The Construction of Grandparenthood

Abstract

This article presents a short summary of a recent research project on grandparenting conducted in France on the basis of a representative quantitative national sample of three-generation families and of in-depth interviews with young adults, their parents and their grandparents. Grounded in affective closeness allowing autonomy to the different generations, relationships with new grandparents are characterized by greater intensity than in the past. The bond between grandparents and grandchildren is becoming more important as couples are becoming more fragile. Grandparents who have themselves divorced sometimes contribute to filiation crises, but more often they act as agents of reconciliation and guarantors of family continuity.