Economic Security

Articles in this section focus on topics of economic security among grandfamilies.

1. Hayslip, Bert, and Patricia L. Kaminski. “Grandparents raising their grandchildren: A review of the literature and suggestions for practice.”the Gerontologist 45, no. 2 (2005): 262-269.

The study that this article discusses examined several key areas that are important to consider when raising a grandchild, including: (a) the costs and benefits of raising a grandchild; (b) the heterogeneity of custodial grandparent caregivers; (c) the critical need for social support among custodial grandparents; (d) parenting practices and attitudes among grandparents raising grandchildren; and (e) helping efforts at multiple levels with custodial grandparents; and (f) directions for research and practice concerning custodial grandparents.

2. Mutchler, Jan E., and Lindsey A. Baker. “The implications of grandparent coresidence for economic hardship among children in mother-only families.” Journal of Family Issues 30, no. 11 (2009): 1576-1597. http://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X09340527

This article aims to compare the levels of financial hardship experienced by children living in single-mother households without a grandparent present to children in single-mother households with a grandparent present. The authors find that grandparent co-residence can significantly enhance the financial security of families: through access to income through social security benefits and mean-tested cash transfers.

3. Kakooza, James, and Sitawa R. Kimuna. “HIV/AIDS orphans’ education in Uganda: The changing role of older people.”Journal of Intergenerational Relationships 3, no. 4 (2006): 63-81.

The study that this article discusses examined the epidemic creating a crisis in the Sub-Saharan African family structure that is HIV/AIDS. In Uganda, it was discovered that many of the roles of older people had been reversed from receiving care, to providing it. Subsequently, the study used cross-sectional data from the Kayunga district in Central Uganda to examine HIV/AIDS impact on the older people. Almost all grandparent-headed households (97.3%) in the study had on average 3 orphaned-children going to school. This article highlights the challenges that grandparents and other older kinship care providers face in providing for their children’s educational needs on top of other financial and psychological strains.

4. Pittman, Lashawnda. “How Well Does the” Safety Net” Work for Family Safety Nets?: Economic Survival Strategies Among Grandmother Caregivers in Severe Deprivation.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 1, no. 1 (2015): 78-97.

This article focuses on poor African American grandmothers and the challenges they face in providing for their grandchildren because of the lack of legal protection that exist for SGHs (skipped generation households). The author analyzes qualitative data obtained by fifty-eight African American grandmothers raising grandchildren in households and argues that policy that limits grandmothers’ access to government safety net programs further exasperates the deprivation of their families.