Grandparental support and life satisfaction among adolescents in residential care
Shalhevet Attar-Schwartz and
Yisca Huri
Children and Youth Services Review, 2019, vol. 96, issue C, 70-78
Abstract:
Grandparental support among youth in out-of-home settings in general, and among youth in residential care settings (RCSs) in particular, has been largely under-researched. The current study, based on the reports of a random cluster sample of 1236 adolescents in grades 8 to 12 residing in Israeli educational RCSs for youth from underprivileged backgrounds, examined the contribution of informal grandparental support to the life satisfaction of adolescents in RCSs. The findings showed that the grandparent identified by the adolescent as the closest grandparent (usually the maternal grandmother) was highly involved in the adolescent's life. In line with social capital and family systems theories, we found grandparental support to be positively associated with adolescents' life satisfaction. Adolescents reporting better relationships between their closest grandparent and the parent that is the offspring of that grandparent also reported higher levels of life satisfaction. Finally, we found a significant interaction between grandparental support, parent-grandparent relationship, and adolescent life satisfaction. Specifically, it was found that for youth with better parent-grandparent relationships, the link between grandparental support and adolescent life satisfaction is stronger. The findings enhance our understanding of the importance of familial figures other than parents to the well-being of children and youth in residential care and the circumstances in which these relationships are most beneficial to them. The findings have implications for intervention programs aimed at strengthening the social support systems of children and youth in out-of-home settings in order to enhance their well-being.
Keywords: Residential care; Youth; Grandparent support; Intergenerational relationships; Life satisfaction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)
Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740918308235
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:96:y:2019:i:c:p:70-78
DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.11.033
Access Statistics for this article
Children and Youth Services Review is currently edited by Duncan Lindsey
More articles in Children and Youth Services Review from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu (repec@elsevier.com).