Building Family Relationships With Inherited Stepgrandparents

• Author: Ashton Chapman,Lawrence Ganong,Youngjin Kang,Caroline Sanner,Marilyn Coleman
• Published date: 01 October 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12381
• Date: 01 October 2019

C S University of British Columbia

L G  M C University of Missouri

A C Social Grove, Inc.

Y K University of Illinois–Springeld

Building Family Relationships With

Inherited Stepgrandparents

Objective: To understand how, and under what

conditions, stepgrandchildren build and main-

tain familial ties with inherited stepgrandpar-

ents, using symbolic interaction theory as a lens.

Background: High rates of divorce and remar-

riage coupled with increasesin longevity suggest

that more children have stepgrandparent rela-

tionships than ever before. Stepgrandparents,

who are the parents of a stepparent (i.e., inher-

ited stepgrandparents), have been hypothesized

to play key roles in shaping stepfamily life, but

little is known about how stepgrandchildren

develop close, family-like intergenerational

steprelationships after a parent’s remarriage.

Method: Forty-three adult stepgrandchildren

(15 men, 28 women) were interviewed about

their relationships with 131 inherited stepgrand-

parents. Grounded theory procedures were used

to collect and analyze the data.

Results: Four key processes were identied

that served as markers of kinship and facili-

tated the development of close familial ties: (a)

stepgrandchildren feeling affectionate toward

Department of Sociology, University of British Columbia,

6303 NW Marine Drive, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z1

(caroline.sanner@ubc.ca).

Key Words: divorce, grandparents, intergenerational rela-

tions, remarriage, stepfamilies, stepgrandparents, symbolic

interaction theory.

middle-generation stepparents, (b) stepgrand-

parents engaging in afnity-building efforts, (c)

stepgrandchildren evaluating afnity-building

efforts favorably, and (d) biological parents

using age-effective strategies to facilitate

relationship development.

Conclusion: Stepgrandchildren actively con-

struct their relationships with stepgrandparents

using symbols available to them, which are

inuenced by third parties such as parents and

stepparents. When stepgrandchildren claim

stepgrandparents as family, they perceive

benets.

Implications: Intergenerational stepfamily

relationships may be valuable resources for

children whose parents divorce and remarry.

The growing prevalence of stepfamilies over

the past half-century is a major change in the

demography of American family life (Pew

Research Center, 2011). More than four in 10

American adults (41%) have at least one steprel-

ative (Pew Research Center, 2011). In response

to these demographic changes, scholars have

become increasingly interested in examining

stepfamily dynamics. Although researchers

have primarily examined relationships between

remarried spouses or between stepparents and

stepchildren, they have acknowledged that

relationships with extended kin also should be

484 Family Relations 68 (October 2019): 484–499

DOI:10.1111/fare.12381

Building Family Relationships 485

investigated (Ganong & Coleman, 2017). For

instance, stepgrandparents have been hypothe-

sized to play key roles in shaping stepfamily life,

but little is known about how stepgrandchildren

develop close, family-like intergenerational

relationships following a parent’s remarriage. In

this study, we explored how stepgrandchildren

build and maintain close familial relation-

ships with stepgrandparents, focusing on one

structural pathway to these relationships.

R  G

Grandparents are revered in most cultures

(Kopera-Frye & Wiscott, 2000). Aside from

parents and siblings, grandparents may be the

most inuential family members in children’s

lives (Soliz, 2007), fullling valuable roles as

caregivers, role models, teachers, and compan-

ions (Kennedy, 1991). Close relationships with

grandparents have been found to be associated

with fewer depressive symptoms (Ruiz & Silver-

stein, 2007) and fewer peer problems, conduct

problems, and emotional symptoms for grand-

children (Griggs et al., 2010). Grandparents’

interest in academic achievement motivates

grandchildren to do well in school (Griggs et al.,

2010), and grandparent involvement buffers the

effects of mothers’ harsh parenting on grand-

children’s externalizing behaviors (Barnett,

Scaramella, Neppl, Ontai, & Conger, 2010).

Arguably, the most important role grandpar-

ents can fulll is as a supporter during times of

emotional distress. In particular, grandparents

appear to be important resources during fam-

ily transitions, such as when grandchildren’s

parents divorce (Henderson, Hayslip, Sanders,

& Louden, 2009; Lussier, Deater-Deckard,

Dunn, & Davies, 2002; Soliz, 2007). Higher

quality grandparent–grandchild relationships

following parental divorce have been associated

with greater psychological adjustment (Hen-

derson et al., 2009) and fewer internalizing and

externalizing behaviors (Lussier et al., 2002).

Grandchildren have described grandparents as

“better listeners” and “more sensitive” than

parents during family crises (Griggs et al.,

2010). Close relationships with grandparents

are important resources for children. Some

grandparents, however, lose contact with their

grandchildren after their adult child’s divorce

(Drew & Silverstein, 2007), particularly when

their adult child is the grandchild’s noncustodial

parent (Hilton & Macari, 1997; Lussier et al.,

2002). Because more than half of divorced adults

remarry (57%; Pew Research Center, 2011),

family transitions also introduce new grandpar-

ent gures. Indeed, greater family complexity

means that young people are increasingly likely

to have stepgrandparents. Given the potential

benets of grandparent involvement, particu-

larly during family transitions, stepgrandparents

also may be important resources for children

whose parents have divorced and remarried.

However, relatively little is known about

stepgrandparent–stepgrandchild relationships

(Ganong & Coleman, 2017).

T I  P

 S

There are four ways to become a stepgrand-

parent (for a review, see Chapman, Sanner,

et al., 2016b). In three pathways, the step-

grandparent is the spouse of a biological

grandparent and, consequently, a stepparent to

the middle-generation parent. For instance, a

stepparent who raises minor-age stepchildren

who become parents as adults is a long-term

stepgrandparent.Later-life stepgrandparents

enter the family much later, remarrying when

their stepchildren are middle-aged and step-

grandchildren are adolescents or young adults.

A third pathway falls in between these two:

stepparents who remarry when their stepchil-

dren are grown but before the birth of their

stepgrandchildren, become skip-generation

stepgrandparents (Chapman, Coleman, &

Ganong, 2016a).

Unlike these three pathways, which differ

on when in the life course the stepgrandparent

remarries the biological grandparent, the fourth

pathway occurs when an older adults’ son or

daughter marries a person who has children

from previous unions. The older individuals

“inherit” a new son- or daughter-in-law in addi-

tion to stepgrandchildren through their adult

child’s (re)marriage. Inherited stepgrandparents

do not change their marital status and do not

acquire a stepchild; in fact, many inherited

stepgrandparents are in their rst marriages and

experience steprelationships for the rst time

(Ganong & Coleman, 2017). Having steprela-

tives, therefore, may be a new experience for

them; Kalish and Visher (1982) described what

we are calling inherited grandparents as “caring

for a family tree bearing strange and unfamiliar

fruit” (p. 135).