Original Research
Rationales for Support That African American Grandmothers Provide to Their Children Who Are Parenting Adolescents
The Journal of School Nursing 2015, Vol. 31(6) 441-449 ª The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permission: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1059840515572026 jsn.sagepub.com
Jen’nea Sumo, PhD, RN1, Barbara Dancy, PhD, RN2, Wrenetha Julion, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN1, and JoEllen Wilbur, PhD, APN, FAAN1
Abstract African American grandmothers are known to be a major source of support for their children who are parenting adolescents, but little is known about why they provide support. The purpose of this study was to describe the kinds of support provided by African American maternal and paternal grandmothers to their parenting adolescents and the reasons for giving support. In all, 10 maternal and 10 paternal grandmothers were recruited from one low-income African American community to participate in this cross-sectional, qualitative, descriptive study. Grandmothers provided support due to love and concern for their adolescent parenting children and their grandchildren. Grandmothers were influenced by their own past experiences and by the adolescent’s personality and behavior. School nurses and school health clinic personnel are tactically positioned within the lives of families with parenting adolescents and can help facilitate the provision of support that allows adolescent parents to successfully transition to adulthood and assume adult roles. Keywords qualitative research, academic achievement/attendance, teen pregnancy/parenting, parent/family Adolescence is a developmental stage in which the adolescent develops skills and resources necessary to take on adult roles (World Health Organization, 2014), such as being a parent. For adolescents transitioning into adulthood, an important outcome is academic achievement. However, education outcomes have been found to be worse for adolescent parents than for their childless peers (Mollborn, 2007). Recent findings show that only 50% of adolescent mothers earn a high school diploma or General Education Development (GED) certification by age 22 (Perper, Peterson, & Manlove, 2010). A study by Fletcher and Wolfe (2012) found that only 64% of adolescent fathers earned a high school diploma (16% earned a GED). African American adolescent females and males (15–19 years old) are more likely to have children than their Caucasian counterparts (47.3 vs. 21.7 per 1,000 females and 26.6 vs. 12.8 per 1,000 males, respectively; Martin, Hamilton, Ventura, Osterman, & Matthews, 2013). This disparity may contribute to the lower percentage of African American students (66.1%) compared to Caucasian students (83%) completing high school in 4 years (Stillwell & Stable, 2013). Completion of high school is important for adolescent parents because adolescent parents without a high school education or its equivalent have fewer employment opportunities (Meadows, Sadler, & Reitmeyer, 2000; Shuger, 2012) and
are at higher risk for ongoing poverty and reliance on public assistance (Brace, Hall, & Hunt, 2008; Ng & Kaye, 2012; Terry-Humen, Manlove, & Moore, 2005). Within African American families, grandmothers are viewed as a key source of influence in the life of their parenting adolescent children (Beers & Hollo, 2009; Paschal, 2006). In some cases, however, the involvement of maternal grandmothers in parenting by their adolescent children may be perceived by adolescent mothers as being intensely intrusive and may engender conflicts (SmithBattle, 2006a). Conflict in relationships between a maternal grandmother and her child (an adolescent mother) may be harmful to the adolescent mother’s psychosocial well-being and parenting (Shook, Jones, Forehand, Dorsey, & Brody, 2010). An adolescent mother who experiences postpartum depression and has a negative relationship with her mother (the grandchild’s maternal grandmother) may experience an exacerbation of a
1 2
Rush University, College of Nursing, Chicago, IL, USA University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Nursing, Chicago, IL, USA
Corresponding Author: Jen’nea Sumo, PhD, RN, Rush University College of Nursing, 600 S. Paulina St., Chicago, IL 60612, USA. Email: Jen’[email protected]
Downloaded from jsn.sagepub.com at Kungl Tekniska Hogskolan / Royal Institute of Technology on November 15, 2015
