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The role of grandparents when parents part or die: some reflections on the mythical decline of the extended family

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 1999

PAUL THOMPSON
PAUL THOMPSON
Affiliation:
University of Essex
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Abstract

Belief that the extended family is in terminal decline has proved to be a remarkably persistent myth. It is currently being revived as a result of recent statistical trends. The belief has been closely connected to sociological enquiries undertaken over the course of the century. The validity of the belief, and in particular the significance of grandparents within the extended family, is explored in two sets of life story interviews recently undertaken with adults in Britain; one set are people in their thirties who had become step-children, and the second set participants in a multi-generational study of social mobility. The analysis addresses questions of contact after parental loss, sources of support within the family, the involvement of grandparents, the importance of co-residence, conflict, emotional closeness and communication within a family.

Keywords

Extended familygrandparentslife storiesparental lossco-residencesupport
Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , July 1999 , pp. 471 - 503
Copyright
© 1999 Cambridge University Press

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