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The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 60:S82-S92 (2005)
© 2005 The Gerontological Society of America


RESEARCH ARTICLE

African American Grandparents Raising Grandchildren: A National Study Using the Census 2000 American Community Survey

Meredith Minkler1, and Esme Fuller-Thomson2

1 Department of Health and Social Behavior, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley.
2 Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Address correspondence to Dr. Meredith Minkler, 316 Warren Hall 7360, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-7360. E-mail: mink{at}uclink.berkeley.edu


    Abstract
 TOP
 Abstract
 Background
 Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Objectives. The objective of this work was to determine the prevalence, sociodemographic characteristics, and service utilization patterns of African American grandparents raising grandchildren compared with noncaregiving peers.

Methods. Data were obtained from the Census 2000 Supplementary Survey/American Community Survey, a nationally representative survey of 890,000 households. Analysis was based upon comparison of 2,362 African American grandparent caregivers aged 45+ with 40,148 noncaregiving peers. Gender-specific analyses also were conducted.

Results. Over 500,000 African Americans aged 45+ were estimated to be raising grandchildren in 2000. They were disproportionately female, younger, and less educated than noncaregivers and more likely to be living in poverty and receiving public assistance. Grandmother caregivers had significantly higher rates of functional limitations and poverty than either grandfather caregivers or other African American women aged 45+.

Discussion. African American grandparent caregivers, particularly grandmothers, represent a highly vulnerable population economically. The finding that four-fifths of African American grandmother caregivers below the poverty line were not receiving public assistance underscores the need for improving program outreach and substance to better serve this population. The use of theories of intersectionality and multiracial feminism in future studies of grandparent caregiving should enhance our understanding of how the impact of race on gender varies by social class.

IN 2001, approximately 2,400,000 grandparents were raising grandchildren in the United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2002aGo). Although this phenomenon cuts across class and ethnic group lines, it is particularly prevalent among African Americans. Nine percent of African American children under age 18 were living in grandparent-headed households compared with 6% of Hispanic children and 4% of non-Hispanic White children (Fields, 2003Go).

Like other caregiver populations, grandparents raising grandchildren are disproportionately female (Szinovacz, 1998Go). To date, however, few studies of African American grandparent caregivers have included gender-specific analyses (e.g., Fuller-Thomson & Minkler, 2000Go). This article uses data from the Census 2000 Supplementary Survey/American Community Survey (C2SS/ACS) (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000Go) to explore the sociodemographic characteristics of African American grandparents raising grandchildren, incorporating gender-specific analyses. Available information on the health of such grandparents, as well as their utilization of public assistance and other government supports, also is provided.

Theories of intersectionality and multiracial feminism are introduced as providing a useful conceptual framework for the study. We then provide a brief review of the historical and contemporary factors that help explain the elevated rates of grandparent caregiving in American society generally and in African American communities in particular. The design and methods of the present study then are described. Bivariate and logistic regression analyses are presented, contrasting African American grandparent caregivers aged 45+ with their noncaregiving peers. The article highlights some of the special problems and challenges facing African American grandparent caregivers and their families as well as directions for further research, policy, and practice.

Theories of intersectionality (Browne & Misra, 2003Go) provide a useful and multifaceted conceptual framework for the present study of grandparent caregiving among African American women. Rooted in scholarship on multiracial feminism (Zinn & Dill, 1996Go), multicultural feminism, and Black feminist thought (Collins, 2000Go), theories of intersectionality emphasize race, class, and gender as "interlocking systems of experience" (Stoller & Gibson, 2000Go, p. 7; Collins, 2000Go) whose interconnections can in turn be seen as helping shape such phenomena as the experience of later-life caregiving.