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depressive condition (Reid & Meadows-Oliver, 2007). Adolescent mothers who have conflicting relationships with the maternal grandmother face challenges nurturing children, and struggle to prevent the development of maladaptive parenting behavior (Sellers, Black, Boris, Oberlander, & Myers, 2011). In contrast to the detrimental effects induced by a negative relationship, a positive relationship between an adolescent mother and the maternal grandmother may shield adolescent mothers and grandchildren from risks related to single parenthood for adolescent parents (Jones, Zalot, Chester, Foster, & Sterrett, 2007). The positive outcomes resulting from the support provided by African American maternal grandmothers to their adolescent parenting daughters are well established (Beers & Hollo, 2009). For example, support from African American maternal grandmothers not only positively influences the mental health, parenting competence, and parenting behavior of adolescent mothers (Beers & Hollo, 2009; Davis, Rhodes, & Hamilton-Leaks, 1997; Oberlander, Black, & Starr, 2007; Sadler, Anderson, & Sabatelli, 2001; Sellers et al., 2011; Voight, Hans, & Bernstein, 1996) but also facilitates their completion of school and vocational training (Gordon, Chase-Landsdale, & Brooks-Gunn, 2004), thereby bolstering adolescent mothers’ economic independence (SmithBattle, 2006b). Less is known about the influence grandmothers have on academic outcomes of adolescent fathers. Although less attention has been given to the role of African American grandmothers in assisting their adolescent sons, research indicating a positive impact of such support is emerging. Grandmothers’ support and encouragement influence their sons to be responsible fathers (Dallas & Chen, 1998; Miller, 1994; Paschal, 2006) and help to foster adolescent fathers’ involvement with their children (Paschal, 2006; Paschal, Lewis-Moss, & Hsiao, 2011). Further, the acceptance of the grandchild by the paternal grandmother and good relationships with the grandchild’s mother and maternal grandmother, increase the adolescent father’s involvement with his child (Dallas & Chen, 1999). Maternal grandmothers also support adolescent father’s involvement with his child. These grandmothers assume a gatekeeping role with father– child interactions that can hinder or facilitate the father’s relationship with his child (Gavin et al., 2002). Grandmothers often provide support in the midst of various challenges, such as economic hardship and difficulties negotiating the grandmother role while pursuing and fulfilling their own personal development goals (Paskiewicz, 2004; Sadler & Clemmens, 2004; Andrews & Moore, 2011; Bowles & Darlington, 1998). Because adolescent parents rely on the support received from grandmothers, and not all grandmothers assume a caregiving role (Letourneau, Stewart, & Barnfather, 2004), it is surprising that only a limited amount of research has explored the rationales of grandmothers for providing support. We found just one study that examined the reasons African American grandmothers
provide support to their adolescent parenting children, and the study was limited to the provision of child care (Voran & Phillips, 1993). The findings showed that grandmothers generally provided child care because of the young age of the adolescent mother and the lack of involvement of the grandchild’s adolescent father. Thus, we need to learn more from grandmothers not only about the support they provide to their parenting adolescent children but also about their reasons for providing that support. When interacting with grandmothers in school and community settings, school nurses can use the information gained from grandmothers to positively reinforce the grandmother’s rationale and thus promote the grandmother’s provision of support. In essence, school nurses can proactively support positive health and educational practices as these practices occur in the school and community. Additionally, this information can inform school-based programs designed for parenting adolescents and their children. While these school-based support programs have led to positive outcomes (Cusworth Walker, Kerns, Lyon, Bruns, & Cosgrove, 2010; Sadler et al., 2007), adolescent parents nevertheless continue to rely on their families for support during their transition to adulthood (World Health Organization, 2014).
Purpose The purpose of this study was to describe the supports provided by African American maternal and paternal grandmothers to their parenting adolescents and the reasons for the supports they provided.
Method Design A cross-sectional, qualitative, descriptive, research design was used to explore the types of support low-income African American grandmothers provided to their parenting adolescent sons and daughters and their reasons for providing these types of support. As described by Sandelowski (2000), the goal of qualitative descriptive research is to provide a comprehensive summary or interpretation of a phenomenon using every day language. The study received approval from the university institutional review board.
