Affiliation, Pride, Exchange, and Distance in Grandparents’ Accounts of Relationships With Their College-Aged Grandchildren

This paper examines grandparents’ written accounts of conversations with their college-aged grandchildren. Using a thematic analysis, we describe 4 themes that indicate the place of the relationship in the grandparents’ lives and their general orientation to their grandchildren. It is argued that expressions of affiliation, pride, exchange (primarily of advice and information), and feeling distance from their grandchildren are fundamental elements of the relationship from the grandparents’ perspectives. These are discussed in terms of the grandchild’s place in the grandparent’s life and the complexities of negotiating this relationship during a period of grandchild transition away from the parental home.