Grand-parenting and extent of fulfilling the psychosocial well-being of adolescents from single parent homes in Bffalo City Metropolitan, South Africa

Abstract

The persistent rise in the number of custodial grandparents has been attributed to several factors such as parental incarceration,
drug abuse; HIV/AIDS, death, divorce, mental health challenges, and poverty leading to the abandonment by the children's parents.
With the supportive and parenting responsibilities of grandparents, they are likely to promote and influence the lives of children
due to their wealth of experiences. The aim of this paper is to determine the extent to which custodial grandparents fulfill the psychosocial well-being of adolescents from single parents. The study utilized a qualitative research approach to gather data from 30 single parents and seven social workers using in-depth interviews and focus-group discussions respectively. The data collected were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings revealed that socio-economic and health statuses of grandparents determine the extent of fulfilling the adolescents' psychosocial well-being from single parents. Based on the findings, the study recommended that social support should be provided to the custodial grandparents by the single parents, government, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Key Terms: grand-parenting, adolescents, single parent, psychosocial, well-being, South Africa