Justifications for caregiving in White, Asian American, and Native Hawaiian Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

摘要

Objectives. Race has been found to predict justifications for caregiving in family caregivers for older adults. However, little is known about this relationship in another type of family caregiver, Grandparents Raising Grandchildren (GRG). This study examined relationships between race and justifications for caregiving in Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and White GRG.Method. A sample of 259 GRG registered as students' primary caregivers with a public school system completed a modified version of the 10-item Cultural Justifications for Caregiving (CJCG) scale.Results. CJCG items did not load onto a single analytic factor. Two factors, custom and responsibility, emerged. Race was predictive of custom, with Native Hawaiian GRG having significantly higher scores than White or Asian American GRG. Native Hawaiian GRG also scored higher than Asian American, but not White, GRG on responsibility.Discussion. Justifications for raising grandchildren appear to differ among groups based on racial identification. Findings elucidate cultural justification for caregiving in understudied GRG populations and suggest that justifications for caregiving are configured differently in GRG and family caregivers for older adults. Future studies should examine justifications for caregiving in GRG of other races. ? 2012 The Author. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved.