The impact of divorce on the grandparent/grandchild relationship when the parent generation divorces

This study examined the issue of divorce from the grandparents\u27 perspective, i.e., it investigated how divorce in the middle generation impacts grandparents\u27 relationships with their grandchildren. Two major questions were asked: (1) Is there a significant difference between the grandparent/grandchild relationship of grandparents with children that are divorced and grandparents with children whose marriages are intact? (2) Among grandparents with children who are divorced, which circumstances serve to maintain and/or strengthen the relationship and which ones serve to weaken the intergenerational tie? The data for this study was collected in 1990 by the Bureau of Sociological Research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as part of the Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (NASIS). Multiple Classification Analysis was used to test the hypothesis that predicted that grandparents with divorced children will have a higher degree of solidarity in their relationship with their grandchildren than will parents with non-divorced children. Multiple Regression analysis was used to test the hypothesis that focused exclusively on grandparents with divorced children. These hypotheses proposed that being a custodial grandparent, having a close bond with the custodial grandparent, the custodial parent remaining single and being female are significant predictors of solidarity in the grandparent/grandchild relationship. The data from this study indicates that few differences exist between intact grandparents and divorced grandparents. Although intact grandparents expressed a higher degree of affection for their grandchildren, there was no significant difference in how often the two groups saw their grandchildren or how much assistance and support were exchanged between the two generations. Conditions that were found to be associated with a stronger relationship when the middle generation divorces are (1) a close bond with the custodial parent, (2) being a younger grandparent, (3) a grandmother, and (4) living in close proximity. Remarriage of the custodial parent appears to complicate connections with the original intergenerational family and is associated with a weakening of the relationship