Centre for Policy on Ageing



A profile of grandparents raising grandchildren in the United States
Author(s)	Esme Fuller-Thomson, Meredith Minkler, Diane Driver
Journal title	The Gerontologist, vol 37, no 3, June 1997
Pages	pp 406-411
Keywords	Grandparents ; Grandchildren ; Family care ; United States of America.
Annotation	In the United States (US), there has been a dramatic increase in the number of children living with their grandparents over the last decade. This paper examines the prevalence of grandparent caregiving in the US and presents a national profile of grandparent caregivers based on data from the National Survey of Families and Households, collected from 1992-1994. More than one in ten grandparents were found to have cared for a grandchild for at least six months, with most of these having engaged in a far longer-term commitment. Although custodial grandparenting cuts across gender, class and ethnic groups, single women, African Americans, and those on low income were disproportionately represented. Multivariate logistic analysis indicates that three groups - women, recently bereaved parents, and African Americans - have approximately twice the odds of becoming caregiving grandparents. Implications for further research, policy, and practice are discussed. (AKM).
Accession Number	CPA-980812412 A
Classmark	SW: SW5: P6:SJ: 7T
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.