The Significance of Stepgrandparents

Research on reconstituted families has ignored the stepgrandchild-stepgrandparent relationship. This relationship was examined through an exploratory study of the quantity of interaction, satisfaction with this interaction, stepgrandchildren's perception of the stepgrandparent role, the appropriate behaviors stepgrandchildren expect of stepgrandparents, and relationship strengths. The results indicated that 1) stepgrandchildren maintain contact with their stepgrandparent beyond high school; 2) currently, the majority of the respondents wanted more contact with their stepgrandparents; 3) almost half of the stepgrandchildren rated the relationship with their stepgrandparent as important; 4) they perceived the relationship as both a personal and a social role; 5) they expected few behaviors from their stepgrandparent; and 6) the relationship strengths were rated neither high nor low. Some factors which were important to the stepgrandchild-stepgrandparent relationship included: satisfaction with the parent's remarriage, the importance of the relationship with the stepparent, and the respondent's age when he/she became a stepchild.