"In 2002, 5.6 million children were living in households with a grandparent present (8 percent of all children).  ...The majority of children living with grandparents lived in households where the grandparent was the householder (3.7 million). Although these children were using housing resources provided by grandparents, 65 percent (2.4 million) had at least one parent in the household.

(Source: Jason Fields, "Children's Living Arrangements and Characteristics: March 2002," Current Population Reports, P20-547, United States Census Bureau, June 2003; http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/p20-547.pdf.)  

"The presence of a grandparent confirms that parents were, indeed, little once, too, and that people who are little can grow to be big, can become parents, and one day even have grandchildren of their own. So often we think of grandparents as belonging to the past; but in this important way, grandparents, for young children, belong to the future."

(Source: Fred Rogers, Mister Rogers Talks With Parents, Family Communications, Incorporated, 1993; in Andrews, Robert; Biggs, Mary; and Seidel, Michael, et al, The Columbia World of Quotations, New York: Columbia University Press, 1996; www.bartleby.com/66/ [3 February 2004].) 

By definition, divorce splits a husband from a wife. Most observers also recognize that divorce separates at least one parent from the children. Now evidence is accumulating showing that divorce also breaks ties linking grandparents to grandchildren.

In a study recently completed at the Pennsylvania State University, sociologist Valerie King examined data collected from 538 grandparents living in north central Iowa, seeking to determine how a grandparent's divorce affects relationships with adolescent grandchildren. In reporting her findings in the Journal of Marriage and Family, King points to strong indications that "many aspects of grandparenting are negatively associated with having ever experienced a divorce." Compared to never-divorced grandparents, "ever-divorced grandparents report less contact and engage in fewer shared activities with their adolescent grandchild." Further, King establishes statistically that compared to never-divorced grandparents, grandparents who have divorced feel "less close to their grandchild, are less likely to play the role of friend, and [experience] higher levels of conflict in the relationship."

Even grandparents' psychological attitudes reflect the negative influence of divorce. "Views about the importance of being a grandparent resonate less strongly among grandparents who have experienced a divorce," remarks King, who points out that divorced grandparents are less likely than never-divorced grandparents to believe that "because they have grandchildren a part of themselves will keep living after they have died (80% vs. 91%, respectively); that a valuable part of grandparenthood is having grandchildren in their lives (76% vs. 89%); and that grandchildren belong to them as well as to their parents (64% vs. 78%)."

The negative effects of a grandparent's divorce can be explained, at least in part. Divorced grandparents, King concludes, "live farther away from their grandchild" than do never-divorced grandparents. Furthermore, divorced grandparents have "weaker bonds to adult children" than never-divorced grandparents.

Lest anyone minimize the scope of the problem she is probing, King suggests that a study focusing on Iowa residents may not fully capture the national impact of divorce on grandparenthood. "Stronger effects," she plausibly speculates, "may be found in urban settings where people are more mobile and where kin ties are more variable."

And unfortunately, when divorce weakens the bonds between grandparents and the younger generations-whether in Iowa City or Los Angeles-much is lost. Traditionally, grandparents have served as "storytellers, confidants, and mentors" to their grandchildren. They have provided "child care and family support in times of crisis, and in more extreme cases, [they have] become primary caregivers for grandchildren." Who will take their place if divorce pushes them to the margins of the family? The question worries King at a time when "the number of grandparents who have experienced a divorce is substantial and increasing rapidly."

(Source: Valerie King, "The Legacy of a Grandparent's Divorce: Consequences for Ties Between Grandparents and Grandchildren," Journal of Marriage and Family 65[2003]: 170-183.)