Setting and Sample A purposive sample was recruited from one predominantly African American Chicago neighborhood composed of 85% African Americans (Yonek & Hasnain-Wynia, 2011). Within this neighborhood, 26% of the individuals lived below the poverty level (City of Chicago, 2011). Recruitment sites included churches, community centers, schools, clinics, businesses, and places where community group meetings were held. At every recruitment site, flyers were left with the facility/group representative or passed out individually to community members. The recruitment flyer
Downloaded from jsn.sagepub.com at Kungl Tekniska Hogskolan / Royal Institute of Technology on November 15, 2015
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included information about the purpose of the study, eligibility criteria, time commitment, cash incentive, and contact information to learn more about the study. Eligibility criteria for this study were: (a) the study participant was the grandmother or surrogate grandmother of a child born to an African American adolescent mother or father; (b) the adolescent son or daughter was between the ages of 14 and 19, and had a child that was newborn to 23 months old; (c) grandmother was low-income (an annual income of < $25,000 a year); (d) the grandmother selfidentified as Black or African American; (e) grandmother resided in the target neighborhood, and (f) grandmother acknowledged providing some support to her adolescent. Of the 22 grandmothers screened, all met the study inclusion criteria. One maternal and one paternal grandmother declined participation due to time constraints. Of the 20 study participants, 10 grandmothers were recruited through direct face-to-face contact. The other 10 women were referred indirectly by someone who had received information about the study from the primary researcher and passed the information on. Indirect recruitment occurred in one of two ways. Either the grandmother gave the community representative permission to provide her contact information to the researcher or the community representative gave the grandmother the primary researcher’s contact information. Of the 20 grandmothers, 10 were maternal and 10 paternal grandmothers. The interviews were conducted at mutually agreed upon locations and times and in venues that afforded the grandmother privacy (18 homes, 1 public library, and 1 restaurant).
Measures A semistructured interview guide was developed to explore the grandmothers’ supports and reasons for their provision of support. First, the grandmothers were queried about the type of supports they provided to their parenting adolescent. Subsequent questions elicited information about their reasons for each type of support they provided. Specifically, grandmothers were asked ‘‘how did you come to the decision that the support should be given? What was your reason for giving the support? How did your adolescent son/daughter influence your decision to give the support?’’ Interviews ranged from 5 to 30 min. A self-administered demographic questionnaire included the grandmother’s age, number of children under 18 years of age in the household, marital status, monthly income, education, employment status, and type of economic assistance. It also included the current age of the grandmother’s parenting child.
Procedure Prior to the interview, the grandmother read the informed consent or it was read to her. After the signing of the consent form, the demographic questionnaire was self-administered.
Next the interview was conducted and digitally recorded. At the conclusion of the interview, the participants were given a US$20 VISA gift card.
Data Analysis The digitally audiotaped interviews were transcribed verbatim by a professional transcriptionist. To ensure the accuracy of the transcriptions, each transcript was checked against its audiotape. Content analysis was used to analyze the data (Downe-Wamboldt, 1992). The initial step was to read and reread the interviews to obtain a general sense of the data (Graneheim & Lundman, 2004). Next, words and phrases were selected as the unit of analysis to create categories based on the study purpose. Each category was defined and rules for coding were developed. To determine if the definitions and rules would yield consistency in coding, two researchers independently coded each transcript. Discrepancies were discussed until agreement was reached. The newly revised categories and codes were then used by the two researchers to code each transcript independently. Coding was compared on all transcripts, discrepancies discussed, and consensus reached.
Results Sample Characteristics The maternal and paternal grandmothers were similar in age (maternal grandmothers, mean [M] ¼ 48.9, SD ¼ 11.6 and paternal grandmothers, M ¼ 48.3, SD ¼ 13.0) and in the number of children under 18 years residing in their home (maternal grandmothers, M ¼ 2.6, SD ¼ 2.1 and paternal grandmothers, M ¼ 2.6, SD ¼ 1.8). Their parenting adolescent daughters and sons were also similar in current age (M ¼ 18.1, SD ¼ 0.99 and M ¼ 18.4 SD ¼ 0.52, respectively). Adolescent parents’ ages ranged from 16 to 19. Most grandmothers were unmarried (80%), had a high school education or more (70%), were not employed (65%), and regularly received food stamps (Table 1).
Supports Provided Maternal and paternal grandmothers reported providing the following supports to their parenting adolescent and/or grandchild: babysitting, mentoring, daily caregiving, financial support, and purchasing items. Based upon grandmothers’ responses to questions about the type of support provided, each support is defined and described. Babysitting was defined as the time grandmothers spent actually watching and caring for the child of the adolescent parent when the adolescent was away from the child. Six paternal grandmothers and four maternal grandmothers reported that they babysat their grandchildren. Mentoring was defined as verbally communicating advice related to the adolescent parent’s spiritual and emotional growth, life skills, and parenting.
