Depression, according to the researchers, is one of the most often felt affects of raising grandchildren. Fuller-Thompson and Minkler (2000) suggest that this psychological problem may stem from a variety of stressors involved in parenting their grandchildren, such as financial strains and a renewed requirement of helping others when they thought they would have "more time to themselves" (pg. 110). Faced with non-caregiving peers, custodial grandparents may regret the freedom, leisure, and financial stability that they may never have as a result of their parenting situations. Further, Fuller-Thompson and Minkler (2000) also note that adverse physical affects have been closely linked with custodial grandparenting, such as the "exacerbation of pre-existing chronic conditions, comorbidy, declines in self-assessed health, and limitations in one or more activities of daily living" (pg. 111). African-Americans are especially at risk because African-American women, on the whole, tend to suffer from more adverse health effects than their...
[ View Full Essay]