A relação entre avós e netos. Efeitos no desenvolvimento vocacional, na construção de significados de trabalho e no auto-conceito académico

Being a grandfather or a grandmother is something that has always been evolving, along the History of Mankind. The contemporary changes of family reality, from the decreasing birth rates, which leads to fewer grandchildren, women entering the labor market and the need of family logistic support, to great working flexibility demands, along with the increasing average life expectancy, have been allowing a narrower and temporally extended contact, between grandparents and grandchildren. Given the absence of such works, this investigation aims to understand in what way the meanings that grandparents and granchildren give to grandparenthood influence the development of the latter, on Work Meanings, Vocational Development and Academic Self-Concept. We chose to analyse the collected data through an Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, which allows to analyse the data presuming an interdependence effect from the dyad members. The sample is formed of 268 dyads, composed by the grandchildren and the grandparents with whom they have more contact. From the results, we highlight: a) there’s an actor-partner effect in the Grandparenthood Meanings dimension Mutual Understanding, on the Academic Self-Concept; b) although there aren’t any other actor-partner effects, there are Connection to the Past effects, from the Grandparenthood Meanings as perceived by the grandchild, over the Work Meanings – Personal Fulfillment and Economical – and on the Vocational Investment, a Vocational Development dimension; c) grandchildren gender differences were found on their perception on Indulgence, another Grandparenthood Meanings dimension, and grandparents differences from the grandchildren’s gender, on Mutual Understanding; d) contact frequency differences were found on grandparents gender and on Mutual Understanding, as perceived by both grandparent and grandchild; e) unlike other investigation trends, we didn’t find ineage or gender differences on the grandparents that grandchildren tend to be close with. These results cast challenges on understanding families as a relational reality, where the psycologist’s role should consider its multigenerational characteristc, aiming a better understanding of the influence of family dynamics on younger generations developmental variables.