Grandfamilies' Needs and Experiences through the Lens of Role Theory

Background and Purpose: Grandparents raising grandchildren support and sustain future generations, including not only their grandchildren but often their own children as well. These grandparents frequently experience stigmatization due to raising grandchildren later in life. In addition to this stigma, custodial grandparents face challenges related to financial and legal issues, interactions with child welfare agencies, housing, and navigating complex service systems. During the COVID-19 pandemic, challenges increased for all households with children due to unprecedented daily stressors, with grandparent-headed families (grandfamilies) being particularly affected. Guided by role theory, specifically the concepts of role consensus, role conformity, and role conflict, this study aimed to understand the experiences of grandparent caregivers in the United States before and during the pandemic and to explore how custodial grandparents perceive their caregiving roles within the context of their families.

Methods: A phenomenological qualitative approach was employed to gain an in-depth understanding of grandparents raising grandchildren. Purposeful sampling within the context of the phenomenological method allowed researchers to gather rich, detailed narratives, resulting in a comprehensive understanding of custodial grandparent caregivers. A total of 33 custodial grandparents participated in the study, 23 before the pandemic and 10 after. The pre-pandemic data (2012–2013) included 12 White, 10 African American, and 1 Hispanic grandparent; of these, 22 identified as female. The mean age of them was 60 years (range: 44–76), and the mean age of their grandchildren was 11 years (range: 5–17). The post-pandemic data (2022–2023) included all female participants: nine White and one African American grandparent. Their mean age was 59 years (range: 43–72), and the mean age of their grandchildren was 11 years (range: 5–18). Interview data were analyzed using thematic analysis, guided by the principles of role theory.

Results: Custodial grandparents expressed role consensus regarding their caregiving responsibilities and emphasized the importance of support in fulfilling this role. A positive perception of custodial grandparenting emerged as a key theme under role consensus. Role conformity helped contextualize the experiences of custodial grandparents, including concerns related to disclosing their adult children's substance use issues. Many grandparent caregivers also reported experiencing role conflict, emphasizing the challenges of taking on a caregiving role later in life. This conflict emerged in three main areas: personal struggles, tensions with family members, including the grandchild’s parent(s), and difficulties in non-familial relationships.

Conclusion and Implications: Overall, grandparents appeared to internalize their circumstances, often viewing them as situations that happened to them, which led to role conflicts in nonconsensual caregiving scenarios. These conflicts stemmed from incompatible preferences. In the post-pandemic data, a clear theme of positivity emerged. Despite the challenges of raising their grandchildren, the grandparents expressed neither resentment nor regret for assuming the caregiving role. The post-pandemic findings also highlighted schools as a significant source of social support. School professionals were regarded as partners in their grandchildren’s healthy development and were seen as critical supporters in the caregiving role. These findings underscore the evolving role of schools in empowering and supporting grandfamilies.