Policy Press
Fourteen Conclusions: the grandparents’ century?
Abstract
This chapter contains reflections on the notion that the 21st century could be called the ‘grandparents’ century’. This is a reference to the prediction that, by the middle of this century, there will be relatively more ‘old’ people than children in the global population. As the majority of older adults are grandparents, the global population in the 21st century is characterised by the presence of unprecedented numbers of grandparents. Grandparents will be increasingly old, and many of them will enjoy good health. In some cases, they might even compete over the opportunity to spend time with and care for one or two grandchildren. Higher proportions of the younger grandparents will be working, if the plans to extend working lives succeed, but they will share such long spans of life with their grandchildren that they might have a better opportunity to bond when the latter are teenagers or young adults. Grandparents, rather than parents, might become important sources of direct material transfers to their grandchildren. Whether and when people become grandparents, and how this varies across contexts, and across cohorts, is set to define a new type of inequality – in access to, or inability to enter, the grandparent role.
Abstract
This chapter contains reflections on the notion that the 21st century could be called the ‘grandparents’ century’. This is a reference to the prediction that, by the middle of this century, there will be relatively more ‘old’ people than children in the global population. As the majority of older adults are grandparents, the global population in the 21st century is characterised by the presence of unprecedented numbers of grandparents. Grandparents will be increasingly old, and many of them will enjoy good health. In some cases, they might even compete over the opportunity to spend time with and care for one or two grandchildren. Higher proportions of the younger grandparents will be working, if the plans to extend working lives succeed, but they will share such long spans of life with their grandchildren that they might have a better opportunity to bond when the latter are teenagers or young adults. Grandparents, rather than parents, might become important sources of direct material transfers to their grandchildren. Whether and when people become grandparents, and how this varies across contexts, and across cohorts, is set to define a new type of inequality – in access to, or inability to enter, the grandparent role.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures and tables v
- List of abbreviations vii
- Notes on contributors ix
- Introduction: widening the lens on grandparenting 1
-
The demographic and welfare-state contexts of grandparenting
- The demography of grandparenthood in 16 European countries and two North American countries 23
- Grandparental childcare: a reconceptualisation of family policy regimes 43
-
Grandparenting in contexts of economic and societal development
- Grandparenting in developing South East Asia: comparative perspectives from Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam 65
- Second-parenthood realities, third-age ideals: (grand)parenthood in the context of poverty and HIV/AIDS 89
-
Transnational grandparenting
- Transnational grandparenting: the intersection of transnationalism and translocality 113
- Transnational grandmother–grandchild relationships in the context of migration from Lithuania to Ireland 131
-
Gender, intersectionalities and grandparenting
- The composition of grandparent childcare: gendered patterns in cross-national perspective 151
- Class-based grandfathering practices in Finland 171
- Grandfamilies in the United States: an intersectional analysis 189
-
Grandparental roles, agency and influence
- How grandparents influence the religiosity of their grandchildren: a mixed-methods study of three-generation families in the United States 211
- Can Chinese grandparents say no? A comparison of grandmothers in two Asian cities 233
- “I am not that type of grandmother”: (non)compliance with the grandmother archetype among contemporary Czech grandmothers 253
- Conclusions: the grandparents’ century? 271
- Index 285
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures and tables v
- List of abbreviations vii
- Notes on contributors ix
- Introduction: widening the lens on grandparenting 1
-
The demographic and welfare-state contexts of grandparenting
- The demography of grandparenthood in 16 European countries and two North American countries 23
- Grandparental childcare: a reconceptualisation of family policy regimes 43
-
Grandparenting in contexts of economic and societal development
- Grandparenting in developing South East Asia: comparative perspectives from Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam 65
- Second-parenthood realities, third-age ideals: (grand)parenthood in the context of poverty and HIV/AIDS 89
-
Transnational grandparenting
- Transnational grandparenting: the intersection of transnationalism and translocality 113
- Transnational grandmother–grandchild relationships in the context of migration from Lithuania to Ireland 131
-
Gender, intersectionalities and grandparenting
- The composition of grandparent childcare: gendered patterns in cross-national perspective 151
- Class-based grandfathering practices in Finland 171
- Grandfamilies in the United States: an intersectional analysis 189
-
Grandparental roles, agency and influence
- How grandparents influence the religiosity of their grandchildren: a mixed-methods study of three-generation families in the United States 211
- Can Chinese grandparents say no? A comparison of grandmothers in two Asian cities 233
- “I am not that type of grandmother”: (non)compliance with the grandmother archetype among contemporary Czech grandmothers 253
- Conclusions: the grandparents’ century? 271
- Index 285
