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Ageism in the family generally refers to negative ageism (negative attitudes toward older adults; Levy and Macdonald 2016) that is manifested in the family. Examples include when family members perceive older relatives as a burden or engage in elder abuse. Attitudes toward older relatives are shaped by their roles such as parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents as well as whether the intergenerational interactions tend to be positive or negative (Levy 2016). The role of grandparents in the family is increasingly being considered a positive role as grandparents can be important contributors to childcare in families in contemporary societies. For example, studies of countries in Western Europe find over 50% of grandparents report providing childcare for their grandchildren in some capacity (Bordone et al. 2017), and 24% report caregiving for their grandchildren on a consistent part-time basis (DiGessa et al. 2016)....
References
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Apriceno, ., Scott, S. (2019). Ageism in the Family. In: Gu, D., Dupre, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_588-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_588-1
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