“My second mum and dad” - Grandparents Plus

Figure 3.3
Grandparents marital status by
gender and linage
Mum's mum
Mum's dad
Never married
Married
Separated/divorced
Remarried
Dad's mum
Dad's dad
The strongest factor impacting on grandparent-grandchild' relationships was
grandparental divorce. Around a fifth of all grandparents were separated and/or
divorced. Divorced grandparents generally had significantly poorer relationships
with parents.
Factors involved when children were discouraged from seeing grandparents
Having a good relationship between parents and grandparents although crucial is
not the same as the parents giving active encouragement for their children to make
contact with grandparents.
Statistical analysis revealed some interesting differences between children
discouraged from seeing their grandparents and the rest of the sample, but relatively
few of them passed significance tests. Those that did showed considerable variation
by grandparent gender and linage.
In terms of child factors, the only significant results were for Mum’s mum. In this
instance both the child’s age and gender proved statistically significant, with younger
and female grandchildren being more likely to be encouraged to see their maternal
grandmothers.
Family type proved significant, but only for paternal grandparents (Dad’s mum
and Dad’s dad). Those children living with both their mum and their dad were
more likely to be encouraged to see their dad’s parents. This suggests that following
divorce or remarriage children (more likely to be living with their mum than their
dad) are often discouraged from seeing their fathers’ parents.
Naturally there is a significant link between the grandparent-parent relationship
and encouraging contact. While approximately a quarter of parents with difficult
relationships actively promoted contact between grandparent and child, the majority
of these parents actively sought to prevent it.
There were also a small number of significant results in terms of grandparent
factors, for Mum’s mum, for example, health proved important, with parents
considerably more likely to encourage contact with healthy grandparents. For
maternal grandparents (Mum's mum and Mum's dad) where they lived was
significant - with those grandchildren in closest proximity (i.e. the same town)
being more actively encouraged. Both age and marital status were significant for
male grandparents (as they weren’t for Mum’s mum or Dad’s mum) with children
being more frequently encouraged to spend time with older (70 plus) grandfathers.
Married grandfathers were more likely to have their grandchildren’s contact
encouraged by parents; it seems that for fathers divorce or separation has a
lastingly detrimental impact on the parent-child relationship.
My second mum and dad / 12