The Grandchildren Received Affection Scale: Examining Affectual Solidarity Factors

Because the use of affectionate communication may differ across relational contexts (Mansson & Booth-Butterfield, 2011), the purpose of this study was to develop a measure to assess grandchildren's received affectionate communication from their grandparents. Participants (N = 662) were young adult grandchildren recruited from two public universities. The results of principal component analyses, Pearson correlations, one-sampled t tests, and multiple linear regressions indicate that grandchildren receive four types of affectionate communication from their grandparents: love and esteem; caring; memories and stories; and celebratory affection. The results further indicate that grandchildren's reports of received affection from their grandparents are related positively to, and generally predictive of, their relational characteristics (i.e., liking, relational satisfaction, and communication satisfaction) with their grandparents. These findings provide a valuable contribution to both the affectionate communication and the grandparent-grandchild literature.