Children living with their grandparents: resilience and wellbeing (original) (raw)
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Family relations, adjustment and well-being in a longitudinal study of children in care
Child <html_ent glyph="@amp;" ascii="&"/> Family Social Work, 2005
The article reports on a longitudinal study of children placed in a children's home during the first two years of the 1980s. The 26 children placed when younger than 4 years of age and staying more than 4 weeks were followed up 3 and 9 months after leaving the children's home and 5, 10, 15 and 20 years later. The children's family relations, including early attachments and later parental relationships and the perception of who is their family, have been one of the predominant themes in the recurrent studies. None of them had lived with both parents after leaving the children's home and 20 of them had been in foster care for periods or permanently. At the time of the last study the children were young adults, aged 20-25. They are categorized in three rather distinct categories, one for those with a 'good' and one for those with a 'moderate' social adjustment and well-being and one for those with a 'bad' social adjustment and well-being insofar as involvement with drugs, criminal behaviour and legal sanctions are concerned. Their contacts and relationships with birth parents and foster parents and the perception of who is their family are analysed by use of attachment theory and developmental psychopathology.
Grandparent Resilience: Improving Self-Efficacy in Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
Innovation in Aging, 2020
Grandparents often protect against childhood trauma and promote resilience through their nurturance, love, and support when raising grandchildren. Despite the beneficial role grandparents have on their grandchildren, grandparents may experience challenges of their own, including physical, mental, and emotional health issues, lack of resources, and social isolation. Few interventions exist to help grandparents successfully adapt to the challenges they face as primary parenting figures. The purpose of this study was to test preliminary efficacy of a strengths-based intervention for grandparents raising grandchildren aimed at increasing self-care behaviors, managing emotions, and connecting to community resources. Grandparents (N = 137) providing primary care to grandchildren were recruited to participate in a single-group, pre- and post-test design, 6-week intervention. Self-efficacy was assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and at a 6-month follow-up. To evaluate who the intervent...
Educational Psychology in Practice, 2020
This exploratory study considers young carers’ perceptions of fac- tors contributing to their adjustment and benefit finding within their caregiving role. Benefit-finding, defined as the “process of deriving positive growth from adversity”, is a key construct within the domain of positive psychology. A strengths-based perspective was adopted with young carers, informed by resilience theory and positive psychology whereby protective factors associated with adjustment were explored. A mixed methods design was utilised encompassing a preliminary qualitative phase and a sequential quantitative phase. A Focus Group in Phase 1 explored factors perceived by educationally achieving young carers as supporting them to adjust. Phase 2 continued the exploration of the adjust- ment factors within a survey design for a population of young carers. Significant relationships were identified between self- efficacy, social support and school connectedness and young carer adjustment. Key methodological considerations are addressed and the theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
Children and Youth Services Review, 2015
The adolescent's transition to residential care is marked by significant emotional events. According to attachment theory, the affective bond between siblings may provide the stability and support that help to overcome difficulties during transitions. Using structural equation modeling the present study analyzed the associations between quality of sibling relationship and self-concept of institutionalized adolescents, testing the mediating role of resilience in this association, and the moderating effect of the maintenance of contact between siblings. The sample consisted of 387 adolescents living under residential care (due to abandonment, parental neglect or lack of family socio-economic conditions), between 12 and 18 years, from both genders and living in the Northern and Central Portugal. The results showed that the quality of sibling relationship predicted a positive self-concept, and resilience played a mediating role on the previous association. The moderating role of sibling contact on the association between the quality of sibling relationship and self-concept was observed. The results are discussed in light of attachment theory, pointing to the links between quality of sibling relationship and the development of selfconcept and resilience.
An investigation of the needs of grandparents who are raising grandchildren
Child & Family Social Work, 2012
Evidence suggests that children in out-of-home care function better when placed in kinship compared with foster care. Less is known about the functioning of children in the unique form of kinship care where grandparents are caring full-time for their grandchildren in informal care arrangements. As grandparent carers are increasingly taking on this role, it is timely to investigate the functioning of the children in this form of care and the characteristics of the grandparents themselves. We compared the functioning of children in the two types of care. We also investigated carer characteristics, including the relationship between child functioning, social support and daily hassles on carer stress. One hundred fourteen cares and 180 children were assessed on a range of demographic and clinical measures. Children in grandparent care were displaying better behavioural and adaptive functioning than children living with foster carers. Grandparent carers reported higher levels of distress in the carer role. Predictors of carer stress included severity of child behaviour problems and daily hassles. Both group of carers and the children in their care would benefit from increased support from treatment services.
‘They’ve Always Been There for Me’: Grandparental Involvement and Child Well-Being
Children & Society, 2009
With diversifying 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 growing importance there has been little empirical research exploring how grandparental involvement impacts on young people’s well-being. This national study, which includes a survey of 1596 children (aged 11–16) and in-depth interviews with 40 young people, aimed to address this deficit. Multivariate analyses demonstrate that grandparental involvement is significantly associated with child well-being – results that are reinforced by qualitative evidence. Findings suggest grandparents may be under-recognised in the policy agenda.
Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 1992
Demographically comparable groups of children exposed to major life-stress, with stress resilient (SR) and stress affected (SA) outcomes at ages 10 to 12, were interviewed to assess perceptions of their caregiving environments, peer relationships, and themselves. SR children compared with SA children reported more: (1) positive relationships with primary caregivers, (2) stable family environments, (3) inductive and consistent family discipline practices, and (4) positive expectations for their futures. SR girls viewed their mothers as more nurturing than did SA girls. Perceptions of fathers, quality of peer relationships, and global self-concept did not differentiate the groups. A discriminant function analysis identified four variables that correctly classified 74% of the subjects as SR or SA. Findings support the view that caregiver-child relationships playa key role in moderating children's developmental outcomes under conditions of high stress.
Clinical child psychology and psychiatry, 2015
There has been a surge of interest regarding the application of resilience theory in childcare practice and how resilience can be promoted among vulnerable children, in particular, looked after children. However, little is known about how people working with looked after children understand the concept of resilience. This study aimed to explore how social workers, teachers and foster carers, working with looked after children, understand resilience and whether there is consensus as to what constitutes resilience. The study also sought to explore whether there are differences in how resilience is constructed across these groups. In total, 106 participants took part in a Delphi survey (34 teachers, 36 foster carers, 36 social workers). There was moderate consensus that resilience related to survival, coping and a sense of self-worth. Resilience was not considered a panacea but a concept that also had limitations. Participants understood resilience in ways that were both similar and di...