Theories of Grandparental Stress
Abstract
Many grandparents today have the responsibility of caring for their grandchildren. Clearly, grandparenting has become a complex, diversified role within families. As the number of grandparent-headed households continues to increase in society, so do their stressors. Although it is not a new phenomenon, interest in examining grandparental stress is relatively new. The focus of this paper is to provide an overview of theories and factors influencing grandparental stress. The paper briefly reviews theories to explain causes of grandparental stress. Based on the reviewed theories, it can be concluded that grandparental stress is a multifactorial problem that appears to affect grandparent caregivers overall well-being. The stress experienced by custodial grandparents was related to their caregiving situation, the subsequent environmental and socioeconomic status.
Downloads
Article Analytics Summary
References
Arber S, Ginn J. (1995). Connecting gender and ageing: A sociological approach. Philadelphia: Open University Press.
Bandura, A. (1997). Perceived self-efficacy: Exercise of control through self-belief. Controversial issues in behavior modification (pp. 27-59). Amsterdam: Swets & Zeitlinger.
Boss, P. (2002). Family Stress Management: A Contextual Approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452233895
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Gecas, V. (1989). The social psychology of self-efficacy. Annual Review of Sociology, 75, p. 291-316. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.15.080189.001451
Gecas, V., & Burke, P. J. (1995). Self and identity. In K. Cook, G. A. Fine, & J. House (Eds.), Sociological perspectives on social psychology (pp. 41–67).
Goode WJ. (1960). A theory of role strain. American Sociological Review; 25: p. 483–496. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2092933
Hayslip, B., Kaminski, P. L. (2005). Grandparents raising their grandchildren: A review of the literature and suggestions for practice. The Gerontologist, 45: p. 262-269. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/45.2.262
King, V., & Elder, G. H., Jr. (1995). American children view their grandparents: Linked lives across three rural generations. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57, p. 165-178. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/353825
McCubbin, H., & Patterson, J. (1983). Family transitions: Adaptation to stress. In McCubbin, H., & Figley, C. (Eds.), Stress and the Family Volume I: Coping with Normative Transitions. New York, NY: Brunner/Mazel.
Patterson, J. M. (2002,). Integrating family resilience and family stress theory. Journal of Marriage and Family, 64, p. 349-360. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2002.00349.x
Roberto, K. A., Allen, K. R., & Blieszner, R. (2001). Grandfathers’ perceptions and expectations of relationships with their adult grandchildren. Journal of Family Issues, 22, p. 407–426. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/019251301022004002
Ross MET, Aday L. (2006). Stress and coping in African American grandparents who are raising their grandchildren. Journal of Family Issues, 27: p.912-932. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X06287167
Szinovacz ME, DeViney S, Atkinson MP. (1999). Effects of surrogate parenting on grandparents’ well-being. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences. 54B:S376–S388. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/54B.6.S376
Stryker, S., & Burke, P. J. (2000). The past, present, and future of identity theory. Social Psychology Quarterly, 63, p. 284–297. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2695840
Thibaut, J. W., & Kelley, H. H. (1959). The social psychology of groups. New York: Wiley.
CSRC Publishing and JBSEE adhere to Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License. The authors submitting and publishing in JBSEE agree to the copyright policy under creative common license 4.0 (Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International). Under this license, the authors published in JBSEE retain the copyright including publishing rights of their scholarly work and agree to let others remix, tweak, and build upon their work non-commercially. All other authors using the content of SBSEE are required to cite author(s) and publisher in their work. CSRC Publishing and JBSEE follow an Open Access Policy for copyright and licensing.
