Grandparent Distress

Today, more grandparents are raising their grandchildren than at any other time in U.S. history. These grandparents face challenges in almost every part of their lives, such as strained relations with the child’s parent, unexpectedly caring for a family on a limited income, and grandchildren’s emotional and behavioral problems from a history of abuse, neglect or abandonment. As a result, many grandparents experience poor health, and psychological and emotional distress.


A recent study conducted by sociologist Terry Mills and colleagues at the University of Florida and published in the Journal, Marriage and Family Review, found that younger grandmothers raising grandchildren were more likely to be depressed than their older counterparts. Using data from the National Survey of America’s Families, the researchers found that the younger the grandmothers were, the more likely they were to experience depression.

They reported that younger grandparents may be distressed because at middle age they are trying to balance suddenly functioning as a parent again along with work responsibilities and personal interests. They may also feel that they failed as a parent. However, when younger grandmothers received support such as social service help with child care and health care, they were no more likely to be distressed than older grandmothers.

The study’s authors point out that because grandparents raising grandchildren are at risk of depression and isolation, it’s important that they have access to psychological counseling. In addition, social services, child care, and easier access to health care are important in giving grandparents the support they need.

Happy New Year

Everyone here at Spotlight UK wish you a Happy New Year and hope 2011 is a year to remember for you.

Jaya Photoshoot

Jaya, the first British-Indian female to be signed to a major label in Universal Records came down to Spotlight UK studios for a photoshoot for INK Magazine. She was promoting her latest single and we filmed behind the scenes footage of her photoshoot as well as catching up with her for an exclusive interview.

2010 Writers and Producer's Guild award nominations--predictions and results

The real beginning of the Oscar season kicks off later today with the announcement of both the Producer's Guild and Writer's Guild nominations, which usually match up to the Academy's eventual wrap-up list. But, for the Writer's Guild, maybe the simiarities won't show this year. This is because so many titles-- The King's Speech, Toy Story 3, Another Year, Winter's Bone, Never Let Me Go, Scott

2010 Writers and Producer's Guild award nominations--predictions and results

The real beginning of the Oscar season kicks off later today with the announcement of both the Producer's Guild and Writer's Guild nominations, which usually match up to the Academy's eventual wrap-up list. But, for the Writer's Guild, maybe the simiarities won't show this year. This is because so many titles-- The King's Speech, Toy Story 3, Another Year, Winter's Bone, Never Let Me Go, Scott

Step Siblings and Academic Outcomes

Today’s children are growing up in any number of family structures including biological-, step-, and single-parent families. Even though there has been a lot of research on these diverse families, not much of it has focused on sibling relationships in non-traditional families.


However, research published recently in the Social Science Research journal analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to explore how living with step- and/or half-siblings impacted teenagers’ academic performance. A number of studies have shown that children in step families are at a greater disadvantage academically than even those children living with single parents.

Yet, step-parents are often only part of the new dynamic children must face when they become blended with a step family. So, what roles do siblings play in children’s academic lives?

This research found that youth who live with step- and/or half-siblings experience greater school-related behavior problems and lower GPA scores, and boys were more negatively affected than girls. The researchers suggest that siblings in these nontraditional families may expect less financial support for post-secondary education and may be less motivated to do well in school. Also, the ambiguity in their family relationships may motivate them to become independent earlier.

Living with step relationships can be difficult. Parents in non-traditional families may need to find ways to foster sibling involvement and emotional closeness to help create supportive family environments.

Quadrantids Meteor Shower - January 3-4, 2011

2011 starts with an impressive meteor shower for those ready to brave a cold night. The Quadrantids take place the night of Monday January 3rd into the morning of Tuesday January 4th, and are made better by the fact that the Moon is new, meaning no interference from moonlight.

As always, the best viewing of any meteor shower is from a dark location, ideally away from city lights. But I have had some success right in my backyard in San Francisco by positioning myself away from direct lights such as streetlights and houselights, and allowing myself 5 to 10 minutes to adapt to the darkness. Once dark adapted, the winter sky shimmers and Quadrantids are readily visible. In dark skies outside of cities you can expect up to 2 meteors per minute, but in the City I am happy to see 1 meteor every few minutes. This year should be as good a show as any, and despite our rainy Northern California weather the outlook is good.

To see this shower, position yourself facing northeast but give yourself as much of a view of the sky as possible. A lawn chair is best (along with blankets and a hat), as the meteors appear to originate in the constellation Bootes in the northeast part of the sky, but the meteors radiate in every direction away from this point.

For some fun background and history of this meteor shower, check out Astronomy.com and NASA's "What's Up" blog series. Image is courtesy of NASA.

Stay warm, and here's to good skies!