ABSTRACT
Most people who become grandparents do so during their middle and late adulthood stages of life span development. Considerable observation and research has described, from a variety of perspectives, the expected physiological, social, and cognitive changes associated with middle and late adulthood. Moreover, there are also predictable shifts in family relationships. Becoming a grandparent in either middle or late adulthood is generally associated with a time when one’s own adult children have left home to become independently functioning adults with children of their own to raise. In general, grandparents expect their adult children to be primary caretakers of their grandchildren. They, not the grandparents, would be responsible for providing a relatively consistent environment of physical and psychological support and guidance necessary for a child to develop into a productive adult. Grandparents expect to form relationships with grandchildren free of the responsibility of being the primary caretakers.
