The first national survey led by Oxford University,
in collaboration with the Institute of Education, London, about the
relationships that adolescents have with their grandparents shows that
grandparents who are involved in the upbringing of their grandchildren
can contribute to a child’s well-being.

The
research surveyed questionnaires from 1,596 children, aged between
11-16 from across England and Wales, and researchers conducted in-depth
interviews with 40 children from a range of backgrounds. Another key
finding of the research was that almost a third of maternal
grandmothers provided regular care-taking for their grandchildren, with
40% providing occasional help with childcare. The survey reveals that
grandparents often have more time than working parents to support young
people in activities and are well placed to talk to their grandchildren
about any problems the young people may be experiencing. They were also
found to be involved in helping to solve the young people’s problems,
as well as talking with them about plans for their future.

Principal investigator Professor Ann Buchanan,
Director of the Centre for Research into Parenting and Children in the
Department of Social Policy and Social Work at Oxford University, will
launch the research findings at the annual meeting of the Grandparents’ Association in London on June 4. Professor Buchanan
says: ‘We were surprised by the huge amount of informal caring that the
grandparents were doing and how in some cases they were filling the
parenting gap for hard working parents. Most adolescents really
welcomed this relationship. What was especially interesting was the
links we found between ‘involved grandparents’ and adolescent
well-being.

Closeness
was not enough: only grandparents who got stuck in and did things with
their grandchildren had this positive impact on their grandchildren.’
It was found that close relationships between grandparents and
grandchildren buffered the effects of adverse life events, such as parental separation, because it calmed the children down.

This
suggests future investigations should pay more attention to the role of
grandparents in developing resilience in young people. A range of
factors predicted the involvement of the grandparents in the upbringing
of their grandchildren including: living in a less deprived area,
frequent contact, and the good health of the grandparent.

For more reports to this path-breaking survey, please visit: The Link