Traditional feminist theories have been described as "less a formal body of theory than an approach that reflects a commitment to use theory [in ways that] illuminate the gendered nature of society" (Quadagno, 2003Go, p. 51). In a similar manner, intersectional theories rooted in multiracial feminism and related traditions share a commitment to illuminating the racialized, gendered, and classed nature of society, as this is reflected in the experience of women of color. Without losing sight of the important role of gender in influencing life chances and circumstances, multiracial feminism and its counterparts stress that race and class differences are at least as crucial to examine "not as individual characteristics ... but insofar as they are primary organizing principles of a society which locates and positions groups within that society's opportunity structures" (Zinn & Dill, 1996Go, p. 322–323). Intersectional theories rooted in multiracial feminism are particularly relevant to the study of grandparent caregiving among African Americans. With traditional feminist theories, they emphasize topics such as the effects of women's family caregiving responsibilities on their relationship to the paid labor force and their economic well-being in late life (Arber & Ginn, 1991Go). Yet they remind us as well that when White women earn more than African American men, race-based inequalities in the labor market and their implications for later life merit careful attention. Although many feminist scholars in aging have broadened their gaze to emphasize as well the role of race, class, sexual orientation, and interlocking oppressions as these influence later life (Arber & Ginn, 1991Go; Stoller & Gibson, 2000Go), the explicit focus on race and class provided by theories of intersectionality rooted in multiracial feminism has special relevance for the present study as we explore gender and class differences in the experience of grandparent caregiving among African Americans.


    BACKGROUND
 TOP
 Abstract
 Background
 Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Changes in state- and federal-level policies that encouraged or required that a preference be given to relatives in the placement of foster children help explain part of the dramatic growth in the number of children formally placed with relatives during the 1980s and 1990s. In many of the most populated parts of the United States, fully one-half of the children in out-of-home placements and a larger majority of African American children in placements are in "kinship care" or formal placements with relatives (Brooks, Webster, Berrick, & Barth, 1998Go). But policies promoting kinship care do not explain all of the increase observed or the concomitant rise in the number of children who have been informally moving into the homes—and the care—of grandparents (Harden, Clark, & Maguire, 1997Go; Minkler, 1999Go). Prominent among the social factors operative are drug abuse, teen pregnancy, child abuse and neglect (Geen, Holcomb, Jantz, Koralek, Leos-Urbel, & Malm, 2001Go; Hunter & Taylor, 1998Go), unemployment (Burnette, 1997Go; Harden et al., 1997Go), HIV/AIDS (Joslin & Harrison, 1998Go), and a sixfold increase in female incarceration from 1980 to 1995 (U.S. Department of Justice, 1997Go), with high incarceration rates disproportionately found among African American women of childbearing age.

The elevated rates of grandparent caregiving in African American communities also reflect, in part, a long tradition of extensive grandparent involvement in childrearing, rooted in West African extended family traditions and holding important symbolic meaning for many of today's African American families (Brown, Cohon, & Wheller, 2002Go; Hunter & Taylor, 1998Go; Scannapieco & Jackson, 1996Go). In the United States, the deliberate breaking up of African American families during slavery promoted increased reliance on grandparents as caregivers (Sudarkasa, 1981Go; Wilson, 1989Go). The great migrations north in the first half of the 20th century, with African American children frequently left in the care of their southern grandparents while their parents sought employment (Uhlenberg & Kirby, 1998Go; Wilson, 1989Go), were also part of this picture. Together, such forces help explain Uhlenberg and Kirby's (1998)Go observation that as far back as 1940, the proportion of African American children living with grandparents with neither parent present (7.6%) was at least five times higher than that of white children—a disparity that has remained to the present.

African American grandmothers also have long played an important caregiving role in enabling young mothers to complete their educations and/or obtain a job. Yet, as Burton and Dilworth-Anderson (1991)Go have noted, contemporary African American grandparent caregiving often occurs in response to crises, including the above-mentioned epidemics of substance abuse, female incarceration, and HIV/AIDS, which have been particularly severe in many low-income African American communities (Burnette, 1997Go; Joslin, 2002Go). This historical and contemporary backdrop provides an important context within which to explore today's African American grandparents who are raising their grandchildren.


