Publication: Pathways to grandparents' provision of care in skipped-generation households in Thailand
Issued Date
2018-07-01
Resource Type
ISSN
14691779
0144686X
0144686X
Other identifier(s)
2-s2.0-85014559101
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Mahidol University
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Ageing and Society. Vol.38, No.7 (2018), 1429-1452
Suggested Citation
Berit Ingersoll-Dayton, Sureeporn Punpuing, Kanchana Tangchonlatip, Laura Yakas Pathways to grandparents' provision of care in skipped-generation households in Thailand. Ageing and Society. Vol.38, No.7 (2018), 1429-1452. doi:10.1017/S0144686X17000058 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/44926
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Title
Pathways to grandparents' provision of care in skipped-generation households in Thailand
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Abstract
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017. In many parts of the world, grandparents live with their grandchildren in 'skipped-generation households' in which no parent resides. In Thailand, this living arrangement is more common in rural areas where parents often migrate to find employment. The focus of this article is on how grandparents make the decision to live in skipped-generation households. Our study is based upon open-ended interviews with 48 grandparents who lived in three rural areas of Thailand. Using an interpretative phenomenological approach, the analysis uncovers several factors that contribute to grandparents' decisions about their living arrangements. These factors include: norms about care-giving and family obligation, inadequate child-care options, the need for financial support, problematic relationships within the family and a desire for companionship. We also identify three different decision-making patterns: grandparents initiating the decision to provide grandchild care, adult children asking grandparents to assume this role and adult children abandoning grandchildren to the grandparents. Based upon these findings, we provide implications for practice that address the conditions of grandparents and their family members.