Grandparents raising grandchildren: negotiating the complexities of role-identity conflict

Jan Backhouse, Centre for Children and Young People, School of Education, Southern Cross University
Anne Graham, Centre for Children and Young People, School of Education, Southern Cross University

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Dr Jan Backhouse is a researcher in the Centre for Children & Young People at Southern Cross University, Lismore, Australia. Anne Graham is Professor of Childhood Studies and Director of the Centre. Their shared interests include the sociology of family, children's social and emotional well-being, and loss and grief in family change.

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand the experience of grandparents who are raising their grandchildren in NSW, Australia. In-depth interviews were conducted with 34 grandparents and their narratives transcribed and studied using paradigmatic analysis (Polkinghorne 1995) to reveal common themes among the stories told. Identity theory further informed the discussion of these findings. Woven throughout the grandparent narratives is a story of paradox – of experience simultaneously made up of pain/pleasure, myth/reality, inclusion/exclusion, being deserving/undeserving, visible/invisible and voiced/silenced. The findings signal a significant role-identity conflict for grandparents who are parenting grandchildren. This study points to the need for policy and practice that more closely reflects the complexity of experience associated with the grandparent-as-parent role.