ORLANDO -- Grandparents who raised their grandchildren appeared to be coping with the stresses of parenting just as well as biological/adoptive parent caregivers, researchers reported here.
In an adjusted comparison of households where grandparents reared the grandchildren versus the parents, 63.9% of the grandparent households reported they were handling day-to-day demands of raising children "very well" compared with 67.2% of parent-led households, according to Andrew Adesman, MD, of Cohen Children's Medical Center, Northwell Health, in Queens, New York, and colleagues.
When asked if they felt stress associated with parenting during the past month, 94.1% of the grandparents said they "seldom" felt stress versus 95.3% of parent-led households, Adesman reported at a press conference at the American Academy of Pediatrics annual meeting.
However, grandparents reported that children in grandparent-led households were somewhat more argumentative, more likely to become angry/anxious with transitions, and to lose their temper.
"A large and increasing number of mothers and fathers aren't able to meet the responsibilities of parenthood, prompting their own parents to take on the primary caregiver role for their grandchildren," Adesman said. "One of the main factors for an increase in kinship care is the opioid epidemic, although there are many other factors in which children are taken from their parents and are placed either in foster care or with the grandparents or other relatives. There are now 2.9 million grandparents who are raising their grandchildren in the United States."
Adesman's group accessed the CDC's 2016 National Survey of Children's Health and reviewed surveys from 44,807 traditional parent-led households, comparing them with findings from 1,250 grandparent-led households. Survey results were adjusted and weighted to reflect the demographic composition of non-institutionalized children/adolescents, ages 0-17 years.
They found that grandparent-led households had a greater proportion of non-Hispanic black children, household income at or below the federal poverty line, lower level of education, and were more likely to be single-parent households (P<0.0001 for all).
"Grandparents and parents did not differ on most measures of parent coping, parenting stress, or caregiver-child interactions when stratified by child health and child age," the authors wrote.
A substantial number of grandparents and parents said that they did not have anyone "to turn to for day-to-day emotional support with parenting" (31.3% and 23.6%, respectively). Both groups also reported that they did not have a "Plan B" in place for raising the children in the event of a crisis, Adesman said.
Wendy Sue Swanson, MD, of Seattle Children's Hospital, told MedPage Today, "It is kind of sad that we have reached this place where grandparents are raising children because of the opioid epidemic."
While the grandparents may have complained more about the children's arguing and temper, "in the end, the grandparents were really saying 'I'm gonna complain more, but I am still going to get the job done,'" commented Swanson, who was not involved in the study.
The grandparent caregivers did report worse physical health and mental health, and Swanson noted that grandparents may be more frail and less able to partake in physical activities, but they also have a certain advantage over parent-led households. "From experience comes wisdom, and that can make the parenting chores easier in many respects," she pointed out.
Disclosures
Adesman and Swanson disclosed no relevant relationships with industry.
Primary Source
American Academy of Pediatrics
Source Reference: Muthiah N, et al "Grandparents Raising Grandchildren: Are They Up to the Job?" AAP 2018