Intergenerational Solidarity With Grandparents in Emerging Adulthood: Associations With Providing Support to Older Parents in Established Adulthood

Abstract

We examined the link between types of intergenerational solidarity with grandparents among young adults in emerging adulthood and whether they provided instrumental and emotional support to their older parents in established adulthood. We used the 2000 and 2016 waves of the longitudinal study of generations and a sample of 229 grandmother–child and 175 grandfather–child dyads. Latent class analysis identified three classes describing intergenerational solidarity with grandparents ( tight-knit, detached, and intimate-but-geographically distant) in grandmother–child and grandfather–child dyads in emerging adulthood. Path analyses showed that young adults who had a tight-knit relationship with their grandparents in emerging adulthood provided more instrumental and emotional support to their parents in established adulthood, compared with those who had a detached relationship with their grandparents in emerging adulthood. Results are interpreted in contexts of multigenerational interdependence within families and the sensitivity of young adults to the needs of older parents through their earlier connection to grandparents.