Age and gender differences in grandchildren's relations with their maternal grandfathers and grandfathers

Recent trends in demographic ageing have prompted renewed research interest in relations between grandparents and grandchildren. In this research, grandmothers, particularly maternal grandmothers, are commonly represented as the primary grandparent, and there has been relatively little research into the role of grandfathers. In this paper, we provide a quantitative analysis of grandchildren’s perceptions of their relations with maternal grandfathers and grandmothers. In so doing, we find significant age and gender differences in how grandchildren relate to their maternal grandparents. While the perception of maternal grandmothers as ‘most involved’ holds true overall, it is much less evident amongst older grandchildren. Moreover, teenage grandsons are more likely to view their maternal grandfathers as the grandparent they ‘get on with best’. Hence the salience of grandfathers, relative to grandmothers, in the imagination of grandchildren, varies significantly by age and gender. In discussion of this, we argue that a comprehensive understanding of gender variations between grandfathers and grandmothers needs to account for how intergenerational relationships shift as grandchildren age.