Most contact with adult grandchildren tends to be by telephone or letter.
Whilst the dependency burden from unmarried children decreased with parental age, surrogate parenthood of grandchildren showed no appreciable decline with age.
Perhaps surprisingly, the authors found that only one-quarter of the respondents felt that caring for grandchildren was either very or extremely stressful.
Some respondents enjoyed holidays with their grandchildren and others liked to have them staying at their homes.
These grandmothers enjoyed the help provided by and the company of their daughters and grandchildren.
Yet there is strong evidence that focusing took place only in the third generation (the grandchildren of the migrants).
More positively, many older people have important household tasks, especially in the care of grandchildren and orphans.
Factors associated with changes in visiting between grandmothers and grandchildren following an adult child's marriage breakdown.
