• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.1-24
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to understand the lived experiences of grandmothers who provide child care services to their grandchildren and employed mothers who utilize child care by grandmothers, with regards to their relationships while exchanging the specific type of intergenerational support. The data for this study came from 42 in-depth, individual interviews with 21 pairs of employed mothers who had at least one child younger than elementary-school age and their mothers or mothers-in-law who had provided child care on a daily basis for their grandchildren. Our phenomenological analysis revealed that the grandmothers felt uncomfortable and overwhelmed when caring for their grandchildren and that they considered this activity to be different from caring for their own children by nature. However, the grandmothers wanted to help their adult children based on their feeling of "boo-mo-ma-eum" (meaning parental heart, i.e., love or care). The employed mothers perceived that they were substantially dependent on the grandmothers by receiving help with child care and housework. Reliance on grandmothers was inevitable and beneficial to these mothers. Dynamic intergenerational living arrangements enabled the dependent relationships. The grandmothers set specific boundaries pertaining to current and future child care so that they would not take on too much responsibility for child care. The mothers used various strategies that contributed to stable child care support from the grandmothers. Providing financial remuneration was an important strategy that had symbolic relational meanings, such as expressing gratitude, rather than financial meanings.

• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.441-458
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• 2009

The present study compared the differences in mechanisms of caregiving stress, depression, parenting behaviors, stress-coping, and social support between caregiving grandmothers and the caregiving mothers. Three caregiving groups were compared; One hundred and fifty-two grandmothers rearing their grandchild as daytime care-giver (partial caregiving-grandmother group), 152 mothers who shared the responsibilities of caregiving the same child (partial caregiving-mother group), and another 157 mothers who rear their child as daytime care-giver (primary caregiving-mother group). Predictors of parental stress for these caregiving groups were also assessed. The results indicated that partial caregiving-grandmother group had more depressed than two mother groups, but there were no differences in parental stress among three caregiving groups. In addition, primary caregiving-mothers used more problem-focused coping strategies, and more social support than did partial caregiving-grandmothers. In parental behaviors, partial caregiving-grandmothers significantly had more laxness, less overactive than two mother groups. In the analysis of hierarchical regression, overactivity and depression were significant predictors of parental stress in partial caregiving-grandmothers. On the other hand, depression, social support, and overactivity were significant predictors of parental stress in partial caregiving-mothers. In primary caregiving-mothers, overactivity, depression, and emotion-focused coping were significant predictors of parental stress. We discussed the differences of the predictors in parental stress between grandmothers and mothers.