An Analysis of the Ties between Grandparents and their Adolescent Grandchildren: a reflection on generational transmission

Abstract This study is based on an exploratory and descriptive study about the intergenerational relations between grandparents and their adolescent grandchildren. It is an effort to understand, from the perspective of the adolescent, the communications, meanings and affections associated to these transgenerational ties. It seeks to identify differences in relations with grandfathers and grandmothers, as well as possible differences in ties between paternal and maternal grandparents. Differences were identified based on a voluntary choice to engage in activities with maternal grandparents. Meanwhile, relations with paternal grandparents seem to reflect activities of an obligatory nature, which are not related to apparent pleasure, but to be an integral part of the adolescents' identities and their intergenerational and transgenerational ties.摘要 本研究围绕祖父母与青春期孙辈之间的代际关系展开探索性描述性研究，旨在从青少年视角出发，理解与这类跨代际联结相关的沟通、意义与情感联结。研究旨在厘清祖孙关系在祖父与祖母之间的差异，以及父系祖父母与母系祖父母之间的代际联结差异。研究结果表明，青少年与母系祖父母的互动多出于自愿选择；而青少年与父系祖父母的互动则带有强制性色彩，此类活动并非源于明显的愉悦感，而是青少年自我认同以及代际、跨代联结不可或缺的组成部分。