J Menopausal Med.  2015 Aug;21(2):72-78. 10.6118/jmm.2015.21.2.72.

Current Situation of Postmenopausal Grandmothers Raising Their Grandchildren

• Jin JY
• Kim TH

• KMID: 2200977
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.6118/jmm.2015.21.2.72

Abstract

As the average life expectancy of women increases, the family and social roles of postmenopausal women have become more important. With the growing number of dual-income households, postmenopausal grandmothers occupy a large role in child-rearing. Postmenopausal women mainly experience social changes as a family member along with personal changes. Postmenopausal women face changes in physical and mental aspects due to drastic hormonal changes. Grandmothers sharing the burden of raising children are actually encountering a number of challenges while dealing with hardships to adapt to physical and mental changes at the same time. It is thought to be important to understand the impact of raising grandchildren on physical and mental conditions among grandmothers experiencing hardships between social reality and personal changes from medical perspective based on sociological studies. Focusing mainly on studies on related fields, this study aims to investigate personal and social supports from medical perspective and to device practical measures.

Keyword

Child; Grandchildren; Postmenopausal grandmother

MeSH Terms

Child
Family Characteristics
Female
Humans
Life Expectancy
Social Change

Reference

1. Statistics Korea. Population projections for Korea: 2010-2060. Daejeon: Statistics Korea;2011.

2. Rho SH. Current child care situation and the need for child care to support working mothers with a child under 12 months. J Korean Soc Child Welf. 2010; 33:111–128.

3. Kim SY, Jeong MK. A study on working mother's and grandmother's perceptions of childcare. J Korea Open Assoc Early Child Educ. 2006; 11:67–96.

4. Kim M. A study of the caregiving burden on grandmothers who raise their grandchildren: a phenomenological research. J Korean Acad Nurs. 2007; 37:914–923.

5. Bee HL, Mitchell SK. The developing person : a life-span approach. San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row;1980.

6. Kim TH, Lee HH, Chung SH, Park HS. Differentiation in the management of osteoporosis between premenopausal and menopausal women. J Korean Soc Menopause. 2011; 17:21–26.

7. Ryoo EN, Park KS, Park HM. Study of nurses' knowledge and attitudes on hormone replacement therapy. J Korean Soc Menopause. 2012; 18:43–51.

8. Choi EY. A study on the relationship between mening of life and mental, physical symptoms of middle-aged women. Korean Cent J Med. 1989; 54:659–663.

9. Choe HS, Chung OB. The development of an inventory for measuring the parenting self-efficacy of Korean mothers. Korean J Child Stud. 2001; 22:1–15.

10. Park HJ, Jung HM. The temperament of grandmothers and grandchildren grandmother's parenting self-efficacy and parenting stress. J Korean Soc Matern Child Health. 2010; 14:1–11.

11. Oh J. A structural model on the quality of life of grandmothers caring for their grandchildren. J Korean Acad Child Health Nurs. 2007; 13:201–211.

12. Kim HY. Grandmothers raising grandchildren : an impact of grandmothers' parental stress on their health and quality of life [master's thesis]. Daegu: Catholic University of Daegu;2009.

13. Park HJ, Park SY. A study on factors affecting grandmothers' care support. Korea J Child Care Educ. 2013; 77:227–246.

14. Chung CW, Kim MJ. Grandmother's life satisfaction and influencing factors by grandparenting. Korean J Women Health Nurs. 2010; 16:288–296.

15. Han SY. Mother's parenting stress and the poorness-of-fit of temperament [master's thesis]. Seoul: Ewha Womans University;1996.

16. Bachman HJ, Chase-Lansdale PL. Custodial grandmothers' physical, mental, and economic well-being: comparisons of primary caregivers from low-income neighborhoods. Fam Relat. 2005; 54:475–487.

17. Kang Y. The psychosocial well-being of grandparents raising their grandchildren: the role of resources, type of care and perception of caregiving. Korea J Popul Stud. 2011; 34:73–97.

18. Thomas JL. Age and sex differences in perceptions of grandparenting. J Gerontol. 1986; 41:417–423.

19. Bowers BF, Myers BJ. Grandmothers providing care for grandchildren: consequences of various levels of caregiving. Fam Relat. 1999; 48:303–311.

