The purpose of this study was to explore the following relationships: (a) how moderating factors (gender, age, ethnicity, social support, marital status, reason for role assumption and number of grandchildren in the home) can influence the mediating role of resiliency, and (b) how resiliency may mediate the negative effects of raising grandchildren (role demands, life disruptions, and difficulties with grandchildren) on grandparent adjustment over time. Resiliency was hypothesized to have the greatest effect on custodial grandparents who experienced the most stress (i.e., older, single, Caucasian males lacking social support and raising more than one grandchild). Mediation was assessed using structural equation modeling. Results indicated resilience mediated the relationship between role assumptions (i.e., role demands and life disruptions) and grandparent adjustment; however, resilience did not mediate the relationship between grandchild characteristics and grandparent adjustment. Due to the small number of custodial grandfathers (n = 14), non-married grandparents (n = 29), non-Caucasian grandparents (n = 10), the small number of grandparents who assumed the custodial role for less ambiguous reasons (n = 24), and the number of custodial grandparents with more than one grandchild residing in the home (n = 29) participating within the study, hierarchical multiple regressions were only conducted to test for moderated mediation for perceived social support and the age of the grandparent. Results indicated resilience mediates the relationship between life disruption and grandparent well-being for younger custodial grandparents and for custodial grandparents with perceived high social support.
