Grandparents as a source of social support

The importance of grandparents in life of their grandchildren is generally accepted but only very rarely also studied as a problem. The representation of grandparents in the social network of their adolescent grandchildren and the relations of incorporation of grandparents into the social network and selected health factors were studied in the sample of adolescents (1370 boys and 1246 girls, average aged 15 years). A quarter of adolescents mentioned their grandparents as a part of their social network. Those adolescents, who perceived grandparents as a potential source of social support differed from their peers by higher self-esteem level, they assessed their health status more frequently as excellent or very good, they stated lower occurrence of subjective health troubles, a higher long-term subjective well-being (quality of life), and a generally higher measure of social support. The statistically significant difference was not proved only in the measure of short-term subjective well-being. These finding can indicate a positive influence of grandparents on the quality of life of their adolescent grandchildren but they can also represent a manifestation of generally better social skills, the richness of social network.