James S. Bates, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of human development and family studies at South Dakota State University. Jim earned his doctorate in Child and Family Studies from Syracuse University.  He is a member of NCFR and is a Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE). His research centers on grandfather-grandchild relationships.  He serves as a consulting editor for the journal Families in Society, and reviews for Journal of Social and Personal Relationships and Men and Masculinities. He and his wife live in Brookings, South Dakota with their three young daughters.

The greatest tragedy the Bates family has experienced is the premature death of the fathers.  This tragedy has been repeated in each generation since the late 1830s.  My grandfather Ivan Bates (pictured above) and my great-grandfathers for three generations before him all passed away "before their times."  Grandpa Bates died 15 years before I was born and before most of his grandchildren were born.  Not having known him is perhaps the greatest tragedy of our generation and has led me to extensive contemplation.

To further illustrate the loss of fathers in our family, Grandpa Bates was preceded in death by four of his brothers and by a son-in-law who was killed in a military aircraft training accident.  This son-in-law left behind my aunt and their infant son.  Another one of Grandpa Bates's sons-in-law abruptly abandoned another aunt and their four young children, and never again sought meaningful or sustained contact with them.  Grandpa's third son-in-law passed away in his late 50s, a mature father and a relatively new grandfather.  Neither my grandmother Lettie Bates nor my three aunts remarried; they carried alone the responsibility of raising the children and grandchildren.

While looking back on these relatives' lives and memorializing their deaths as premature and inconvenient, I learned that when they died each of my direct-line grandfathers-back to my third great-grandfather-knew and interacted with at least a few of their grandchildren.  It dawned on me that when these men died, not only were their children out a father, but their grandchildren were out a grandfather.  Where there is no father, for descendants, there is no grandfather.

Old Men

Growing up I knew a lot of old men, I worked for old men, I grew to enjoy being around old men.  There was my Grandpa Smith, Dave Magleby, Mr. Stuckey, Bob Gade, and Wally Lang.  Wally is my parent's neighbor and growing up I typically only saw Wally at night, walking his dog along our rural drive.  Wally was there on Iwo Jima and watched the Marines push up the American flag.  Our family always wondered if Wally had children and on a visit to his home he explained to us that his only daughter had died as a little girl.  These influential old men were always generous to me, always kind, always personable, and always complimentary.  Apart from my maternal grandfather, these men were quasi-grandfathers to me.  But it was my interest in the man I did not know that has influenced me the most.

I didn't know Grandpa Bates and I wanted to learn about his life.  The process of doing so has shaped my academic pursuits.  This journey started when I was an undergraduate at BYU.  I began by compiling stories about his life with the intent of sharing them with other family members.  I interviewed my aunts, my dad, and the cousins who knew him.  The project piqued my interest in the research process which subsequently became one of many motivations to consider graduate school.  At first, I didn't see a link between my personal and academic interests.  But later, as master's student at Purdue University, I began to blend the two into what I hoped would become a viable program of study on grandparents.  While studying the literature on grandparents I realized that there was very little research on grandfathers.  I wondered if I could contribute.  I went to Syracuse University for my doctorate and to work with Alan Taylor because of his expertise on the topic.  We began almost immediately to develop a program of study on grandfathers and to collect data from grandfathers and grandchildren.

Scholarship on Grandfathers

The body of scholarship on grandfathers is small but growing[i] and can be defined by three themes.  The first theme is the influence of grandfathers on grandchildren.  This is typically best assessed from the perspective of the grandchild because grandchildren are generally more aware of their grandfather's influence than the grandfather.  Young adult grandchildren report that grandfathers have a modest influence on the development of religious, moral, and educational beliefs and impacted their family ideals, work ethic, and personal identity as well as being influential on life goals related to wealth, relationships, health, and personal growth.  In reflections on the meaning of fatherhood, grandfathers were noted as being influential on first time parents' perceptions of fatherhood and other family roles.  Grandfathers teach grandchildren how to endure personal health challenges and report enjoyment in teaching and conveying wisdom and experience.

The second theme is the impact that intergenerational relationships have on grandfathers.  Grandfatherhood is meaningful to many men because it represents a second chance at fathering and because grandchildren symbolize the continuation of the family.  Some scholars see grandfatherhood as an opportunity for men to participate in caregiving and activities that are emotionally rewarding for grandfathers.  Our research indicates that involved[ii] grandfathers had fewer depressive symptoms and greater levels of positive well-being than disengaged grandfathers.

The third theme has to do with the relationship-based outcomes of grandfather-grandchild interaction.  Two major relational outcomes, relationship satisfaction and relationship quality (emotional closeness), result from grandfathers' contact and participation in activities with grandchildren.  Grandfathers feel very close to the grandchild with whom they had the most interaction and that perceptions of closeness increased with participation in activities.  Researchers have found a weak but significant association between participation in shared activities (e.g., looking at family photos together, telling stories, cooking together) and relationship quality.  My dissertation research found that grandfathers' lineage, spiritual, and recreation work activities were each positively associated with relationship quality.

Generativity and Grandfathers in Ancient and Contemporary Cultures

Near the end of my first year of doctoral work, I became increasing interested in the notion of generativity and grandfathers.  According to Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial human development, generativity is the motivation to or "the interest in establishing and guiding the next generation" (Erikson, 1950, p. 231)[iii].  When generativity is successfully achieved, it gives rise to the virtue of care, or a "commitment to take care of the persons...one has learned to care for" (Erikson, 1982, p. 67, italics in original)[iv].  Although Erikson did not originally specify that generativity was associated with a certain age or life role, in his later work he wrote that the grandparent role was an opportunity for adults to maintain a grand-generative function in caring for the newest generation[v].

