Grandparents Across the Ocean: Eastern European Immigrants Struggle to Maintain Intergenerational Relationships
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-9-2009
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Comparative Family Studies
Abstract
Many contemporary immigrants belong to transnational families-families that maintain significant contact with two or more countries. These families identify with multiple environments and deal with life-cycle changes over extensive geographical space. This paper has two major aims: 1) to better understand how today's immigrant families facilitate intergenerational relationships across significant distances; and 2) to learn more about the understudied population of recent immigrant professionals from Eastern Europe in the United States. To accomplish these aims, in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 24 immigrant mothers and fathers from Eastern European countries residing in the United States. Based on grounded theory methodology, we identified four themes: (1) The definition of "family" and the importance of extended family ties: "The relationships are tighter knit than those in the U.S."; (2) The role of grandparents in childrearing: "Who else do you think is more appropriate?"; (3) The strategies of maintaining intergenerational relationships: "I want my son to know his predecessors' language"; and (4) The stress of being torn between two worlds: "I don't want to be happy at the expense of my extended family." Our findings suggest that, in spite of advances in communication and travel, and a strong desire for continuation of intergenerational relations in immigrant families, emotional transnationalism is not easily achieved.
DOI
10.3138/jcfs.40.1.77
MSU Digital Commons Citation
Nesteruk, Olena and Marks, Loren, "Grandparents Across the Ocean: Eastern European Immigrants Struggle to Maintain Intergenerational Relationships" (2009). Department of Family Science and Human Development Scholarship and Creative Works. 87.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/familysci-facpubs/87
Published Citation
Nesteruk, O., & Marks, L. (2009). Grandparents Across the Ocean: Eastern European Immigrants’ Struggle to Maintain Intergenerational Relationships. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 40(1), 77–95. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41604262