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Grandfathers play a more prominent role

Europeans spend much time with their grandchildren. And past 70, the grandfather takes the lead.

Norwegian sociologist Knud Knudsen sets great store by his grandchildren. In that respect, he is typical of the grandparents in Europe who are the subjects of his recent research.

"Europeans with grandchildren generally opt to spend a good deal of time with them," says 67-year-old Knudsen, who is professor of sociology at the University of Stavanger (UiS).

"And grandfathers appear to be more involved than before," he adds. In a new study, he found that grandmothers are clearly more involved with their grandchildren when a couple is younger.


At the same time, he has found that involvement with grandchildren naturally enough declines for both genders with advancing years.

Active grandfather of four

Knudsen himself has four grandchildren aged between one and 11 one in Oslo and three in Stavanger and he is together with them as often as possible for both play and more serious matters.


They often devote the weekend to their extended family and babysitting. "It provides new insights and instructive challenges, and gives more meaning to life," says Knudsen.

More than 5000 grandparents

His study embraces about 5 500 grandparents aged 60-85 in 11 European countries Austria, Denmark, France, Greece, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain and Belgium.

Called the survey of health, ageing and retirement in Europe (Share), this empirical dataset ranks as one of the largest in the continent.

"We're likely to see more grandparents spending time with their grandchildren," says Knudsen. "The basis for exercising this role can nevertheless differ between the genders".



"Grandmothers have traditionally had greater and more varied contact with the rest of the family, with responsibility for maintaining relationship," Knudsen observes.



More shared lives

Both social and demographic changes underlie the substantial involvement by grandparents with their grandchildren. Three generations share more of their lives than before.

And new patterns are emerging, Knudsen reports: "We live longer and stay healthy for more of our lives. We're better off and communicate more closely".

"At the same time, today's parents are occupied with work and career. Unlike earlier generations, when children came before education and job, modern parents are often older and in full work when they become responsible for offspring."

Noting that this is where grandparents come in, he describes this as a win-win position. "Healthier and fitter grandparents who want to be with their grandchildren can be a big help to careerist parents in a hectic daily life".



"So while grandmothers are usually alone, a grandfather is in a marriage. Having a younger and healthy partner seems to be crucial for a man's involvement with grandchildren."

Investment for later help?

Some would undoubtedly explain this phenomenon as a reflection of the grandparents' desire to invest time with their grandchildren in order to be helped later, Knudsen observes.

"But such arguments are only consistent with certain findings," he adds. "If they were correct, widowed grandmothers would be with the grandchildren most and that's not the case."



It might be thought that older men still identify most with other interests, he says, and that women were accordingly better grandparents throughout their lives.

Men manage well


But big differences nevertheless exist. "Many grandparents have other priorities or live a long way from the grandchildren. That naturally affects the time they spend together."

Norway is not one of the 11 countries in his study, but Knudsen says that its findings probably also apply to Norwegian conditions.


"The differences between the European countries in the study are small - which represents an important finding in itself."

Contact: Knud Knudsen
University of Stavanger

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