@article {9515, title = {Step-grandparenthood in the United States.}, journal = {Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences \& Social Sciences}, volume = {73}, year = {2018}, month = {08/2018}, abstract = {

Objectives: This study provides new information about the demography of step-grandparenthood in the United States. Specifically, we examine the prevalence of step-grandparenthood across birth cohorts and for socioeconomic and racial/ethnic groups. We also examine lifetime exposure to the step-grandparent role.

Methods: Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the Health and Retirement Study, we use percentages to provide first estimates of step-grandparenthood and to describe demographic and socioeconomic variation in who is a step-grandparent. We use life tables to estimate the exposure to step-grandparenthood.

Results: The share of step-grandparents is increasing across birth cohorts. However, individuals without a college education and non-Whites are more likely to become step-grandparents. Exposure to the step-grandparent role accounts for approximately 15\% of total grandparent years at age 65 for women and men.

Discussion: A growing body of research finds that grandparents are increasingly instrumental in the lives of younger generations. However, the majority of this work assumes that these ties are biological, with little attention paid to the role of family complexity across three generations. Understanding the demographics of step-grandparenthood sheds light on the family experiences of an overlooked, but growing segment of the older adult population in the United States.

}, keywords = {Adult children, Family Roles/Relationships, Grandparents}, issn = {1758-5368}, doi = {10.1093/geronb/gbx164}, author = {Jenjira J Yahirun and Sung S Park and Judith A Seltzer} } @article {7875, title = {Coresidence and Geographic Proximity of Mothers and Adult Children in Stepfamilies}, journal = {Journal of Marriage and Family}, volume = {75}, year = {2013}, note = {Times Cited: 0}, pages = {1164-1180}, publisher = {75}, abstract = {Children who live with or near a parent provide more care and receive more help from parents than geographically distant children. Stepfamily ties may be weaker than ties between biological kin, but little is known about the geographic proximity of step- versus biological kin. The authors used data from the Health and Retirement Study (N = 13,239 mothers and 45,675 biological and stepchildren) to show that stepchildren and stepmothers are less likely to live together, less likely to live nearby, and less likely to move closer than biological children and mothers. When mothers have only stepchildren, they are less likely to have a coresident child or a child nearby than mothers with both step- and biological children. Coresidence and geographic proximity are lower in stepfamilies formed after divorce than after widowhood. The findings are consistent with a legacy of conflict and strain and the likely competing needs of biological and stepmothers.}, keywords = {Adult children, Demographics, Other}, author = {Judith A Seltzer and Jenjira J Yahirun and Suzanne M. Bianchi} } @article {5904, title = {Co-residence and Geographic Proximity of Mothers and Adult Children in Intact and Step Families}, year = {2011}, institution = {UCLA}, keywords = {Adult children, Demographics, Other}, author = {Judith A Seltzer and Suzanne M. Bianchi and Kathleen McGarry and Jenjira J Yahirun} }