The good, the bad, and the worrisome: emotional complexities in grandparents' experiences with individual grandchildren

Ninety-one grandparents, evenly divided by gender and age, were interviewed regarding their relationships with each of their grandchildren. They also described the particular grandchild whom they considered to be special and one about whom they worry. Also, a subset of grandparents provided the characteristics of a grandchild who irritated them. Results showed that most grandparents considered a grandchild as either special, worrisome or irritating based on personal reasons.