Grandparent Health and Young Adults' Judgments of Their Grandparent-Grandchild Relationships

Abstract

ABSTRACT Using the Common-Sense Model of illness representations (Leventhal, Myer, & Nerenz, 1980 Leventhal, H., Meyer, D. and Nerenz, D. 1980. “The common sense representation of illness danger”. In Contributions to medical psychology, Edited by: Rahcman, S. Vol. 2, 7–30. New York: Pergamon Press. [Google Scholar]) as a framework, we investigated impairment-related variables as predictors of young adults' experiences in relationships with ill/disabled grandparents. Undergraduates (N = 153) completed a questionnaire about their relationships with grandparents who lived with cognitive, physical, or psychological impairment(s). The extent to which participants worried about their grandparents' health/wellbeing and their perceptions of (a) the severity of their grandparents' impairments and (b) the degree to which these impairments affected areas of their own lives were predictors. Satisfaction with contact, investment in the relationship, and family strain resulting from the grandparents' impairment served as criterion variables. Results support the utility of examining grandparent health in research on grandparent-grandchild relationships.