Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

With changing families, increased life expectancy, growing numbers of dual-worker households and higher rates of family breakdown, grandparents are now playing an increasing role in their grandchildren’s lives. Despite their growing importance, there has been little research from the perspective of young people on their involvement with grandparents and how this impacts on their well-being. Involved Grandparenting and Child Well-Being, 2007 is the first nationally representative survey of young people’s views on their relationships with their grandparents. The study is based on a nationally representative sample of around 1,500 young people aged 11-16 in England and Wales. The young people completed a questionnaire in classroom settings, in some cases with the supervision of a researcher from GfK NOP in addition to the pupil’s normal teacher. The study sought to answer some of the key questions such as to what extent are grandparents involved in young people’s lives and what factors are associated with this involvement? What impact does this involvement have on grandchildren’s emotional and behavioural well-being? To what extent do grandparents help or hinder the grandchild’s adjustment at times of family breakdown? To what extent do grandparents reduce the impact on grandchildren’s well-being of family adversity? Further information can be found from the ESRC Award webpage.

Main Topics:

The questionnaire included questions on:demographicsfamily lifeeducational attainment (SATs)Special Educational Needs (SEN) statusfree school meal eligibilitygrandparents’ characteristicsgrandparent-grandchild emotional closeness scale (Elder and Conger (1994)) adverse life events scale (Tiet et al. (2001))

Quasi-random (eg random walk) sample

Self-completion

in a classroom