Pebley and Rudkin explore research results on the characteristics of grandchildren and grandparents in common households and identify a research agenda for this phenomenon. Grandchildren Living with Grandparents Of the four million children living with their grandparents, 2.5 million live in three-generation households. Nearly 1.5 million live in split-generation households. The proportion of all grandchildren living in three-generation households, 3.6 percent, has been steady in recent years. The proportion in split-generation households, 2.1 percent, has risen slightly in recent years, after declining from 1940 through the 1980s.
Younger children are more likely to live with their grandparents.
The frequency of three- generation households is much higher for younger children than for older children. Split-generation households are about equally common for all ages. African American children are more likely to live with their grandparents. Black grandmothers historically have played a more important role than white grandmothers have in childrearing and maintaining extended family stability. Higher minority-family coresidence may also reflect higher poverty rates for minority families.