THE IMPACT OF EMPLOYMENT AND SERIOUS ILLNESS ON GRANDMOTHERS WHO ARE RAISING THEIR GRANDCHILDREN

Increasing numbers of children are living in families consisting of gr andparents and grandchildren. This paper presents findings of a study in which 123 caregiving grandmothers were interviewed. Fifty-eight per cent of these grandmothers were ''career caregivers,'' whose homes wer e always filled with a child or grandchild. Most of them were in good to excellent physical health and their mental health was at least as g ood as that of a national sample. Regression analyses found that havin g a life-threatening physical condition, being younger and white expla ined psychological anxiety; and having a life-threatening physical con dition and not being employed explained psychophysiological mental hea lth symptoms. These findings suggest that some grandmothers are at ris k for mental health symptoms and raise questions about the implication s of caregiving of grandchildren for women.