    METHODS
 TOP
 Abstract
 Background
 Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Sample
The C2SS/ACS used a representative 0.6% sample of the U.S. population. The overall response rate was 95.4% (for details, see U.S. Census Bureau, 2002bGo). This study compared the characteristics and circumstances of African American grandparent caregivers, ages 45 and older (n = 2,362), with their noncaregiving African American peers (n = 40,148). Unfortunately, the C2SS/ACS did not ask all respondents if they were grandparents. Thus, we cannot be sure that all age peers in the "noncaregiving" category occupied this role. Age 45 was selected as a cut-off for three reasons: First, fewer than one in five African American grandparent caregivers were below this age (e.g., approximately 120,000 of the estimated 645,000 African American grandparent caregivers were younger than 45 years). Second, the majority of Americans of color are grandparents by the age of 45 (Szinovacz, 1998Go). Third, we recognized, and wanted to respect, the fact that African Americans aged 45 and over were exposed to a very different historical context than were those in subsequent cohorts.

Measures
Several measures included in the C2SS/ACS held special relevance for this study and are operationalized as follows. "Grandparent caregiving" status was determined through the following question: "Is this grandparent currently responsible for most of the basic needs of any grandchild(ren) under the age of 18 who live(s) in this house or apartment?" "Duration of grandparent caregiving" was determined through the response to a subsequent question: "How long has this grandparent been responsible for the(se) grandchild(ren)?" "Employment status" (employed, unemployed, not in labor force) was determined for respondents aged 45–64.

"Household income" was based on a summation of income in the preceding 12 months for all household members from the following sources: (a) wages, salary, commissions, bonuses, or tips from all jobs; (b) self-employment income; (c) interest, dividends, net rental income, royalty income, or income from estates and trusts; (d) Social Security or Railroad Retirement; (e) Supplemental Security Income (SSI); (f) any public assistance or welfare payments from the state or local welfare office; (g) retirement, survivor, or disability pensions; and (h) any other sources of income received regularly, such as veterans' payments, unemployment compensation, child support, or alimony. Unfortunately, it is not clear whether respondents receiving foster care payments would have entered this source under category (f) or (h). The "poverty index" reported the household income as a percentage of the poverty line for households of that size. "Immigrant status" was a dichotomous variable: those born inside versus outside the United States. "Place of residence" had three response categories: Central City of metropolitan statistical area (MSA), remainder of MSA (suburban), and outside MSA (rural). With use of the census definition, "overcrowding" was defined as more household members than rooms. "Limitations in activities of daily living" indicated whether or not a respondent reported difficulty dressing, bathing, or getting around inside the home because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition lasting ≥6 months. The variable "functional disability" was defined as whether or not a respondent had a condition that substantially limits one or more basic physical activities such as walking, climbing stairs, reaching, lifting, or carrying. Total "number of disabled people in household" (zero, one, two, three, four or more) was the sum of household residents who reported having a functional disability and/or a severe vision or hearing problem. Receipt of "food stamps" was determined by the response to the question: "At any time in the past 12 months, did anyone in this household receive food stamps?" Similarly, receipt of "free/reduced lunch programs" was determined by the response to the question asking whether at any time during the last 12 months any member of the household was "enrolled in or receiving benefits from free or reduced price meals at school through the National School Lunch Program or the School Breakfast Program." All missing data in the C2SS were imputed by the U.S. Census using a sophisticated hot decking technique (for further details, see U.S. Census Bureau, 2002bGo).

Analysis Plan
The prevalence and number of grandparent caregivers were calculated for a range of demographic subgroups (e.g., those aged 45–49, those who were married). This analysis was replicated for women and for men.

