The importance of grandparental relationships in the lives of Maltese youth : a qualitative study of the role of grandparents in today's society

Abstract

This research explores grandparental relationships in the Maltese Islands and how biological and emotional bonds in these relationships may influence decisions taken by Maltese youth as they graduate from children to adolescents into young adults. While the study builds upon and takes into consideration various research papers, it also takes into account that Malta is an island forming part of an archipelago with a population of approximately 450,000 inhabitants and one of the densest populations in the world. This research explores the hypothesis that the family dynamics between grandparents and grandchildren in the Maltese Islands, due to geographical, demographic and sociocultural differences may not mirror models of grandparental relationships in larger countries. One of the difficulties encountered when compiling the material for this research was the limited academic literature exploring grandparental relationships with their grandchildren in the Maltese Islands. The existing research for this study was augmented by interviewing and introducing the views and opinions of two retired social service professionals. One of the interviewees worked with pensioners and their families for several years, while the other was a court-appointed expert for the Juvenile Court, often involved in case studies of intergeneration transmission of three generations of a single-family unit. These interviews allowed me to achieve a better understanding of grandparental relationships and their impact on Maltese society. The data of the four case studies consisted of interviews with two grandparents and two adult grandchildren. In these interviews, the potential grandparental Influence on grandchildren's decisions in areas of lifestyle and education, starting from childhood to adulthood, is explored. Through existing scientific literature, transmission between multi-generations of the same family unit and how it happens and the potential role of grandparenting is examined in the Maltese context. The results of this research suggest that the emotional bonds between grandchildren and grandparents in the Maltese Islands are strongly interpersonal and that grandparents carry social capital both with their children and grandchildren.