Behavioral and Social Sciences
Nancy Mendoza, PhD (she/her/hers)
Assistant Professor
College of Social Work
The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio, United States
Youjung Lee, PhD
Associate Professor
Social Work
Binghamton University, State University of New York
Binghamton, New York, United States
Loriena Yancura, PhD, FGSA, CFLE (she/her/hers)
Professor
Human Development and Family Sciences Program
University of Hawa`i at Manoa
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
Rachel Scott, M.S. (she/her/hers)
Graduate Student
Psychology
Mississippi State University
Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States
Minzhi Ye, PhD (she/her/hers)
Postdoc
School of Lifespan Development and Educational Science
Kent State University
Kent, Ohio, United States
Carol Musil, PhD, RN, FAAN, FGSA
dean and professor
Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, Ohio, United States
In research, it is important to utilize theories to ask and answer questions about a specific phenomenon. In grandfamily research, there is a need to utilize theory as a bridge to understanding the relationship between family functioning and grandfamily health and well-being. In this symposium, four presentations will discuss their work related to grandfamily well-being and how it was guided by theory. In Scott and Nadorff, Bowen’s Family Systems theory is used as a framework for examining the extent to which agreement on values and beliefs moderates the relation between intergenerational emotional closeness and well-being in the grandparent generation. Findings demonstrated that affectual solidarity rating and religious ideological differences between grandparents and grandchildren influenced grandparents’ well-being. Yancura & Barnett utilized the family life course framework in their study to examine how intergenerational conflict between the grandchildren’s parents and the caregiving grandparents predicted stress and depression in grandparent caregivers. Ye and Smith incorporated the family stress model that was developed by Conger and colleagues in their study. Findings suggested parenting practice profiles related differentially to the well-being of caregivers and the emotional and behavioral outcomes of the grandchildren. Musil, Jeanblanc, Zauszniewski, and Burant used McCubbin’s Resiliency Model of Family stress to examine how demographics, family demands, problem-solving/coping, resources, and situational appraisals affect depressive symptoms in grandmother caregivers. The inclusion of theory in these studies is significant. Without theory, study findings are nothing more than a pile of findings. Theory helps organize these findings in a meaningful way.
This is a Grandparents as Caregivers Interest Group Sponsored Symposium.
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Loriena Yancura, PhD, FGSA, CFLE (she/her/hers) – University of Hawa`i at Manoa
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Rachel K. Scott, M.S. (she/her/hers) – Mississippi State University
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Minzhi Ye, PhD (she/her/hers) – Kent State University
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Carol Musil, PhD, RN, FAAN, FGSA – Case Western Reserve University