With use of chi-square tests for categorical variables (e.g., marital status) and independent t tests for ratio-level variables (e.g., household income), African Americans aged 45 and over who were raising their grandchildren (unweighted n = 2,362) were compared and contrasted with African American peers who were not raising grandchildren (unweighted n = 40,148). Additionally, the 1,612 female caregivers aged 45 and over were compared with their 23,173 African American female peers who were not raising their grandchildren and the 750 male caregivers were compared with their 16,975 noncaregiving male peers (all unweighted numbers).

Analyses of the use of public assistance, SSI, food stamps, and free/reduced lunch programs were also conducted, contrasting those grandparent caregivers (total unweighted n = 599, female n = 486, male n = 113) and their noncaregiving peers (total n = 6,701, female n = 4,480, male n = 2,221) who were living under the poverty line. Last, a logistic regression analysis was completed to model the association of several demographic characteristics with grandparent caregiving status among African Americans aged 45 and over.

The numbers and percentages in the following tables were generated using a weighting variable designed by the U.S. Census Bureau. This weight variable represents the probability of selection including noninterview adjustments and controlling to the 2000 Census housing units and population level (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000Go).


    RESULTS
 TOP
 Abstract
 Background
 Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
There were estimated to be 525,095 African Americans aged 45 and over raising their grandchildren in the year 2000, making up 5.8% of all African Americans in this age group (see Table 1). When analyzed by gender, 4.1% of African American men and 7% of women were providing such care. The percentage of caregivers was highest among those aged 60–64 with 8.4% of African Americans providing care and lowest among those aged 85 and over, among whom only 0.6% were caregivers. A gradient in care provision was seen with respect to education. Only 3.3% of college graduates provided care, for example, compared with 6.6% of those without a high school degree. The poorest individuals were also more likely to be providing care: 8.5% of those living below the poverty level were the main source of care for grandchildren compared with 5.2% of those living above the poverty line. Immigrants had a lower prevalence of caregiving than those born in the United States; similarly, urban residents were slightly less likely to be grandparent caregivers than were those living in nonmetropolitan areas. African American women who had a functional limitation had a higher prevalence of raising grandchildren than did those without functional limitations, although this was not the case for males. More than one-fourth of African American grandmothers aged 45 and over on public assistance were raising their grandchild (29.3%) as opposed to only 6.4% of those not receiving such aid. This marked difference in prevalence was not present for the males in the study.


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Table 1. Prevalence and Estimated Number of African American Grandparent Caregivers Age 45 and Older.

 
The majority of grandparent caregivers reported having been "responsible for most of the basic needs" of one or more of their minor grandchildren over an extended period. Only 18.7% had been caregiving for < 1 year, 18.7% had provided care for 1–2 years, 17.6% for 3–4 years, and 45% had been raising one or more grandchildren for ≥5 years. Three of every five grandparent caregivers (60.7%) were raising only one grandchild, one in five (21.7%) was raising two grandchildren, and 17.6% were raising three or more grandchildren. Approximately half (47.1%) of the grandparent caregiver households were skipped-generation households (e.g., neither the grandchildren's parents nor their aunts or uncles were present in the home), whereas the remainder of the households had at least three generations co-residing. One in every eight grandparent caregiver households (11.8%) contained an underage son or daughter of the grandparent caregiver. Three percent of the grandparent caregiving households contained at least one parent of the grandparent (e.g., the grandchild's great-grandparent). Approximately half of all grandparent caregiving households (45.9%) contained at least one disabled member, and 13% of these households included two or more disabled members. Thirty-two percent of households had one disabled grandparent, and an additional 5% of households contained two disabled grandparents. Only 6% of grandparent caregiving households included a disabled person in the middle generation, and only 5.2% included a disabled grandchild.

Comparison of African American Grandparent Caregivers Aged 45+ With Their Noncaregiving Peers
As Table 2 shows, African American grandparent caregivers aged 45 and over differed significantly from their noncaregiving peers along multiple dimensions. Caregivers were much more likely to be female than were noncaregivers. Grandmother caregivers were younger than their noncaregiving peers. Grandfather caregivers were much more likely to be married than were noncaregiving males or caregiving grandmothers (84% vs 56% and 35%, respectively). Grandparent caregivers were less likely to have completed high school. Grandmother caregivers were more likely to be out of the labor force than their noncaregiving peers. Although the poverty rate of grandfather caregivers did not differ significantly from those of other African American males aged 45+, the poverty rate of caregiving grandmothers was dramatically higher than that of their noncaregiver peers: Almost one-third of all caregiving grandmothers lived below the poverty line, as did more than one-fourth of all caregiving grandparents. Grandparent caregivers, and particularly grandmothers, were significantly less likely to be immigrants than were noncaregivers and were not overrepresented in central cities of metropolitan areas. Grandparent caregivers of both genders had considerably larger households and were more likely to live in overcrowded conditions than were noncaregivers aged 45 and over.


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Table 2. Comparison of African American Grandparent Caregivers Age 45 and Older to Their Noncaregiving African American Peers.

 
Both grandmother and grandfather caregivers were comparable with their peers with respect to limitations in activities of daily living (e.g., bathing). Although African American grandmothers raising their grandchildren were more likely than their peers to have functional limitations such as problems in climbing stairs, this was not the case for their male counterparts.

When analysis was restricted to those under the poverty line (see Table 3), caregiving females had much higher rates of public assistance use than their noncaregiving peers, but this was not the case among males. Although use of SSI was not associated with caregiving status for either women or men, the reported use of both food stamps and free/reduced lunch programs was much higher among caregivers of both genders than among their noncaregiving peers. Both male and female caregivers under the poverty line were three times more likely to be living in overcrowded circumstances than were their noncaregiving peers.


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Table 3. Comparison of African American Grandparent Caregivers Age 45 and Older and Living Below the Poverty Line to Their Noncaregiving African American Peers Living Below the Poverty Line.

 
The use of multiple logistic regression analysis, shown in Table 4, allowed us to assess the individual association of each variable with grandparent caregiving status among African Americans aged 45 and over, independent of the contribution of the other variables in the equation. The analysis indicates that African American females had > 70% higher odds of being grandparent caregivers than their male peers, and for every year older in age, the odds of being a grandparent caregiver declined by 2%. In comparison with married respondents, widowed respondents had 29% lower odds, divorced and separated respondents had approximately 45% lower odds, and never married respondents had 69% lower odds of being grandparent caregivers. In comparison with those who had completed college, those with some college, those with a high school diploma, and those who had not completed high school, all had > 50% higher odds of being a grandparent caregiver.


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Table 4. Logistic Regression for African American Grandparent Caregivers Age 45 and Older Versus Noncaregiving African American Peers.

 
When compared with persons living below the poverty line, those living between 100% and 149% of the poverty line had 14% lower odds of being grandparent caregivers and those at > 200% of the poverty line had 42% lower odds of filling this role. Those receiving public assistance had more than three times the odds of reporting grandparent caregiving responsibilities than did their African American peers who were not receiving public assistance. Finally, those receiving food stamps had twice the odds of being grandparent caregivers than those not receiving food stamps.


    DISCUSSION
 TOP
 Abstract
 Background
 Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Our findings estimate that more than half a million African American grandparents aged 45 and over were raising grandchildren in the year 2000. These figures represent 4.1% of African American men and 7% of African American women aged 45 and over. The profile of African American grandparents raising grandchildren that emerged in this study in many ways was similar to that suggested by earlier national and regional studies on substantially smaller samples. Consistent with earlier studies, for example, we found such grandparents significantly more likely to be female, to have not completed high school, to be younger in age, and to live in poverty than their noncaregiving peers. It is interesting to note that these similarities in outcomes were present despite dissimilarities among the studies in the definition of grandparent caregivers. In this study, grandparent caregiver status was defined as those who reported that they were currently responsible for most of the basic needs of any co-resident grandchild(ren) under the age of 18. Slightly more than half of these grandparents had some middle-generation members co-resident, including the grandchild's parents and/or the grandchild's aunts or uncles. Studies using the National Survey of Families and Households also defined grandparent caregivers by self-report but did not restrict the category to those who were living with a grandchild (e.g., Fuller-Thomson, Minkler, & Driver, 1997Go; Szinovacz, 1998Go). Strawbridge, Wallhagen, Shema, and Kaplan (1997)Go defined grandparent caregivers as those who were raising a grandchild, grandniece, or grandnephew but explicitly excluded those who were just providing daycare services for grandchildren so that their parents could work full time. Finally, Chalfie (1994)Go looked solely at grandparents raising grandchildren in skipped-generation families in which no middle-generation members were present in the household.

