THE GREAT AND THE GRAND: THE ROLES OF GREAT-GRANDPARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS IN MULTIGENERATIONAL FAMILIES

Abstract The increase of Human Aging has been observed rapidly in the whole world, as it has been in Brazil allowing the experience to live several roles within the family for a longer time. As a consequence, more multigenerational families emerge with a more vertical structure, formed by four or even five generations. While the oldest generation adds another generational role to their life, the one of great-grandparents, the youngest generation is born into an intergenerational network of relationships. There are various questions about the differences in the role of great-grandparents and grandparents, which motivated this present study. Thus, the objective of this study was to understand the roles of great-grandparents and grandparents in the family and their intergenerational repercussions. Four families with for generations, totaling 16 participants. One member of each generation was interviewed, using a specific script, which was afterwards analyzed by the Thematic Content Analysis. The results pointed out that both great-grandparents and grandparents have distinct roles that are constructed around the needs of the family; both figures provide emotional and material support to the family; both roles have transgenerational importance in the transmission of family legacies, which are related to faith, solidarity, education and order. It can also be said that the great-grandparents can be compared to the grandparents of the past, as the grandparents can be assimilated to the parents of older days. It is hoped that this research contributes to the visibility of these two generations and to sensitize professionals about this theme.

It is well recognised that grandparents play a vital economic and social role in providing grandchild care to families. In the UK, about two million grandparents provide care to their grandchildren for at least ten hours per week. However, to date, little is known about the nature and extent of care they provide and whether, and how, this relates to socio-economic and health inequalities. In this paper, we use wave 8 of the nationally representative English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Using latent class analysis, we developed profiles of grandparent childcare combining newly collected information on the activities grandparents do with or for their grandchildren, as well as on the extent of (periodicity, frequency, and intensity), and motivations for such care. Using regressions, we then examined the extent to which grandparents' involvement in childcare is patterned according to current and lifetime socio-economic characteristics and whether such inequalities are an important modifier of the relationship between grandparenting and mental and physical health. Preliminary results suggest that more advantaged grandparents are the ones undertaking less arduous caring tasks and for shorter periods whereas those looking after grandchildren more intensively and for financial reasons are more likely to be of less advantageous backgrounds (not married, low-educated, not homeowners, and poorer). Moreover, undertaking more frequent and challenging grandchild care activities seems to be associated with poorer health but only among grandparents in the more disadvantaged groups. Our results contribute to better understand the nature of grandparental childcare and its effect on health.

THE GREAT AND THE GRAND: THE ROLES OF GREAT-GRANDPARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS IN MULTIGENERATIONAL FAMILIES
Emily Schuler, 1 and Cristina Maria de Souza Brito Dias 1 , 1.

Universidade Católica de Pernambuco (UNICAP), Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil
The increase of Human Aging has been observed rapidly in the whole world, as it has been in Brazil allowing the experience to live several roles within the family for a longer time. As a consequence, more multigenerational families emerge with a more vertical structure, formed by four or even five generations. While the oldest generation adds another generational role to their life, the one of great-grandparents, the youngest generation is born into an intergenerational network of relationships. There are various questions about the differences in the role of great-grandparents and grandparents, which motivated this present study. Thus, the objective of this study was to understand the roles of great-grandparents and grandparents in the family and their intergenerational repercussions. Four families with for generations, totaling 16 participants. One member of each generation was interviewed, using a specific script, which was afterwards analyzed by the Thematic Content Analysis. The results pointed out that both great-grandparents and grandparents have distinct roles that are constructed around the needs of the family; both figures provide emotional and material support to the family; both roles have transgenerational importance in the transmission of family legacies, which are related to faith, solidarity, education and order. It can also be said that the great-grandparents can be compared to the grandparents of the past, as the grandparents can be assimilated to the parents of older days. It is hoped that this research contributes to the visibility of these two generations and to sensitize professionals about this theme.

THE IMPORTANCE OF EMOTIONAL CAPITAL ACROSS THE LIFESPAN: WHY THE LITTLE MOMENTS IN MARRIAGE MATTER
Lisa Neff, 1 Courtney Walsh, 1 and Jennifer Beer 1 , 1.

