CUSTODIAL KNOWLEDGE AND LEGAL PERCEPTION AMONG GRANDPARENTS RAISING THEIR GRANDCHILDREN

Abstract The current study examines the ways in which grandparents raising their grandchildren (GRCs) understand custody, perceive the legal system, and access resources related to their grandchild(ren)’s welfare. Due to the detrimental impact of the opioid crisis over the last decade, the number of skipped generation households is growing significantly not only in Alabama, but across the U.S.. Many GRCs lack crucial information regarding custody arrangements in a general sense or as it applies to education, healthcare, mental health, and financial aid. Critical gaps remain present in the GRC literature necessary to aid in future intervention studies and promote more effective support, resources, and policy for this population. The present study sought to examine the unique needs and experiences of GRCs, and to specifically explore legal aspects associated to their grandchild(ren)’s welfare. Using a mixed methods approach, GRCs in Tuscaloosa, Alabama completed a quiz of custodial knowledge, a survey on legal perception, and a semi-structured interview. Quantitative data revealed the most and least commonly understood aspects of custody, as well as opinions on associated legal systems related to a child’s “best interest.” Qualitative data analysis revealed the common themes related to custody to be unexpected assistance, ineffective assistance, leniency for parental deviance, fear of losing custody, and time and cost demands.


PERSON-CENTERED CARE RELATED TO RESOURCE USE, RESIDENT QUALITY OF LIFE, AND STAFF JOB STRAIN IN SWEDISH NURSING HOMES
Annica Backman, 1 Anders Sköldunger 1 , 1. Department of Nursing Umea University, Umea, Sweden A critical challenge facing aged care systems throughout the world is to meet the complex care needs of a growing population of older persons. Although person-centred care has been advocated as the "gold standard" and a key component of high quality of care, the significance of care utilization in person-centred units as well as the impact of person-centred care on resident quality of life and staff job strain in nursing home care is yet to be explored. Thus, the aim was to explore person-centred care and its association to resource use, resident quality of life and staff job strain. The study is based on a cross-sectional national survey and data on 4831 residents and 3605 staff were collected by staff in 2014, deriving from nursing homes in 35 Swedish municipalities. In this study, descriptive statistics and regression modelling were used to explore this association. The preliminary results showed that person-centred care was positively associated to resource use (i.e care hours) and resident quality of life in Swedish nursing homes, when controlling for resident age, gender and cognitive status. Person-centred care was negatively associated to staff perception of job strain. This indicates that person-centred care provision seem to increase resource use (i.e. slightly more care hours utilized) but also beneficially impact resident quality of life as well as alleviate care burden in terms job strain among staff. Across Europe, an increasing number of older people with multiple health and social care needs stay in their own homes until old age. Community care aims to support them to live at home for as long as possible. Comparative studies showed that population characteristics of older community care recipients differ between European countries. This is due to differences in financing, delivery and governance of community care. However, little is known about differences in health, including physical, cognitive, mental and social functioning, of older community care recipients served across European countries. The aim of this study was to provide insight into these differences. We used data of the IBenC study, which was collected using the interRAI HC-Assessment among 2884 older community care recipients from six European countries: Belgium, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Italy and the Netherlands. We found that prevalences of impairments in different health domains were highest among Italian community care recipients followed by the Belgian population, and lowest among community care recipients from the Netherlands. Feelings of loneliness were lowest among the Italian and highest among the Dutch population. This variation between European countries may be explained by differences in eligibility for and access to formal community services and informal care provision as well as cultural diversity. Insight in these differences supports understanding of community care across Europe among European and national policy-makers and researchers.

CUSTODIAL KNOWLEDGE AND LEGAL PERCEPTION AMONG GRANDPARENTS RAISING THEIR GRANDCHILDREN
Elizabeth Bownes, 1 Martha R. Crowther, 1 and Jennifer Cox 1 , 1. University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States The current study examines the ways in which grandparents raising their grandchildren (GRCs) understand custody, perceive the legal system, and access resources related to their grandchild(ren)'s welfare. Due to the detrimental impact of the opioid crisis over the last decade, the number of skipped generation households is growing significantly not only in Alabama, but across the U.S.. Many GRCs lack crucial information regarding custody arrangements in a general sense or as it applies to education, healthcare, mental health, and financial aid. Critical gaps remain present in the GRC literature necessary to aid in future intervention studies and promote more effective support, resources, and policy for this population. The present study sought to examine the unique needs and experiences of GRCs, and to specifically explore legal aspects associated to their grandchild(ren)'s welfare. Using a mixed methods approach, GRCs in Tuscaloosa, Alabama completed a quiz of custodial knowledge, a survey on legal perception, and a semi-structured interview. Quantitative data revealed the most and least commonly understood aspects of custody, as well as opinions on associated legal systems related to a child's "best interest." Qualitative data analysis revealed the common themes related to custody to be unexpected assistance, ineffective assistance, leniency for parental deviance, fear of losing custody, and time and cost demands.