The extremely large size of the C2SS/ACS data set provided us with a unique opportunity to examine among African Americans the importance of individuals' social position with respect to both socioeconomic status and gender. Previous research has highlighted the much higher prevalence of grandparent caregiving among African Americans than among Whites or Hispanics (Fields, 2003Go). The findings of this study, however, emphasize the importance of not overgeneralizing by race: Considerations of both class (including poverty status, employment, and education) and gender are essential for understanding the variation in patterns of grandparent caregiving.

Our finding that those African Americans under the poverty line had a much higher prevalence of grandparent caregiving was consistent with the findings of several earlier studies using national data sets, which, despite considerably smaller sample sizes, also reported a strong association between poverty status and caregiving (Chalfie, 1994Go; Fuller-Thomson et al., 1997Go). However, our gender-specific analysis shed further light on this issue, revealing that it was only grandmothers who experienced significantly higher rates of poverty than their same-sex peers. In the same way, whereas women and men with a college degree had similar prevalence rates of grandparent caregiving (3.5% vs 3.0%), women who had not completed high school were much more likely to be raising grandchildren than were their comparably educated male peers (8.2% vs 4.6%).

These findings are in keeping with the emphasis of theories of intersectionality on the impact of gender on social class. Part of the gender difference in the poverty levels observed, for example, may be explained through the examination of labor force participation for those aged 45–64. Grandmother caregivers, but not grandfathers, thus were significantly more likely to be out of the labor force than their noncaregiving peers. Although the current data set did not allow us to investigate the employment history of subjects, numerous studies have demonstrated that the disproportionate burden of family caregiving obligations on women, including grandmothers raising grandchildren (Joslin, 2002Go; Minkler & Roe, 1993Go), frequently results in an "in-and-out" pattern of labor force participation and an earlier curtailment of employment to accommodate late-life caregiving responsibilities. Further, because male caregivers, including grandfathers, are much more likely to be married than females, they may be in a better position to continue working—albeit often in low-wage jobs—while their spouses undertake the bulk of daily caregiving activities.

The high poverty rate observed in this study is of special concern as grandparent caregivers are faced with many additional costs related to the education, health care, and other basic needs of the children in their care. For example, Bryson and Casper (1999)Go have reported that fully one in three children in the care of grandparents lacks access to health insurance compared with one in seven in the general population. Out-of-pocket health care costs for such children may be considerable, as low-income children have significantly higher rates of illness and disability (Amick, Levine, Terlov, & Walsh, 1995Go).

The elevated rates of poverty observed in our study help explain the finding that almost one-fourth of all African Americans aged 45 and over who were receiving public assistance were raising their grandchildren. This finding is consistent with that of Harden and colleagues (1997)Go who found that twice as many children of those in kinship care were receiving public assistance or welfare as those living with parents (Harden et al., 1997Go). Because grandparent caregivers often are eligible for "child-only" Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) grants, the higher proportion of grandparent caregiver households receiving public assistance may well reflect a large proportion of families that receive funds for grandchildren but not other family members in need. Further, the much higher rates of overcrowding among poor grandparent caregivers than among poor noncaregivers may be indicative of even more acute levels of need among custodial grandparents that is in turn reflected in the disproportionate percentage of caregivers receiving public assistance.

