Centre for Policy on Ageing



The role of grandparents when parents part or die — some reflections on the mythical decline of the extended family
Author(s)	Paul Thompson
Journal title	Ageing and Society, vol 19, part 4, July 1999
Pages	pp 471-503
Keywords	Grandparents ; Social roles ; Social contacts ; Extended families ; Parents ; Divorce ; Death.
Annotation	Belief that the extended family is in terminal decline has proved to be a remarkably persistent myth. It is currently being revived as a result of recent statistical trends. The belief has been closely connected to sociological enquiries undertaken over the course of the century. The validity of the belief, and in particular the significance of grandparents within the extended family, is explored in two sets of life story interviews recently undertaken with adults in Britain; one set are people in their thirties who had become step-children, and the second set participants in a multi-generational study of social mobility. The analysis addresses questions of contact after parental loss, sources of support within the family, the involvement of grandparents, the importance of co-residence, conflict, emotional closeness and communication within a family. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-990818204 A
Classmark	SW: TM5: TOA: SJA: SR: SOH: CW
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.