20. Yi YS. Grandmothers' caregiving satisfaction of raising grandchildren and the related variables. Korean J Hum Ecol. 2010; 19:15–26.

21. Lee JY, Chung KM, Kim WK. The mental health study of caregiving grandmothers comparing with non-caregiving grandmothers of middle class. Korean J Woman Psychol. 2008; 13:325–341.

22. Dowdell EB. Caregiver burden: grandmothers raising their high risk grandchildren. J Psychosoc Nurs Ment Health Serv. 1995; 33:27–30.

23. Minkler M, Roe KM, Robertson-Beckley RJ. Raising grandchildren from crack-cocaine households: effects on family and friendship ties of African-American women. Am J Orthopsychiatry. 1994; 64:20–29.

24. Sands RG, Goldberg-Glen RS. Factors associated with stress among grandparents raising their grandchildren. Fam Relat. 2000; 49:97–105.

25. Kennedy JF, Keeney VT. The extended family revisited: grandparents rearing grandchildren. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 1988; 19:26–35.

26. Waldrop D, Weber JA. From grandparent to caregiver: the stress and satisfaction of raising grandchildren. Fam Soc. 2001; 82:461–472.

27. Conway P, Boeckel J, Shuster L, Wages J. Grandparent caregivers' use of resources and services, level of burden, and factors that mediate their relationships. J Intergener Relatsh. 2010; 8:128–144.

28. Pruchno RA, McKenney D. Psychological well-being of Black and White grandmothers raising grandchildren: examination of a two-factor model. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2002; 57:P444–P452.

29. Kim D, Park E, Kim S. The influence of social participation on depression of parenting grandparents and co-parenting grandparents: Mediating effect of satisfaction with family relationship. J Fam Relat. 2010; 14:183–209.

30. Travis LA, Lyness JM, Shields CG, King DA, Cox C. Social support, depression, and functional disability in older adult primary-care patients. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2004; 12:265–271.

31. Kim EJ. Caregiving reward of grandmothers raising infant grandchildren and factors influencing their rewards. J Korean Gerontol Soc. 2012; 32:851–867.

32. Wheelock J, Jones K. 'Grandparents are the next best thing': informal childcare for working parents in urban Britain. J Soc Policy. 2002; 31:441–463.

33. Kim EJ, Chung SD. A study on the adaptive experience of a grandmother raising grandchildren: focused on family with working mother. Korean J Fam Soc Work. 2011; 31:177–213.

34. Bae JH. Factors affecting the psychological well-being of grandparents raising grandchildren: focusing on the comparison between parenting grandparents and coparenting grandparents. Soc Welf Policy. 2007; 29:67–94.

35. Lee HY. Participation of parents education, parenting self-efficacy & parenting stress among preschooler's mothers [master's thesis]. Cheongju: Chungbuk National University;2006.

36. Chen X, Silverstein M. Intergenerational social support and the psychological well-being of older parents in China. Res Aging. 2000; 22:43–65.

37. Oh J. Care stress and quality of life of grandmothers caring for their grandchildren in employment mother's home. J Korean Acad Child Health Nurs. 2006; 12:368–376.

38. Minkler M, Fuller-Thomson E. The health of grandparents raising grandchildren: results of a national study. Am J Public Health. 1999; 89:1384–1389.

39. Musil CM, Ahmad M. Health of grandmothers: a comparison by caregiver status. J Aging Health. 2002; 14:96–121.

40. Kelley SJ, Whitley D, Sipe TA, Yorker BC. Psychological distress in grandmother kinship care providers: the role of resources, social support, and physical health. Child Abuse Negl. 2000; 24:311–321.

41. Yang SJ, Chung KM, Kim WK. An exploration of the relationship among variables affecting the psychological well-being of day-care grandmothers. Korean J Woman Psychol. 2008; 13:415–432.

42. Baker LA, Silverstein M. Depressive Symptoms Among Grandparents Raising Grandchildren: The Impact of Participation in Multiple Roles. J Intergener Relatsh. 2008; 6:285–304.