The use of public assistance often reflects increased knowledge of and access to public programs such as food stamps (Cunnyngham, 2002Go). Even for those not receiving public assistance, however, the nature of caregiving suggests that these grandparents are likely to be more in touch with formal systems of care (health and social service agencies, public schools, etc.), which in turn may help them learn about and access services for which they or their grandchildren are eligible.

The gendered division of family labor, with women's far greater involvement in connecting their families with health and social service systems, may help to explain why grandmother caregivers living below poverty were significantly more likely to be receiving public assistance than were their male counterparts. Additionally, however, low-income grandfather caregivers who qualify for public assistance may, by virtue of gender or gender-related factors, face greater stigma and other psychological and social barriers that preclude their accessing this aid. For example, one such restriction that disproportionately affects men is the TANF regulation rendering ineligible anyone who is convicted of drug possession or use (Schiele, 1998Go). Although recipients of public assistance in the current study were disproportionately female, there were still 79% of grandmother caregivers (and 96% of grandfather caregivers) who were living below the poverty line and not receiving any public assistance payments. In the current climate of cutbacks in government aid programs, these levels may worsen rather than improve.

Finally, it should be recalled that for every child in the formal foster care system, several more are being informally cared for by grandparents and other relatives (Berrick & Needell, 1999Go) and may not be receiving any aid that could help them in this role. Although the census did not collect data that would enable us to determine whether children had been formally placed with grandparents, recent data from the National Survey of America's Families (Ehrle & Geen, 2002Go) showed that low-income children in private (informal) kinship care were significantly less likely to receive a variety of benefits including TANF, food stamps, and Medicaid when compared with all children in the care of relatives.

The welfare reform changes enacted in 1996 included lifetime limits of 5 years on support through TANF. Because many states failed to exempt grandparents, we may soon see increasing numbers of grandparent caregivers losing an important source of financial aid. With 45% of African American grandparent caregivers aged 45 and above raising their grandchild for ≥ 5 years, the consequences of TANF time limits should be carefully tracked.

Our finding that African American grandmother caregivers were more likely than their noncaregiving peers to report functional limitations was in keeping with several earlier studies (Fuller-Thomson & Minkler, 2000Go; Solomon & Marx, 1999Go; Strawbridge et al., 1997Go). As Strawbridge and colleagues (1997)Go suggest, the mix of lifelong and current strains may render grandparent caregivers more vulnerable than their peers to physical limitations over the life course. Earlier research also has demonstrated higher rates of functional limitations among the poor, African Americans, and women, suggesting, again, that the population in this study may have been particularly vulnerable where functional limitations were concerned. When we examine in particular the gender differences in functional limitations, two other considerations should be taken into account. First, the disproportionate provision of hands-on caregiving for children by women and the fact that grandfathers are much more likely to be married and thus not solely responsible for the physical demands of caregiving may provide a protective effect for males with respect to those limitations that may be exacerbated by the physical demands of caregiving. Second, and relatedly, grandmother caregivers may be more frequently exposed to their functional limitations as a consequence of their greater involvement in day-to-day caregiving, giving these limitations more salience such that they are more likely to be reported (Minkler & Fuller-Thomson, 1999Go).

Finally, often interconnected with poverty and functional limitations is another problem that was observed in the present study, namely, high rates of overcrowding. In addition to the health problems posed, overcrowding in some jurisdictions may threaten the grandparents' ability to get or retain formal custody of the children in their care (e.g., where foster care regulations require separate bedrooms for children of different sexes) (Berrick & Needell, 1999Go).

