In 2003 about 23 percent of all U.S.
children lived with a single mother,
including 16 percent of white children and
51 percent of African-American children. Of
these children, 13 percent also lived with a
grandparent in the household.
The role of grandparents in single-parent
families can be important to policy.
"For example, some welfare policies for
single mothers try to encourage marriage
because the common thinking is that children
fare best when living with married parents,"
says Dunifon.
Dunifon and co-author Lori
Kowaleski-Jones, assistant professor of
family and consumer studies at the
University of Utah, presented their findings
at the Population Association of America
annual meeting, April 1, in Philadelphia.
Dunifon is launching a new study on the role
of grandparents in the lives of adolescent
grandchildren with a new $300,000 grant over
five years from the William T. Grant
Foundation Scholars Program.
The study will include not only analyses of
several longitudinal datasets but also
in-depth interviews to assess interactions
between grandparents and adolescent
grandchildren.
"With longer life spans, more children
living without both biological parents and
more grandparents raising grandchildren, we
need to better understand the role of
grandparents during the vulnerable
adolescence period," says Dunifon.
"Grandparents can serve as an important
source of potential strength for youth as
they make their way through the transition
of adolescence into adulthood."
In addition to studying the role of
grandparents in single-mother families,
Dunifon will also examine children who do
not live with either parent and who are
being raised by grandparents. This, too, is
an important policy concern, Dunifon says.
"Some states, including New York, require by
law that when children are removed from
their homes, relatives must first be
contacted for potential caregiving before
the child g
oes into foster care with strangers," she
said. "Also, in some states, grandparents
raising grandchildren don't have access to
the same kinds of support programs as foster
parents.
"For
all these reasons, it's important to do more
research on how children fare when being
raised by their grandparents."
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