• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.65-84
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• 2010

This study examined poor custodial grandparents' life story and care-giving experiences of their grandchildren. 8 grandparents were selected and in-depth interview and participant observation method were used. They showed a miserable life from the birth and discriminative experience of the deprivation of educational opportunities as childhood nadir experiences. They showed the regret for their inability as youth/midlife low point and financial difficulty as old life nadir experiences. In terms of care-giving experiences of their grandchildren, they showed non-voluntary care-giving, anxiety for the generational continuation of hardship, and lack of familial assistance. Poor custodial grandparents also used family-centered value, community-based social assistance, and self-assurance through their sacrifice as their adjustment strategy. Several research themes such as the importance of basic trust in childhood, the experience of financial difficulties, the importance of community-based social assistance, and self-assurance through their sacrifice were suggested for further research.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.491-518
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to compare with qualitative research articles on the grandparents' parenting experiences of grandchildren between those with primary responsibility and those with partial responsibility in Korean Journals since 2000. For the purpose of the study, this study analyzed research of 43 qualitative research articles(19 grandfamilies, 24 custodial grandparents), with respect to their objectives, basic annual trends, methodology, subject, category of content. The major findings are as follows. Firstly, the annual number of articles of grandfamilies are on an decreasing trend, while those of custodial grandparents are on an increasing trend. Secondly, the phenomenology and interview are frequently used in research of the two types of family. Thirdly, 6~10 participants were the most frequent number of participation in all of the family. However, demographics, caring circumstances, physical circumstances were significantly different in two types of family. Fourthly, caring categories of contents(the meaning, positive factor, conflict factor and resolution of conflicts) were also similar, while these were significant diffent in specific psychological experiences in all of the family. Based on the findings of this comparative study, suggestions for pratical services and implication for future study were proposed.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.23 no.3 s.75
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• pp.103-114
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• 2005

The number of grandparents who have responsibility for raising their grandchildren is growing. The present study examines the extent of this phenomenon and some of the issues these grandparents face in surrogate parenting. The sample consists of 69 grandparents(63 grandmothers and 6 grandfathers) of grandchildren who have lived with them at least 6 months without their parents. The grandparents raising grandchildren reported that caregiving bought negative changes in relations with their own children, economic situation and health condition. They concerned most about the issue of good mannered behavior of grandchildren and making good friends and needed social supports in terms of house cleaning and cooking and transportation for after school activities. Caregiver burden was related to the number of family members, the degrees of life changes, economic hardship due to caregiving, grandchildren's school performance and the relations with granparents' own children.

• 한국노년학
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.1147-1164
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• 2008

There has been a sharp increase in the number of grandmothers raising grandchildren in contemporary Korean society. However, little is known about the complexity of the experiences of the custodial grandparenting. Most of the studies mainly examined burden/cost and have paid little attention to the positive aspects of custodial grandparenting. In order to overcome this limitation of previous research, this study aims 1) to examine not only the costs but also the rewards of custodial grandparenting and to explore related factors, 2) to develop the typology based on relative rewards-burden perception of grandmothers about custodial grandparenting and explore the group differences. The data were gathered from 449 grandmothers raising their grandchildren as a primary caregiver, using a structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation, hierarchical multiple regression and ANOVA, with SPSS WIN 12.0 program. Main findings are as follows: First, custodial grandmothers report not only care-giving burden such as physical burnout and economic burden but also various rewards such as joy of watching their grandchildren grow and feeling good about themselves to be a help with their adult children, i.e. grandchildren's father or mother. Second, factors related to the level of perceived cost of grandparenting are different from the factors affecting the positive aspects of grandparenting. Third, results of the two by two cross-tab analysis based on the level of rewards and burden show that about 32 percent of the grandparents belong to Type II group(high rewards-low cost). This result is quite contrary to the assumption of previous research focusing mostly on cost and burden of custodial grandparenting. Fourth, four groups were different in terms of grandmother & grandchildren's characteristics. Implications of these results are discussed.