Downloaded from jsn.sagepub.com at Kungl Tekniska Hogskolan / Royal Institute of Technology on November 15, 2015
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Table 1. Grandmother Demographic Characteristics. Total, N ¼ 20 Characteristics Marital status Married Never married Separated/divorced/widowed Monthly income ≤ US$499 US$500–US$1,299 US$1,300–US$2,099 Education
Rationales for Support That African American Grandmothers Provide to Their Children Who Are Parenting Adolescents
The Journal of School Nursing 2015, Vol. 31(6) 441-449 ª The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permission: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1059840515572026 jsn.sagepub.com
Jen’nea Sumo, PhD, RN1, Barbara Dancy, PhD, RN2, Wrenetha Julion, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN1, and JoEllen Wilbur, PhD, APN, FAAN1
Abstract African American grandmothers are known to be a major source of support for their children who are parenting adolescents, but little is known about why they provide support. The purpose of this study was to describe the kinds of support provided by African American maternal and paternal grandmothers to their parenting adolescents and the reasons for giving support. In all, 10 maternal and 10 paternal grandmothers were recruited from one low-income African American community to participate in this cross-sectional, qualitative, descriptive study. Grandmothers provided support due to love and concern for their adolescent parenting children and their grandchildren. Grandmothers were influenced by their own past experiences and by the adolescent’s personality and behavior. School nurses and school health clinic personnel are tactically positioned within the lives of families with parenting adolescents and can help facilitate the provision of support that allows adolescent parents to successfully transition to adulthood and assume adult roles. Keywords qualitative research, academic achievement/attendance, teen pregnancy/parenting, parent/family Adolescence is a developmental stage in which the adolescent develops skills and resources necessary to take on adult roles (World Health Organization, 2014), such as being a parent. For adolescents transitioning into adulthood, an important outcome is academic achievement. However, education outcomes have been found to be worse for adolescent parents than for their childless peers (Mollborn, 2007). Recent findings show that only 50% of adolescent mothers earn a high school diploma or General Education Development (GED) certification by age 22 (Perper, Peterson, & Manlove, 2010). A study by Fletcher and Wolfe (2012) found that only 64% of adolescent fathers earned a high school diploma (16% earned a GED). African American adolescent females and males (15–19 years old) are more likely to have children than their Caucasian counterparts (47.3 vs. 21.7 per 1,000 females and 26.6 vs. 12.8 per 1,000 males, respectively; Martin, Hamilton, Ventura, Osterman, & Matthews, 2013). This disparity may contribute to the lower percentage of African American students (66.1%) compared to Caucasian students (83%) completing high school in 4 years (Stillwell & Stable, 2013). Completion of high school is important for adolescent parents because adolescent parents without a high school education or its equivalent have fewer employment opportunities (Meadows, Sadler, & Reitmeyer, 2000; Shuger, 2012) and
are at higher risk for ongoing poverty and reliance on public assistance (Brace, Hall, & Hunt, 2008; Ng & Kaye, 2012; Terry-Humen, Manlove, & Moore, 2005). Within African American families, grandmothers are viewed as a key source of influence in the life of their parenting adolescent children (Beers & Hollo, 2009; Paschal, 2006). In some cases, however, the involvement of maternal grandmothers in parenting by their adolescent children may be perceived by adolescent mothers as being intensely intrusive and may engender conflicts (SmithBattle, 2006a). Conflict in relationships between a maternal grandmother and her child (an adolescent mother) may be harmful to the adolescent mother’s psychosocial well-being and parenting (Shook, Jones, Forehand, Dorsey, & Brody, 2010). An adolescent mother who experiences postpartum depression and has a negative relationship with her mother (the grandchild’s maternal grandmother) may experience an exacerbation of a
1 2
Rush University, College of Nursing, Chicago, IL, USA University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Nursing, Chicago, IL, USA
Corresponding Author: Jen’nea Sumo, PhD, RN, Rush University College of Nursing, 600 S. Paulina St., Chicago, IL 60612, USA. Email: Jen’[email protected]
Downloaded from jsn.sagepub.com at Kungl Tekniska Hogskolan / Royal Institute of Technology on November 15, 2015
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The Journal of School Nursing 31(6)
