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Reasons Young Adults Visit (and Do Not Visit) Impaired Grandparents*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2010

Susan D. Boon  and
Megan J. Shaw
Susan D. Boon*
Affiliation:
University of Calgary
Megan J. Shaw
Affiliation:
University of Calgary
*
Requests for offprints should be sent to: / Les demandes de tirés-à-part doivent être adressées à : Susan D. Boon, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4. (sdboon@ucalgary.ca)
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Abstract

This study explored the value undergraduate students (N = 138) attach to relationships with impaired grandparents by examining some of the reasons they visit (and do not visit) grandparents who live with conditions limiting their cognitive, physical, or psychological well-being. As part of a larger study, participants completed two checklists to indicate their reasons for visiting and not visiting their affected grandparents. Reward-based reasons were endorsed more frequently as motives for visiting than were reasons based on external constraints, family difficulties, guilt, or wanting to take advantage of the time left with their grandparents. Barriers that restricted opportunities to visit were endorsed more frequently as explanations for participants' failure to visit than were problems in the relationship itself, guilt, or severity of impairment.

Résumé

La présente étude porte sur la valeur que les étudiants de premier cycle (N = 138) attribuent aux visites des grands-parents déficients et examine certaines des raisons pour lesquelles ils visitent (et ne visitent pas) leurs grands-parents qui vivent dans des conditions limitant leur bien-être cognitif, physique, ou psychologique. Dans le cadre d'une étude plus vaste, les participants ont rempli deux listes de vérification afin d'indiquer les raisons pour lesquelles ils visitaient ou ne visitaient pas leurs grands-parents diminués. Des raisons basées sur les récompenses ont été indiquées plus souvent que des raisons basées sur des contraintes externes, des problèmes familiaux, un sentiment de culpabilité, ou le fait de vouloir profiter du temps qui leur restait avec leurs grands-parents. Les barrières limitant les possibilités de visite ont été citées plus fréquemment pour expliquer pourquoi les participants n'allaient pas rendre visite à leurs grands-parents plutôt que des problèmes associés à la relation même, au sentiment de culpabilité, ou à l'importance de la déficience.

Keywords

aginggrandparent–grandchild relationshipshealthmotivesvisiting behaviourvieillissementrelations entre les grands-parents et les petits-fils ou petites-fillessantéraisonscomportement lors des visites
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 26 , Issue 4 , Winter/Hiver 2007 , pp. 357 - 365
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2007

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Footnotes

The authors would like to thank Cheryl Plascko and Beth MacEachern for assistance with data collection and entry, Eman Safadi and Lauren Sukovieff for assistance with proofing, and Alishia Alibhai for her feedback on an earlier draft of this paper.
*

The data presented here were collected as part of the second author's undergraduate thesis. This research was supported in part by a research grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

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