects of these relationships. Family life stage, as well as grandparents' gender, marital status, race, and education, influenced how the grandparent role was enacted. Younger grandparents tended to live closer to and have greater contact with grandchildren and baby-sit and share recreational activities. Older grandparents tended to provide financial assistance and more strongly identified with the role. When their grandchildren were younger, grandparents tended to interact more with them, share more activities, provide baby-sitting, and receive more symbolic rewards from the grandparent role. Many effects related to grandchildren's age were explained by the greater opportunity of grandparents to interact with younger grandchildren. The article concludes that it is important to consider the life course position of grandparents and grandchildren when ascertaining the content and meaning of the grandparent role.