depressive condition (Reid & Meadows-Oliver, 2007). Adolescent mothers who have conflicting relationships with the maternal grandmother face challenges nurturing children, and struggle to prevent the development of maladaptive parenting behavior (Sellers, Black, Boris, Oberlander, & Myers, 2011). In contrast to the detrimental effects induced by a negative relationship, a positive relationship between an adolescent mother and the maternal grandmother may shield adolescent mothers and grandchildren from risks related to single parenthood for adolescent parents (Jones, Zalot, Chester, Foster, & Sterrett, 2007). The positive outcomes resulting from the support provided by African American maternal grandmothers to their adolescent parenting daughters are well established (Beers & Hollo, 2009). For example, support from African American maternal grandmothers not only positively influences the mental health, parenting competence, and parenting behavior of adolescent mothers (Beers & Hollo, 2009; Davis, Rhodes, & Hamilton-Leaks, 1997; Oberlander, Black, & Starr, 2007; Sadler, Anderson, & Sabatelli, 2001; Sellers et al., 2011; Voight, Hans, & Bernstein, 1996) but also facilitates their completion of school and vocational training (Gordon, Chase-Landsdale, & Brooks-Gunn, 2004), thereby bolstering adolescent mothers’ economic independence (SmithBattle, 2006b). Less is known about the influence grandmothers have on academic outcomes of adolescent fathers. Although less attention has been given to the role of African American grandmothers in assisting their adolescent sons, research indicating a positive impact of such support is emerging. Grandmothers’ support and encouragement influence their sons to be responsible fathers (Dallas & Chen, 1998; Miller, 1994; Paschal, 2006) and help to foster adolescent fathers’ involvement with their children (Paschal, 2006; Paschal, Lewis-Moss, & Hsiao, 2011). Further, the acceptance of the grandchild by the paternal grandmother and good relationships with the grandchild’s mother and maternal grandmother, increase the adolescent father’s involvement with his child (Dallas & Chen, 1999). Maternal grandmothers also support adolescent father’s involvement with his child. These grandmothers assume a gatekeeping role with father– child interactions that can hinder or facilitate the father’s relationship with his child (Gavin et al., 2002). Grandmothers often provide support in the midst of various challenges, such as economic hardship and difficulties negotiating the grandmother role while pursuing and fulfilling their own personal development goals (Paskiewicz, 2004; Sadler & Clemmens, 2004; Andrews & Moore, 2011; Bowles & Darlington, 1998). Because adolescent parents rely on the support received from grandmothers, and not all grandmothers assume a caregiving role (Letourneau, Stewart, & Barnfather, 2004), it is surprising that only a limited amount of research has explored the rationales of grandmothers for providing support. We found just one study that examined the reasons African American grandmothers
provide support to their adolescent parenting children, and the study was limited to the provision of child care (Voran & Phillips, 1993). The findings showed that grandmothers generally provided child care because of the young age of the adolescent mother and the lack of involvement of the grandchild’s adolescent father. Thus, we need to learn more from grandmothers not only about the support they provide to their parenting adolescent children but also about their reasons for providing that support. When interacting with grandmothers in school and community settings, school nurses can use the information gained from grandmothers to positively reinforce the grandmother’s rationale and thus promote the grandmother’s provision of support. In essence, school nurses can proactively support positive health and educational practices as these practices occur in the school and community. Additionally, this information can inform school-based programs designed for parenting adolescents and their children. While these school-based support programs have led to positive outcomes (Cusworth Walker, Kerns, Lyon, Bruns, & Cosgrove, 2010; Sadler et al., 2007), adolescent parents nevertheless continue to rely on their families for support during their transition to adulthood (World Health Organization, 2014).
Purpose The purpose of this study was to describe the supports provided by African American maternal and paternal grandmothers to their parenting adolescents and the reasons for the supports they provided.
Method Design A cross-sectional, qualitative, descriptive, research design was used to explore the types of support low-income African American grandmothers provided to their parenting adolescent sons and daughters and their reasons for providing these types of support. As described by Sandelowski (2000), the goal of qualitative descriptive research is to provide a comprehensive summary or interpretation of a phenomenon using every day language. The study received approval from the university institutional review board.
Setting and Sample A purposive sample was recruited from one predominantly African American Chicago neighborhood composed of 85% African Americans (Yonek & Hasnain-Wynia, 2011). Within this neighborhood, 26% of the individuals lived below the poverty level (City of Chicago, 2011). Recruitment sites included churches, community centers, schools, clinics, businesses, and places where community group meetings were held. At every recruitment site, flyers were left with the facility/group representative or passed out individually to community members. The recruitment flyer
Downloaded from jsn.sagepub.com at Kungl Tekniska Hogskolan / Royal Institute of Technology on November 15, 2015
Sumo et al.
