Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons^™

The Grandparent-Raising-Grandchildren Phenomenon In Michigan, Linda Gail Kimball

Dissertations

Role theory, specifically the incongruous and time-disordered role fit confronted by grandparent caregivers, provides the theoretical basis for this inductive qualitative research study.

A cohort of thirty-five grandparent caregivers, predominantly White, middle-income, older and married, participated in this study. Also included were seven leaders of support groups for grandparents responsible for raising their grandchildren.

Instrumentation included 23 questions to elicit demographic information from the grandparent caregiver. Additionally, the grandparents and the support group leaders responded to a set of focused questions designed to identify (a) the issues facing grandparents who are primary caregivers for their grandchildren, (b) the implications for …