Education and Grandparenting Roles

Abstract

This study examines the association between educational attainment and grandparenting attitudes and behaviors. The sample of 884 grandparents comes from tworelated studies of rural families, the Iowa Youth and Families Project and the IowaSingle Parent Project. Rather than simply indicating greater or lesser involvement,education differentiates the types of roles that grandparents play. Some facets ofgrandparenting are more common among the less educated (e.g., contact, playing therole of friend), while others are more common among grandparents with highereducation (e.g., discussing the grandchild's future with him or her). The implicationsof these findings are discussed in light of the seemingly contradictory findings ofprevious research.