Historically, the generativity of grandfathers and grandfather figures has been a central feature of various religious and cultural traditions.  In the Judeo-Christian religious tradition for example, Abraham the patriarch, concerned about the perpetuation and establishment of his posterity and religious beliefs, commanded his son Isaac to take a wife among his own kinsfolk, which he did.  Jacob, Isaac's son and Abraham's grandson, propagated a large posterity and became the foundational leader of the twelve tribes of Israel.  As it turns out, this large posterity was critical to the continuation of his grandfather Abraham's faith.  As his posterity grew to become the hosts of Israel, the perpetuation of Abraham's faith in the formation of Judaism and Christianity was realized.  The grandfather-grandson bonds were so salient in this family that, as a grandfather, Jacob bestowed land inheritance blessings upon two of his grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh, over his sons Joseph and Levi.  Levi was given the priesthood to pass on to his righteous sons.

In ancient Chinese monotheism, emperors worshipped a god whose character name was equivalent to Old Sky (Heaven) Grandfather[vi].  It was Old Sky Grandfather who brought prosperity and good fortune to the empire.  Although there is little remnant of that religious tradition in today's industrializing Chinese society, many families practice principles of Confucian philosophy which teaches that the young should respect and reverence their elders, including grandfathers.  Respect is manifest in the practice of seeking grandfathers' counsel regarding important family and personal matters.  In fact, in some families grandfathers actually bear the responsibility of naming newborn grandchildren.

The native Lakota people of the upper Missouri River basin called this river Grandfather River because it was the source of life to the northern lands, animals, and peoples.  Interestingly, like the ancient Chinese, the Lakota people also called their god Tunkasila or Grandfather.  Respect for the ancient and the elder is practiced in some Northern Plains tribal families today.  Among the Mandan, for example, male grandchildren are nicknamed "Grandfather."[vii]  This practice not only engenders respect for elders, but it teaches young boys the importance of becoming wise and care-full when they grow to be grandfathers[viii].

Generative Grandfathering

In 2009[ix], I proposed the generative grandfathering conceptual framework.  The framework assumes that the activities men perform as grandfathers and the interactions they participate in with grandchildren are based on grandfathers' motivation and interest in establishing and guiding that generation.  Generative grandfathering is concerned with caring for and nurturing grandchildren and as grandfathers work to this end, they expend time, energy, and material resources.  In so doing, the developmental needs of both are addressed and both benefit and grow in many ways (e.g., relationally, emotionally, psychologically, and physically).  Indeed, this framework helps to guide investigations of the three themes of the grandfather literature discussed previously.

The generative grandfathering framework is comprised of seven concepts, broadly defined by the various activities grandfathers engage in with and for grandchildren.  Lineage work refers to the effort to help grandchildren learn about and interpret the family's history.  Mentoring work refers to efforts to teach and pass on practical skills and knowledge.  Spiritual work refers to offering comfort, encouragement, and advice.  Character work refers to efforts to nurture and shape grandchildren's character and personality as they become ethical and responsible members of society.  Recreation work entails efforts to organize, facilitate, and participate in leisure activities with grandchildren.  Family identity work refers to efforts to encourage strong family relationships and appropriate interpersonal behaviors among family members.  Investment work refers to assisting grandchildren in becoming financially self-reliant in adulthood.

What I Learned about Grandpa Bates

Through my efforts to learn about the grandfather I did not know, I came to realize that Grandpa Bates exhibited all of the generative grandfathering concepts.  In fact, in the earliest drafts of that 2009 paper, the generative actions of Grandpa Bates obtained from the interviews formed the empirical basis for the generative grandfathering concepts.  He was his grandchildren's link to the family's history (lineage work) and taught grandsons about running electrical wiring and plumbing (mentoring work).  He gave comfort to his grandchildren (spiritual work), demonstrated moral character (character work), and recreated in a variety of ways with them (recreation work).  He invested financially in their futures despite being a poor farmer (investment work) and showed the grandchildren what it means to be a family (family identity work).  Even though my dad lost a father and I lost a grandfather, my grandfather's legacy of generative care and nurturing will continue in me and, if I do it right, will be passed on to my children.

[i] See Bates, J. S., & Taylor, A. C. (under review). Grandfather involvement: Contact frequency, participation in activities, and commitment.

[ii] See Bates, J. S., & Taylor, A. C. (under review).  Typology of grandfathering styles: Does more involvement with grandchildren mean better mental health? Involved grandfathers is a category of grandfathers who report high levels of commitment, participation in activities, and contact frequency.  Disengaged grandfathers is a category of grandfathers who have low commitment, activities, and contact.  Passive grandfathers is the group that falls in between Involved and Disengaged.

[iii] Erikson, E. H. (1950).  Childhood and society.  New York:  Norton.

[iv] See Erikson, E. H. (1982).  The life cycle completed.  New York:  Norton.

[v] Erikson, E. H., Erikson, J. M., & Kivnick, H. Q. (1986).  Vital involvement in old age.  New York:  Norton.

[vi] CY Wang, personal communication, December 4, 2009.

[vii] Female grandchildren are nicknamed "Grandmother"

[viii] Valerian Three Irons, personal communication, March 2009.

[ix] Bates, J. S. (2009).  Generative grandfathering: A conceptual framework for nurturing grandchildren.  Marriage and Family Review, 45, 331-352.