The Role of Grandparents in the 21st Century

Ann Buchanan is an Emeritus Professor of Social Work at the University of Oxford, UK. For more than twenty years she ran the Centre for Research into Parenting and Children at the University of Oxford, UK. She has undertaken major research projects on child well-being, children of divorce, fathering, grandparents, and grandfathering. With Anna Rotkirch, she co-edited the books Fertility Rates and Population Decline: No Time for Children? (2013) and Grandfathers: Global Perspectives (2016). Anna Rotkirch is a Research Professor and the Director of the Population Research Institute, Väestöliitto, Helsinki, Finland. She is a sociologist who has specialised in research on families in Europe. Her current interests include fertility, grandparenting, and friendship. With Ann Buchanan, she co-edited the books Fertility Rates and Population Decline: No Time for Children? (2013) and Grandfathers: Global Perspectives (2016).

Foreword 1. Twenty-first century grandparents: global perspectives on changing roles and consequences 2. Global demographic change and grandparenthood 3. Interdisciplinary perspectives on grandparental investment: a journey towards causality 4. Grandparents as substitute parents in the UK 5. Variations in grandfathering: characteristics of involved, passive, and disengaged grandfathers 6. Marital disruption and intergenerational relations among older Finns 7. Grandparenting and adolescent well-being: evidence from the UK and Israel 8. Grandparental involvement and South African adolescents’ emotional and behavioural health: a summary of research findings 9. Do grandparents matter? Intergenerational relationships between the closest grandparents and Malaysian adolescents 10. Outdated assumptions about maternal grandmothers? Gender and lineage in grandparent-grandchild relationships 11. Grandparents’ social identities in cultural context 12. Assessing associations in substance use across three generations: from grandparents to sons and from sons to their children