Exploring the Complexity of Stepgrandparent-Stepgrandchild Relationships

Building Family Relationships With Inherited Stepgrandparents

“…These stepgrandchildren emphasize the importance of feeling as though they have agency and choice in what to call stepgrandparents (i.e., address terms; Kellas, LeClair‐Underberg, & Norman, ), when to visit them, and what kind of relationships to develop with them. This finding is different from research on stepgrandchildren whose stepgrandparents are the spouses of their biological grandparents (i.e., long‐term, later‐life, and skip‐generation stepgrandchildren; Chapman, Sanner, et al, ). Stepgrandchildren in these pathways have reported following their parents' lead when it comes to what to think of stepgrandparents and how to interact with them, using parents as references points to inform their thoughts and behaviors.…”

“…By doing so, they not only reduce their own risk for marital dissatisfaction and dissolution (Hetherington & Kelly, 2003;Papernow, 2013), but they also make it possible for their stepchildren to have access to a potential network of extended stepfamily support. It is interesting that, despite consistent evidence of the benefits of (step)grandparent involvement in children's lives (e.g., Barnett et al, 2010;Chapman, Sanner, et al, 2016b;Griggs et al, 2010;Kopera-Frye & Wiscott, 2000;Chapman, Kang, Ganong, Sanner, & Coleman, 2018), stepgrandparents are seldom included in conversations about stepfamily life. We encourage program developers who aim to strengthen stepfamily relationships to develop inclusive curricula that address extended stepfamily relationships, paying particular attention to the ways in which middle-generation stepparents have the power to bridge stepgrandchildren and stepgrandparents.…”

“…The purpose of our study was to understand how, and under what conditions, stepgrandchildren build and maintain family‐like relationships with inherited stepgrandparents. We are not suggesting that this type of stepgrandparent is more important to investigate than others, but the structural and contextual variability between this and other stepgrandparent types warrant attention be paid to exploring developmental processes within each type of stepgrandparenthood (Chapman, Sanner, et al, ).…”

What do we know about grandparents? Insights from current quantitative data and identification of future data needs

“…Current and past changes in marital stability have also yielded growing interest to the stepgrandparent-stepgrandchild relations (see Chapman et al 2016 for a recent investigation). Indeed, Szinovacz' (1998) analysis of the US National Survey of Families and Households indicated that close to 40% of couples with adult children had at least one stepgrandparent relationship in their family (either through their own or through their adult children's divorces and remarriages).…”

“…Whereas we acknowledge the value of qualitative research (e.g. Arthur et al 2003;Chapman et al 2016), our focus in this article is on the measurement of grandparenthood and grandparenting in quantitative social surveys (such as the US Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and its related surveys in Europe and elsewhere 1 ). Obviously, the Responsible Editors: Karen Glaser (guest editor) and Marja J. Aartsen.…”