Grandparents are considered a resource in the family because they provide alternative child care support and serve as role models for grandchildren. Although social workers have increasingly examined the needs of custodial grandparents who face many stressors, the profession lacks knowledge about functions of noncustodial grandparents, who are important supports for families; this role of grandparents is especially crucial as the number of multigenerational households grow. In addition, as maternal employment rates rise, mothers increasingly seek alternative caregivers for their children. They often choose grandparents as alternative caregivers, especially when children are young. While both custodial and noncustodial grandparents struggle with the burden of childcare, the relationships among grandparents and grandchildren usually vary depending upon individual and family characteristics.
Thus, the purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with the closeness between the grandparent and the grandchild. Also, the researcher sought factors affecting the association between the grandparent-grandchild relationship and the grandparent’s well-being. This study conducted secondary data analysis using the third wave of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) dataset. The number of grandparents in the dataset was 2,541. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was applied to address the relationship among variables.
Findings indicated that older grandparents tended to interact less with their grandchildren than younger grandparents. In addition, as grandparents spent more nights with their grandchild without the parent of the child, the well-being of the grandparents tended to decrease. On the other hand, frequency of communication, frequency of meeting, and the grandparent’s self-rating of closeness with his or her grandchild were positively related to the well-being of grandparents. Specifically, grandparents who interacted with their grandchild more frequently had a higher level of well-being than those who had less contact with their grandchild. Thus, it is assumed that the grandparents’ well-being increased up to the point where grandparenting became a burden for them. In this study, spending nights with the grandchild without the parent of the child seems to be the point where the grandparents start feeling burdened. This finding was consistent regardless of grandparents’ gender, ethnicity, and the presence or absence of legal custody. This study suggested that social support should target both custodial and noncustodial grandparents because noncustodial grandparents who put great effort into child care feel the same kind of stress as custodial grandparents. In addition, cultural diversity should be considered in work with grandparent caregivers because various factors are associated with the well-being of the grandparents.