Verschueren K, Van Ranst N, Marcoen A
Centrum voor Ontwikkelingspsychologie, KU Leuven.
Tijdschr Gerontol Geriatr. 1993 Feb;24(1):3-11.
Do young adult grandchildren find their grandparents important? What are the meanings that grandparents seem to have for these grandchildren? Those were the leading questions in the present study. Subjects were 239 university students (mean age: 19.5 years). They completed the Grandparents Meaning Scale, a recently developed 82-item instrument which probes for 11 a priori dimensions of meaning of grandparents for grandchildren: (I) Reliable alliance, (2) Affection and emotional support, (3) Reassurance of worth, (4) Practical and financial support, (5) Link with the past, (6) Acquaintance with aging, (7) Mentor and role-model, (8) Kinkeeper, (9) Mediator between children and parents, (10) Substitute caregiver, and (11) Distant figure. Subjects rated the importance and meaning of 222 grandmothers and 159 grandfathers. The results confirmed earlier findings. Young adult grandchildren generally found their grandparents important. Grandparents were valued because they provide their grandchildren with reassurance of worth and emotional support, and link their lives to the historical past. Grandmothers received higher scores than grandfathers on seven scales (1-4, 8-10). Grandfathers had higher scores on just two of the scales (5 and 11). Gender differences emerged with regard to the ratings of the grandmothers only. Girls had higher scores than boys on eight scales (1-3, 5, 7-10) and boys had a higher score on just one scale (11).
年轻成年孙辈们觉得他们的祖父母重要吗？祖父母对于这些孙辈们而言似乎有着怎样的意义？这些是本研究的主要问题。研究对象为239名大学生（平均年龄：19.5岁）。他们完成了“祖父母意义量表”，这是一种最近开发的包含82个条目的工具，用于探究祖父母对孙辈意义的11个先验维度：（1）可靠联盟，（2）关爱与情感支持，（3）价值肯定，（4）实际与经济支持，（5）与过去的联系，（6）对衰老的认知，（7）导师与榜样，（8）家族维系者，（9）子女与父母之间的调解人，（10）替代照顾者，以及（11）疏远的人物。研究对象对222位祖母和159位祖父的重要性和意义进行了评分。结果证实了早期的研究发现。年轻成年孙辈们普遍觉得他们的祖父母很重要。祖父母受到重视是因为他们为孙辈提供价值肯定和情感支持，并将他们的生活与历史过去联系起来。祖母在七个维度（1 - 4、8 - 10）上的得分高于祖父。祖父仅在两个维度（5和11）上得分更高。仅在对祖母的评分方面出现了性别差异。女孩在八个维度（1 - 3、5、7 - 10）上的得分高于男孩，而男孩仅在一个维度（11）上得分更高。
