Psychological resilience of grandparents and relationships with grandchildren in a family of an adult child. Dimensions of parentification of grandparents in the family

The purpose of the study was to capture the relationships between closeness, frequency of contact with grandchildren and authority and the dimensions of grandparents’ mental resilience. The results were collected from a sample of 80 study subjects using two tools: the Mental Resilience Scale (SPP–25) and an original ad hoc scale defining intergenerational relations, closeness – frequency – authority. The effects allowed us to address the research problem of whether there are relationships between the dimensions of grandparents’ mental resilience and their closeness, frequency of contact with grandchildren and grandparents’ authority. It was expected that the higher the mental resilience demonstrated in its dimensions studied in grandparents, the more significantly grandparents will demonstrate closeness and frequency of contact with grandchildren, while at the same time being an authority for their grandchildren. The results proven that some dimensions of psychological resilience show correlations with the characteristics of intergenerational relations. Among them, a dominant one are openness to novelty and sense of humor, as well as optimistic attitude to life and the ability to mobilize in difficult situations, which enter into positive significant interdependencies with closeness to grandchildren. On the other hand, personal coping skills and tolerance of negative emotions show a negative significant correlation with the frequency of contacts with grandchildren. Tolerance of failure and treating life as a challenge reveal a negative correlation with the authority of grandparents in grandchildren. In conclusion, the results constitute the beginning of a discussion on the issue of parentification of grandparents, a concept identified with clinical child psychology.