ABSTRACT
This chapter examines grandparent involvement among intact, lone-parent and stepfamilies and whether this had a different contribution to the emotional-behavioural and social adjustment of adolescents across different family settings. Adolescence involves various transitions that may modify a youth's relationships with parents and grandparents. The literature on grandparent-adolescent grandchild contact is guided mainly by the social ecological theory which suggests that to understand children's and adolescents' development. In recent decades growing numbers of children and adolescents spend part of their childhood within families which do not include both of their biological parents, because their parents are divorced, remarried, or single. In England and Wales there is currently considerable pressure from grandparent groups for legal rights. However, the current situation in England and Wales falls short of the requirements set by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. However, young people had some reservations about involving grandparents in legal disputes between divorcing parents.
