Evolution of Skipped Generation Households

The emergence of skipped generation households (SGHs) was both planned and organic (Dolbin-MacNab, M. L., The handbook of systemic family therapy. Wiley-Blackwell, 2020; Zimmer, Z., & Treleaven, E., Population and Development Review 46:709−733, 2020; Treleaven, E., & Ngin, C., Social Science & Medicine 287:114327, 2021). While it was planned in most of the western world to fill a vacuum sometimes due to the dysfunctional nuclear family system, its emergence was more organic in most African societies due to the existence of a cultural system that provides a spinoff for the practices (Goodman, C. C., The International Journal of Aging and Human Development 65:231−258, 2007). In some Latin American countries, it is interesting to note that the desire for better education for grandchildren has been found as contributing to the emergence and increase in skipped generation families, especially in the inner cities. Whether planned or organic, however, a fact about the emergence of this family type is because of the death of one or both biological parents, a dysfunctional nuclear family that can no longer be trusted with the care of their own biological children or that the nuclear family is confronting some challenges making it difficult to raise their own biological children (Dolbin-MacNab, M. L., & Yancura, L. A., The International Journal of Aging and Human Development 86:3−33, 2018; Zimmer, Z., & Treleaven, E., Population and Development Review 46:709−733, 2020). While diverse factors led to the emergence of the family system in different societies of the world (Hayslip, B., Jr., & Patrick, J. H. Custodial grandparenting: Individual, cultural, and ethnic diversity. Springer, 2006), there is clear evidence that the number of grandchildren being raised by their grandparents has continued to increase in all societies (Dolbin-MacNab, M. L., & O’Connell, L. M., Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review 24:207−223, 2021). This household type is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore for scholars and policymakers because of the tremendous increase in number, some functions it performs, its consequences on the health and wellbeing of family members, and the intergenerational relationships resulting from it. Thus, skipped generation households are becoming the reality of twenty-first-century family system that needs proactive measures to maximize what it has to offer while minimizing the problems associated with the family type. This chapter draws from desk review to provide the global context for skipped generation households.