EFFECTS OF SOCIAL RELATIONS ON MORTALITY IN THE CONTEXT OF GRANDPARENTING Heejung Jang, 1 and Fengyan Tang 1 , 1. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Issues of health and well-being have received considerable attention as a way to help grandparent caregivers. There is growing evidence that grandparenting is beneficial for grandparent caregivers' health, yet acting as grandparent caregiver also is detrimental to health and social relations when a grandparent provides an extensive level of care to grandchildren. The extent to which grandparent caregiving benefits or harms of the health of a grandparent is still unknown; mortality specifically has not been systematically studied. Moreover, although altruistic behaviors towards others have been shown to have beneficial effects on caregivers' health in general, there is little information regarding social relations of grandparent caregivers and their impact on mortality. This study aims to investigate the roles of different aspects of social relations among community-dwelling older adults, examining whether aspects of social relations, including social networks, received functional support aid, and perceived support quality, mediate the association between grandparent caregiving and mortality. The data were drawn from the 2008 and 2014 Health and Retirement Study (N=1,196). Results of survival analyses indicate that custodial and co-parenting grandparents were significantly associated with all-cause mortality over a 6-year period; however, the associations were marginally significant after health statuses were added into the model. Specifically, family-focused network groups were significantly associated with mortality. Received functional support and perceived positive support mediated the association between custodial grandparents and mortality. This study suggests that community-based support may be beneficial to older grandparents and perceived positive relationship quality could matter for older adults' well-being.

OLDER ADULT WOMEN'S MULTIDIMENSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES IN SKIPPED GENERATION HOUSEHOLDS IN NIGERIA Mojirayo Afolabi 1 , 1. Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria
This contribution studies the roles of grandparents in caring for grandchildren in skipped generation households, from gender perspective. Historical studies often focus on health and economic status of older adults generally, without distinguishing older adult women whose responsibilities are often undervalued. Such assessments assume that both grandparents engage in caring for grandchildren, being the joy of old age. Highlighting women's roles will ensure proper design and implementation of policies to enhance improvement in overall well-being of skipped generation households in Nigeria. The economic value of this is high. Using detailed data from three major states in Nigeria, -Imo, Lagos and Kano (representing each of the major ethnic groups) this study provides a detailed picture of the areas of women's responsibilities in skipped generation households, using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The quantitative study employed structured questionnaire to collect primary data while the qualitative technique employed the use of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The older adult participants are grouped into three; less than sixty five years, between sixty five and eighty and those above eighty years of age. The study reveals that social norms and expectations impact the lives of older adults, ensuring that responsibilities sharing in skipped generation households are strongly impacted by gender roles. The paper concludes that in order to ameliorate the difficulties and challenges faced in performing these roles, governments and other organizations need to put the realities in the skipped generation households into consideration during planning processes.

THE ROLE OF AMBIVALENCE ON WELL-BEING OF AGING PARENTS WHO HAVE A DISABLED CHILD: MULTILEVEL MEDIATION APPROACH
Eun Ha Namkung 1 , 1. Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, United States According to the family systems theory, strains from parenting an adult with disabilities may spillover to parents' relationships with their other children and disrupt family dynamics and their well-being in later life. This study examined whether parental ambivalence toward their non-disabled children is greater in families of adults with disabilities [developmental disabilities (DD) or serious mental illnesses (SMI)] than families without an adult child with disabilities. The study also investigated whether ambivalence mediates the associations of having an adult child with DD or SMI on parents' health. Data were from the 2011 Wisconsin Longitudinal Study in which aging parents (Mage = 71; n = 6,084) were asked about their relationship with each of their adult children. Multilevel regression models and multilevel structural equation models (MSEM) were estimated to analyze the data. Our findings showed that parents of an adult with SMI felt greater ambivalence toward their nondisabled adult children than comparison group parents of adults without disabilities, whereas no significant differences were found between parents of an adult with DD and comparison group parents. Parental ambivalence toward their