University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States
Throughout a marriage, couples will share countless ordinary moments together, such as laughing together or engaging in leisure activities. Although these moments may seem trivial in isolation, research suggests that accumulating small positive moments together helps couples build emotional capital, which serves as an essential resource for protecting marriages from the harmful consequences of relationship challenges. This study explored whether emotional capital may buffer couples not only from the negative effects of relational stressors, but also from the negative effects of life stressors encountered outside the relationship in a sample of younger (age 30-45) and older (age 60+) married couples. Drawing from theories of socioemotional expertise, we also examined whether the buffering effects of emotional capital may be stronger for older adults. One hundred forty-five couples completed a 21-day daily diary task assessing shared positive experiences with the partner, negative partner behaviors, marital satisfaction, life stress, and mood. Spouses who generally accrued more shared positive moments with their partner across the diary days maintained greater marital satisfaction on days of greater partner negativity compared to spouses who accrued fewer positive moments. Moreover, spouses who generally accrued more shared positive moments with their partner across the diary days also reported lower levels of negative mood on days in which they experienced more life stress compared to spouses who accrued fewer shared positive moments; in both cases, the buffering role of emotional capital was significantly stronger for older adults. All results held when adjusting for relationship length and general marital happiness.

THE CONTEXTUAL EXPERIENCES OF SOCIAL CAPITAL AMONG OLDER GRANDPARENTS RAISING ADOLESCENT GRANDCHILDREN Tina L. Peterson 1 , 1. University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, United States
Older grandparents raising adolescent grandchildren are an understudied population. Greater understanding is needed of the social capital (e. g. information, emotional support, companionship, practical instrumental support, and influence, power, and control) harnessed by older grandparents raising adolescent grandchildren. This research applied a qualitative, phenomenological approach to explore social capital among older grandparents. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 19 grandparent caregivers ranging in age from 55 to 88 years. Eligibility criteria were: primary caregiver for a grandchild 12 years or older; grandchild resides in home at least 3 days; grandparent 40 or older and resides in Oklahoma, Alabama, or Kentucky. Participants were recruited by word of mouth, newspapers, and flyers. Grandparents responded to a question prompt, "I am going to ask you some questions about your support system to assist with your concerns about your older grandchild." Interviews were conducted in public places, audiotaped, and transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed using a question analysis approach to sort responses into matrices, develop memos, and identify themes. Most older grandparents were female (84.2%), Caucasian (52.6%), married (57.9%), and never attended a support group (68.4%). One overarching theme from these older grandparent caregivers is access to social capital exists on a continuum. Participants' experiences with social capital pertained to family proximity, evolving perception of friends, limited or no social engagement with neighbors, dynamics of church attendance and size, and familiarity with community resources. These older grandparents raising adolescents shared positive reactions to select social capital with some types emerging as less important or underdeveloped. Researchers have observed racial differences in support to midlife parents. Black adults typically provide more support to parents and report greater rewards in doing so. We were interested in whether this differential trend can be observed in young adulthood. Furthermore, we aimed to understand cultural beliefs underlying any racial differences in support provided to parents. We examined support Black and White young adults provided to their parents, and beliefs associated with that support. Young adults (aged 18-35 years; 26%, n=184 Black and 74%, n=525 White) from the Family Exchanges Study II (2013) participated. They reported how often they provided 4 types of support (financial, technical, practical, emotional) to each parent (N =824) on a scale from 1 = once a year or less often to 8 = everyday. Multilevel models revealed Black young adults provided more frequent support to parents than White young adults, mediated by beliefs about familial obligation. Interestingly, we also found that Black young adults report significantly more negative relationship quality with parents and a stronger desire for support from parents when compared to White young adults. Findings suggest that Black young adults may espouse collective and interdependent values such as the ability to provide for a family and to receive support from family. Further, more frequent support may co-occur with conflicts that suggest that congruence between values and support do not necessarily inspire harmonious ties.

FAMILY CAREGIVING I SPOUSE OR CAREGIVER? EXAMINING CORRELATES AND CONSEQUENCES OF SPOUSES BEING IDENTIFIED AS CANCER CAREGIVERS
Kristin Litzelman 1 , 1. University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States Spouses provide critical support to cancer survivors, but are not always identified as caregivers. This study sought to