The present study had several limitations. First, the cross-sectional nature of the research prevented us from moving beyond the reporting of associations to determine whether the factors examined were causally related to grandparent caregiving status and, if so, in which direction. Second, the C2SS/ACS did not provide information on whether the grandchild's parent was in the household, whether grandparents had legal custody of the grandchildren in their care, or whether the child was formally placed in the household by child welfare workers. This information is critical because, as discussed below, grandparents raising grandchildren in the formal foster care system are eligible for significantly greater benefits than those without the "kinship care" designation.

The fact that the C2SS/ACS did not allow us to know if respondents had grandchildren outside the household necessitated our use of a comparison group of persons aged 45 and over, some of whom may not have had any grandchildren. Although this strategy has been used elsewhere (e.g., Solomon and Marx, 1999Go), the possible inclusion of nongrandparents in the noncaregiver category may blur the comparison to some degree. However, because 86% of African Americans aged 55–64 do have grandchildren (Szinovacz, 1998Go), the impact of including some respondents in the comparison group who are not grandparents is probably minimal.

Despite these limitations, this study underlined the importance of using large representative samples of African American grandparent caregivers. Smaller studies have tended to rely on simple comparisons of African Americans versus Whites with continued emphasis on the much higher rates of caregiving among the former population. Through a lens focused on the African American population, with use of a large representative sample, important variations in grandparent caregiving by class, gender, and marital status become apparent. Future research now is needed to provide intra- and interracial examinations of these variations.

Concurrent with continued research, however, efforts must be made to provide increased assistance to grandparent caregivers in need of such support. One promising avenue for assistance may be found in the National Family Caregiver Support Act of 2000. Under the reauthorization of the Older American Act, which created the National Family Caregiver Support Program (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Aging, 2002Go), states are allowed to use up to 10% of their National Family Caregiver Support Program funds to assist older relative caregivers, giving priority to those in the greatest financial and social need. In many states, efforts already are underway to use these funds to help grandparent caregivers attain needed legal, financial, and social services, provide respite care, and in other ways address the needs of this population group. For the estimated 140,000 African American grandparent caregivers living in poverty, such support may be vital but insufficient. Our finding that only half of grandparent caregivers living below the poverty line were receiving food stamps and that < 20% were receiving public assistance underscores the importance of adequate outreach and budget allocations to ensure that vulnerable caregivers receive the support needed for themselves and the children in their care.

Conclusion
African American grandparents bear a disproportionate burden of grandparent caregiving for the nation's children. Although not without rewards, including relief in being able to "keep the family together" (Burton, 1992Go; Jendrek, 1994Go; Minkler & Roe, 1993Go), and while embedded in a rich tradition of cross-generational caregiving in this community (Wilson, 1989Go), such caregiving also is associated with substantial costs. This study has attempted to help illuminate the characteristics of African American grandparent caregivers, with particular attention to gender differences in such caregiving, and has suggested avenues for further research. Subsequent studies of grandparent caregiving would benefit from the continued and expanded use of the theories of intersectionality to enhance our understanding of variations in the impacts of race on gender by socioeconomic status. The importance of continuing to take advantage of the rich C2SS/ACS as a primary data source also is stressed. In addition, however, this article has suggested that changes in current programs, policies, and practices should be considered on the basis of the extant knowledge base to assist America's growing number of intergenerational households headed by African American grandparents.


    Acknowledgments
 
The authors gratefully acknowledge Alison Field and Ban Cheah for their consulting and assistance with computer analysis in conjunction with this study. They are grateful as well to Ken Bryson and Mai Weismantle for their encouragement and assistance and to the U.S. Census Bureau for providing access to this rich and unique data set. Editor Chuck Longino and three anonymous reviewers provided very helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. Finally, special thanks are due Leanne McCormack, Lisa Strohschein, and Gena Anderson for their assistance. This research is part of a larger study made possible by a grant from the Retirement Research Foundation, and the authors gratefully acknowledge the Foundation for its belief in and support of this work.


    Footnotes
 
Decision Editor: Charles F. Longino Jr., PhD

Received for publication February 27, 2004. Accepted for publication August 30, 2004.


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