With the development of medical technology and modernized lifestyle, people in today’s world have a prolonged period of living as grandparents, and due to various factors in contemporary society, the stable childcare framework of the family is shaken and there are an increasing number of grandparent...
With the development of medical technology and modernized lifestyle, people in today’s world have a prolonged period of living as grandparents, and due to various factors in contemporary society, the stable childcare framework of the family is shaken and there are an increasing number of grandparents involved in childcare. This demographical shift is greatly affecting not only the family institution but also the role of grandparents. This can be a new opportunity for grandparents to contribute to contemporary society in which the familial function of caregiving is deteriorating. This study is aimed to examine the current situation of the grandparents who are providing childcare to young children of 0 to 5 years of age, their childcare difficulties, and demand for social support so as to grope for approaches to promote involvement of grandparents in childcare, and further, to serve in the future as preliminary data for policy making to support such grandparental involvement in childcare. In order to achieve this goal, research problems were set up as follows: First, what is the current status of grandparents’ childcare? Second, are there any differences in grandparents’ involvement in childcare according to the social-demographic background of grandparents? Third, are there any difference in the difficulties with grandparental childcare according to the social-demographic background of grandparents? Fourth, what is the demand of grandparents for childcare support? In order to inquire into the research problems, a survey was conducted on 200 grandparents who were providing childcare for young children of 0 to 5 years of age who were attending 12 kindergartens and day care centers located in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province area. As for survey method, visits to educational institutions were made to explain the purpose of research and get cooperation from the managers; then questionnaires were sent to the institutions and collected. For the final analysis, 181 questionnaires were used and the data was analyzed according to SPSS 23.0 program. First, as for the current status of grandparents’ childcare, many grandparents in their 60s with high school or higher education were involved in grandparental childcare. Many were economically independent from adult children, not living together with grandchildren, and receiving compensation from their children for the grandparental childcare. Most of the grandparents were satisfied with their grandparental childcare. Second, among the items of grandparents’ involvement in childcare, involvement in life guidance marked the highest score, followed in the order by household guidance, leisure guidance, involvement in learning guidance. As for sub-factors, involvement in grandparental childcare was higher when grandparents were comparatively young, with higher level of education, living together with grandchildren, and receiving an allowance from adult children. Third, the most outstanding difficulty in grandparental childcare was physical difficulty, followed in the order by environmental, educational, and economic difficulty. As for sub-factors, grandparental difficulties were higher when the grandparents were comparatively old, with lower level of education, living together with grandchildren, and receiving an allowance from adult children. Fourth, among the items of demand for grandparental childcare support, demand for education support was the highest, followed by demand for environment support, demand for economic support, and demand for physical support. Given the family culture of Korea, grandparents’ childcare for grandchildren is expected to be continued, and predicted, unlike the past, to become a new task to be carried out in old age. Therefore, in order to boost grandparents’ involvement in childcare for grandchildren, more systematic and diverse forms of support of grandparents are needed.
With the development of medical technology and modernized lifestyle, people in today’s world have a prolonged period of living as grandparents, and due to various factors in contemporary society, the stable childcare framework of the family is shaken and there are an increasing number of grandparents involved in childcare. This demographical shift is greatly affecting not only the family institution but also the role of grandparents. This can be a new opportunity for grandparents to contribute to contemporary society in which the familial function of caregiving is deteriorating. This study is aimed to examine the current situation of the grandparents who are providing childcare to young children of 0 to 5 years of age, their childcare difficulties, and demand for social support so as to grope for approaches to promote involvement of grandparents in childcare, and further, to serve in the future as preliminary data for policy making to support such grandparental involvement in childcare. In order to achieve this goal, research problems were set up as follows: First, what is the current status of grandparents’ childcare? Second, are there any differences in grandparents’ involvement in childcare according to the social-demographic background of grandparents? Third, are there any difference in the difficulties with grandparental childcare according to the social-demographic background of grandparents? Fourth, what is the demand of grandparents for childcare support? In order to inquire into the research problems, a survey was conducted on 200 grandparents who were providing childcare for young children of 0 to 5 years of age who were attending 12 kindergartens and day care centers located in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province area. As for survey method, visits to educational institutions were made to explain the purpose of research and get cooperation from the managers; then questionnaires were sent to the institutions and collected. For the final analysis, 181 questionnaires were used and the data was analyzed according to SPSS 23.0 program. First, as for the current status of grandparents’ childcare, many grandparents in their 60s with high school or higher education were involved in grandparental childcare. Many were economically independent from adult children, not living together with grandchildren, and receiving compensation from their children for the grandparental childcare. Most of the grandparents were satisfied with their grandparental childcare. Second, among the items of grandparents’ involvement in childcare, involvement in life guidance marked the highest score, followed in the order by household guidance, leisure guidance, involvement in learning guidance. As for sub-factors, involvement in grandparental childcare was higher when grandparents were comparatively young, with higher level of education, living together with grandchildren, and receiving an allowance from adult children. Third, the most outstanding difficulty in grandparental childcare was physical difficulty, followed in the order by environmental, educational, and economic difficulty. As for sub-factors, grandparental difficulties were higher when the grandparents were comparatively old, with lower level of education, living together with grandchildren, and receiving an allowance from adult children. Fourth, among the items of demand for grandparental childcare support, demand for education support was the highest, followed by demand for environment support, demand for economic support, and demand for physical support. Given the family culture of Korea, grandparents’ childcare for grandchildren is expected to be continued, and predicted, unlike the past, to become a new task to be carried out in old age. Therefore, in order to boost grandparents’ involvement in childcare for grandchildren, more systematic and diverse forms of support of grandparents are needed.
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