Personal growth, grandmother engagement and satisfaction among non-custodial grandmothers

Abstract

Objectives: We investigated grandmothers' personal growth, their engagement with grandchildren, their satisfaction with this role and how personal growth was related to engagement and satisfaction.

Method: One thousand two hundred and five grandmothers completed a survey containing questions about: personal resources (age, education, whether partnered or not, health); engagement with grandchildren (number of grandchildren, hours spent per week, frequency of activities, satisfaction with being a grandmother); and personal growth (life satisfaction, generativity).

Results: Participants had a positive sense of living productive and worthwhile lives with most reporting high scores on life satisfaction and generativity. Most were actively engaged with their grandchildren, participating in a wide range of activities. Active engagement was positively related to grandmother satisfaction. Hierarchical regressions showed that both life satisfaction and generativity were significantly predicted by grandmother resources and grandmother engagement.

Conclusion: This group of grandmothers did not fit ageist stereotypes of disengagement and loss of function. Our study shows that grandmothering is a rewarding role, and women who engage with it have a positive sense of personal growth.

Keywords: generativity; grandmother satisfaction; grandmothers; personal growth.