Stepgrandparents and Grandparents: The View from Young Adults

Young adult college students describe their relationship with either their stepgrandparent or grandparent. Between-group comparisons are made regarding amount of contact, satisfaction and importance of contact, social and personal roles, expected behaviors, family strengths, and parental influence. Grandchildren report having and desiring more contact, rate the relationships as more important, and report more involvement in social and personal roles, expected behaviors, and higher relationship strength than stepgrandchildren. The strength of the stepgrandchild-stepgrandparent relationship is more highly related to the respondent's view of the (step)parent than the grandchild-grandparent relationship. The value of this information to the reconstituted family and the need for further research is discussed.