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Grandparenthood and the Changing Nature of Social Relationships

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Geropsychology

Synonyms

Intergenerational relationships; Social network characteristics; Social support; Social ties

Definition

In this current entry, grandparenthood is defined as the role that older people play as grandparents in a family.

Social relationships are associated with subjective physical and mental health outcomes in adulthood. As they age though, they experience changes in their preferences for social partners and the composition of their social network. In this entry, they first introduce age-related changes in social relationships in terms of their closeness and type. Then, they focus on a relationship that is particularly prevalent and important in older adulthood, i.e., grandparenthood. They discuss factors that may influence the meaning of grandparenthood and grandparenting behaviors, focusing specifically on gender and culture, and the outcomes of grandparenthood.

Age Differences in Social Relationships

Number of Relationships

In the aging literature, studies consistently find...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Da Jiang, Michael C. H. Chan, Minjie Lu & Helene H. Fung

Authors
  1. Da Jiang
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  2. Michael C. H. Chan
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  3. Minjie Lu
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  4. Helene H. Fung
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Da Jiang .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Nancy A. Pachana

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© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore

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Jiang, D., Chan, M.C.H., Lu, M., Fung, H.H. (2015). Grandparenthood and the Changing Nature of Social Relationships. In: Pachana, N. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geropsychology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_161-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_161-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-287-080-3

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