Affiliation, Pride, Exchange, and Distance in Grandparents' Accounts of Relationships with Their College-Aged Grandchildren.

This paper examines grandparents' written accounts of conversations with their college-aged grandchildren. Using a thematic analysis, we describe 4 themes that indicate the place of the relationship in the grandparents' lives and their general orientation to their grandchildren. It is argued that expressions of affiliation, pride, exchange (primarily of advice and information), and feeling distance from their grandchildren are fundamental elements of the relationship from the grandparents' perspectives. These are discussed in terms of the grandchild's place in the grandparent's life and the complexities of negotiating this relationship during a period of grandchild transition away from the parental home.

[1]  J. Harwood.  Young adults' cognitive representations of intergenerational conversations , 1998 .

[2]  R. Schulz,et al.  A life-span theory of control. , 1995, Psychological review.

[3]  G. Stricker,et al.  Becoming a grandparent: a longitudinal study of expectations and early experiences as a function of sex and lineage. , 1998, The Gerontologist.

[4]  Sherry J. Holladay,et al.  Older adults' motives for mediated interpersonal communication: An examination of telephone communication and loneliness , 1997 .

[5]  J. Nussbaum,et al.  Shared Stories of the Grandparent-Grandchild Relationship , 1994, International journal of aging & human development.

[6]  M. Szinovacz.  Handbook on grandparenthood. , 1999 .

[7]  C. Phillipson,et al.  Reconstructing old age : new agendas in social theory and practice , 1998 .

[8]  J. Harwood,et al.  Communicative Predictors of Solidarity in the Grandparent-Grandchild Relationship , 2000 .

[9]  H. Arthur,et al.  Human relationships. , 1971, Midwives chronicle.

[10]  J. Nussbaum,et al.  Communication and Older Adults , 1996 .

[11]  P. Berger,et al.  Social Construction of Reality , 1991, The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Mass Media and Society.

[12]  Naomi Ellemers,et al.  Social Identity: Context, Commitment, Content , 1999 .

[13]  O. John,et al.  Social categorization and behavioral episodes: A cognitive analysis of the effects of intergroup contact. , 1985 .

[14]  John C. Turner,et al.  Stereotyping and Social Reality , 1994 .

[15]  Charles R. Berger,et al.  The handbook of communication science , 1987 .

[16]  M. L. Hummert,et al.  Stereotypes of the elderly held by young, middle-aged, and elderly adults. , 1994, Journal of gerontology.

[17]  Ellen Bouchard Ryan,et al.  Young and older adults’ views of telephone talk: Conversation problems and social uses , 1998 .

[18]  J. Sprey,et al.  Adolescents' relationships with grandparents: an empirical contribution to conceptual clarification. , 1985, Journal of gerontology.

[19]  J. Harwood.  Communication media use in the grandparent-grandchild relationship , 2000 .

[20]  Howard Giles,et al.  Intergenerational Conversations Young Adults' Retrospective Accounts , 1996 .

[21]  Blair Wheaton,et al.  Life Transitions, Role Histories, and Mental Health. , 1990 .

[22]  Mei-Chen Lin,et al.  Younger and older adults' schematic representations of intergenerational communication , 2000 .

[23]  H. Giles,et al.  Psycholinguistic and social psychological components of communication by and with the elderly , 1986 .

[24]  A. Giddens.  Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age , 1992, The New Social Theory Reader.

[25]  B. T. Johnson,et al.  Attitudes toward older and younger adults: a meta-analysis. , 1988, Psychology and aging.

[26]  F. Furstenberg,et al.  Styles and strategies of grandparenting. , 1985 .

[27]  H. Kivnick.  Grandparenthood and mental health: Meaning, behavior, and satisfaction. , 1985 .

[28]  K. Schaie,et al.  Adult intergenerational relations : effects of societal change , 1995 .

[29]  K. L. Woodward,et al.  Grandparents, Grandchildren: The Vital Connection , 1981 .

[30]  V. Bengtson,et al.  Generational Difference and the Developmental Stake , 1971 .

[31]  Sik Hung Ng,et al.  Younger Adults' Communication Experiences and Contact with Elders and Peers , 1997 .

[32]  M. Brussoni,et al.  Grandparental Impact in Young Adults' Relationships with Their Closest Grandparents: The Role of Relationship Strength and Emotional Closeness , 1998, International journal of aging & human development.

[33]  Naomi Ellemers,et al.  The context and content of social identity threat , 1999 .

[34]  M. Wood.  Language: Contexts and Consequences. , 1993 .

[35]  Sherry Holladay,et al.  (Re)Constructing Relationships with Grandparents: A Turning Point Analysis of Granddaughters' Relational Development with Maternal Grandmothers , 1998, International journal of aging & human development.

[36]  Interpersonal Communication and Older Adulthood: An Introduction , 1994 .

[37]  K. Dion,et al.  Self-Perception and Perception of Age Groups as a Function of the Perceiver's Category Membership , 1998, International journal of aging & human development.

[38]  Yalerie Cryer Downs.  Grandparents and grandchildren: The relationship between self‐ disclosure and solidarity in an intergenerational relationship , 1988 .

[39]  M. Silverstein,et al.  Attitudes Toward Public Support of the Elderly , 1997 .

[40]  Deborah A. Cai,et al.  Elderly perceptions of communication with older and younger adults in China: Implications for mental health , 1998 .

[41]  Jon F. Nussbaum,et al.  Intergenerational Communication Across the Life Span , 2001 .