University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.
J Aging Stud. 2013 Dec;27(4):377-86. doi: 10.1016/j.jaging.2013.09.002. Epub 2013 Oct 2.
The matrilineal advantage theory suggests that paternal grandparents are more at risk of having little or no contact with their grandchildren. However, there is significant family diversity within Australia and we wished to understand the experiences of a wide range of grandparents in order to determine if the matrilineal theory can be effectively used in practice to identify those grandparents most at risk for estrangement.
A convenience group of grandparents with little or no contact with grandchildren (n=38) told their stories in their own words using narratives obtained through interview or writing.
We found that paternal grandparents, as per the matrilineal advantage theory, were more likely to be estranged from their grandchildren when their son divorced, particularly when he was not the resident parent or when he re-partnered. However, in contrast, we found that maternal grandparents who experienced conflict in their relationship with their daughter were also at risk for estrangement. This occurred even when grandparents had previously been highly involved in the lives of their grandchildren. Some estrangements appeared to result from a cultural bias towards the nuclear family form. We argue that practitioners need not only to expand their understanding of the risk categories for estrangement, they also need to actively support parents and grandparents in creating and maintaining wider family support networks in order to improve family resilience.
母系优势理论表明，祖父祖母与孙辈的联系较少或没有联系的风险更高。然而，澳大利亚的家庭多样性显著，我们希望了解广泛的祖父母的经历，以确定母系理论是否可以有效地用于确定那些最有可能与孙辈疏远的祖父母。
通过访谈或书面形式，使用叙事的方式，方便地选取了与孙辈联系较少或没有联系的祖父母（n=38），让他们用自己的话讲述自己的故事。
我们发现，按照母系优势理论，当儿子离婚时，尤其是当他不是主要抚养人或重新结婚时，祖父祖母与孙辈的疏远的可能性更大。然而，相反的是，我们发现与女儿关系有冲突的外祖母和外祖父也有疏远的风险。即使祖父母以前曾高度参与孙辈的生活，也会发生这种情况。一些疏远似乎是由于对核心家庭形式的文化偏见造成的。我们认为，从业者不仅需要扩大对疏远风险类别的理解，还需要积极支持父母和祖父母建立和维护更广泛的家庭支持网络，以提高家庭的适应力。
