Remarried Families: Under the View of Grandparents

Abstract

The remarried family comes from a previous separation, by one or both partners, creating a new union that leads to the needs of adaption and shaping of new relationships among its members. Being it a time of transition, most often, grandparents are present, providing emotional and instrumental support to their children and grandchildren. This study therefore aimed to understand how the grandparents perceive and experience the remarriage of their children. The participants were nine grandmothers and one grandfather, aged between 48 and 83 years. They answered a semi-structured interview that was analyzed according to Thematic Content Analysis. The results showed a large involvement of grandparents in the remarriages of children, contributing to the adjustment of grandchildren to this new family. Acceptance and support for the choice of the children proved to be essential to achieve a sense of family among all those involved in this system.