Appraisals of Self in the Caregiver Role as Made by Married Custodial Grandparents

Objective We examined how married custodial grandparents from the same household appraise the impact of caring for a grandchild on their sense of self, and how these appraisals are related to their psychological well-being. Background This study is important because there is scant information on how custodial grandmothers and grandfathers both experience their caregiver role, even though 70% of these grandparents are married. Method Four competing measurement and structural models from the combined perspectives of the stress process model and the two-factor model of caregivers' psychological well-being were tested with 193 married grandmothers and grandfathers. Results The best fitting model was one in which two positive (personal gain and satisfaction) and two negative (loss of self and role captivity) appraisals emerged as distinct first-order constructs. Both negative appraisals correlated highest with negative affect, and both positive appraisals correlated highest with positive affect. The measurement and structural components of this model were largely invariant by grandparent gender. Mean comparisons showed that grandmothers reported significantly higher negative appraisals than grandfathers, with the latter reporting significantly greater perceived gain in the caregiving role. Bivariate correlations between grandmothers' and grandfathers' appraisals were nonsignificant for perceived gain and loss of self and of only moderate magnitude for caregiver satisfaction and role captivity. Conclusions Given that appraisals are a core component of coping with stressors, our findings have important practice implications and point to meaningful directions for future research regarding custodial grandparent families.