Gm. Ehrle et Hd. Day, ADJUSTMENT AND FAMILY FUNCTIONING OF GRANDMOTHERS REARING THEIR GRANDCHILDREN, Contemporary family therapy, 16(1), 1994, pp. 67-82
The adjustment and family functioning of grandmothers who were rearing
one or more of their grandchildren were examined in two studies. One
study used the Dyadic Adjustment Scale and the Family Assessment Devic
e. There were no differences between guardian and non-guardian grandmo
thers on the seven FAD scales, but guardians were higher on the DAS Dy
adic Cohesion and lower on Dyadic Consensus. The second study used a 4
-hour individual, structured interview to identify personal adjustment
difficulties and coping strategies resulting from having to rear a gr
andchild. Results indicate that guardian grandparent families frequent
ly may provide therapeutic challenges and that they have the potential
to provide unique insights into transgenerational family processes.