443
included information about the purpose of the study, eligibility criteria, time commitment, cash incentive, and contact information to learn more about the study. Eligibility criteria for this study were: (a) the study participant was the grandmother or surrogate grandmother of a child born to an African American adolescent mother or father; (b) the adolescent son or daughter was between the ages of 14 and 19, and had a child that was newborn to 23 months old; (c) grandmother was low-income (an annual income of < $25,000 a year); (d) the grandmother selfidentified as Black or African American; (e) grandmother resided in the target neighborhood, and (f) grandmother acknowledged providing some support to her adolescent. Of the 22 grandmothers screened, all met the study inclusion criteria. One maternal and one paternal grandmother declined participation due to time constraints. Of the 20 study participants, 10 grandmothers were recruited through direct face-to-face contact. The other 10 women were referred indirectly by someone who had received information about the study from the primary researcher and passed the information on. Indirect recruitment occurred in one of two ways. Either the grandmother gave the community representative permission to provide her contact information to the researcher or the community representative gave the grandmother the primary researcher’s contact information. Of the 20 grandmothers, 10 were maternal and 10 paternal grandmothers. The interviews were conducted at mutually agreed upon locations and times and in venues that afforded the grandmother privacy (18 homes, 1 public library, and 1 restaurant).
Measures A semistructured interview guide was developed to explore the grandmothers’ supports and reasons for their provision of support. First, the grandmothers were queried about the type of supports they provided to their parenting adolescent. Subsequent questions elicited information about their reasons for each type of support they provided. Specifically, grandmothers were asked ‘‘how did you come to the decision that the support should be given? What was your reason for giving the support? How did your adolescent son/daughter influence your decision to give the support?’’ Interviews ranged from 5 to 30 min. A self-administered demographic questionnaire included the grandmother’s age, number of children under 18 years of age in the household, marital status, monthly income, education, employment status, and type of economic assistance. It also included the current age of the grandmother’s parenting child.
Procedure Prior to the interview, the grandmother read the informed consent or it was read to her. After the signing of the consent form, the demographic questionnaire was self-administered.
Next the interview was conducted and digitally recorded. At the conclusion of the interview, the participants were given a US$20 VISA gift card.
Data Analysis The digitally audiotaped interviews were transcribed verbatim by a professional transcriptionist. To ensure the accuracy of the transcriptions, each transcript was checked against its audiotape. Content analysis was used to analyze the data (Downe-Wamboldt, 1992). The initial step was to read and reread the interviews to obtain a general sense of the data (Graneheim & Lundman, 2004). Next, words and phrases were selected as the unit of analysis to create categories based on the study purpose. Each category was defined and rules for coding were developed. To determine if the definitions and rules would yield consistency in coding, two researchers independently coded each transcript. Discrepancies were discussed until agreement was reached. The newly revised categories and codes were then used by the two researchers to code each transcript independently. Coding was compared on all transcripts, discrepancies discussed, and consensus reached.
Results Sample Characteristics The maternal and paternal grandmothers were similar in age (maternal grandmothers, mean [M] ¼ 48.9, SD ¼ 11.6 and paternal grandmothers, M ¼ 48.3, SD ¼ 13.0) and in the number of children under 18 years residing in their home (maternal grandmothers, M ¼ 2.6, SD ¼ 2.1 and paternal grandmothers, M ¼ 2.6, SD ¼ 1.8). Their parenting adolescent daughters and sons were also similar in current age (M ¼ 18.1, SD ¼ 0.99 and M ¼ 18.4 SD ¼ 0.52, respectively). Adolescent parents’ ages ranged from 16 to 19. Most grandmothers were unmarried (80%), had a high school education or more (70%), were not employed (65%), and regularly received food stamps (Table 1).
Supports Provided Maternal and paternal grandmothers reported providing the following supports to their parenting adolescent and/or grandchild: babysitting, mentoring, daily caregiving, financial support, and purchasing items. Based upon grandmothers’ responses to questions about the type of support provided, each support is defined and described. Babysitting was defined as the time grandmothers spent actually watching and caring for the child of the adolescent parent when the adolescent was away from the child. Six paternal grandmothers and four maternal grandmothers reported that they babysat their grandchildren. Mentoring was defined as verbally communicating advice related to the adolescent parent’s spiritual and emotional growth, life skills, and parenting.
Downloaded from jsn.sagepub.com at Kungl Tekniska Hogskolan / Royal Institute of Technology on November 15, 2015
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The Journal of School Nursing 31(6)
Table 1. Grandmother Demographic Characteristics. Total, N ¼ 20 Characteristics Marital status Married Never married Separated/divorced/widowed Monthly income ≤ US$499 US$500–US$1,299 US$1,300–US$2,099 Education
