Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, Vol 54, Issue 6 S317-S328, Copyright © 1999 by The Gerontological Society of America
Are religious grandparents more involved grandparents?
V King and GH Elder Jr
Department of Sociology, Pennsylvania State University, USA. vking@pop.psu.edu
OBJECTIVES: This study explores how various aspects of a grandparent's
religiousness are related to involvement with their grandchildren. METHODS:
The study ascertains whether religious grandparents are significantly more
involved with their grandchildren than less religious grandparents by
testing a series of bivariate and multivariate regression models. Multiple
measures both of religiousness and of grandparent involvement are used. The
study also examines factors that potentially confound, link, or explain the
connection between religious involvement and grandparenting (e.g.,
demographic factors, health, community involvement, traditional values,
ties to others). The sample of 585 grandparents comes from two related
studies of rural families, the Iowa Youth and Families Project and the Iowa
Single Parent Project. RESULTS: Overall, the results indicate that
religious grandparents are more involved grandparents, and this involvement
is explained in part by their generally greater involvement in all types of
family and social ties--religious grandparents are more likely to be
enmeshed in social ties to others. DISCUSSION: The implications of these
findings are discussed in light of prior research that finds little
influence of religion. We also consider the implications of our results for
the future of grandparent involvement.
