Maxwell School News and Commentary

The study, authored by Michiko Ueda-Ballmer, associate professor of public administration and international affairs, was published in Public Health.

“It almost doesn’t matter what kind of grandparent you are, as long as you and the parents agree. The trick is for the parents and the grandparents to agree on the roles and the rules,” says University Professor Madonna Harrington Meyer. Once that happens, “then there could be a really harmonious relationship.”

University Professor Madonna Harrington Meyer interviewed 48 working grandmothers; all but four “said they were doing much more care for the grandchildren than they expected—and much more than their own parents did for them,” she says.

Co-authored by Professor of Sociology Merril Silverstein, the article “Social Exchange in Intergenerational Relationships over the Family Life Course: Reciprocity Dynamics in Support to Older Mothers” was published in The Journals of Gerontology.

Merril Silverstein, professor and chair of sociology, says that because today’s grandparents are so involved with family life on the whole, both logistically and emotionally, we might expect that great-grandparents will keep becoming more tied in as well.

Research by Kristy Buzard, associate professor of economics, confirms the idea that people tend to assume mothers are the default parent, even when they explicitly ask not to be. Part of the reason, Buzard posits, is “this underlying belief that moms are more available and are going to be more responsive.”

“Religiosity of Grandchildren and Their Grandparents as a Basis for Norms of Eldercare Responsibility in Emerging Adults,” co-authored by Professor and Chair of Sociology Merril Silverstein, was published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with our grandmothers,” says University Professor Madonna Harrington Meyer. “But I think there’s plenty wrong with our welfare state.”

In the U.S., the most common source of developmental disability is fetal alcohol exposure, which can be prevented during pregnancy. Yet supports for individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and their families are few and far between, writes Sarah Hamersma, associate professor of public administration and international affairs.

In this paper, Haowei Wang and co-authors examine the socioeconomic bifurcation of adults in midlife and beyond in terms of the existence of descendants and other kin. Published in Population and Development Review.