application). Historically, African American grandparents have assisted in the care of children. Today, many grandparents have been forced into the role of surrogate parent for reasons which include teen pregnancy, death and substance abuse of a parent. Grandparents who are primary caregivers for their grandchildren (compensatory grandparents) struggle with setting priorities and deciding how to divide their time, energy, and financial resources. More than 39% of all Black children live in grandparents headed households with no parent present. This is compared to 25% of White children and 23% Hispanic/Latino children. Yet very little is known about the impact of caregiving on the roles and activities of grandparents, and their psychological and physical health, and subjective well-being (SWB). The proposed study is a one-year cross-sectional, case control investigation of the factors affecting the health and well-being of African American grandparents. A sample of 120 non-institutionalized African American grandparents will be recruited for this project. Two case groups will be included: (1) grandparents raising their grandchildren due to the crack / cocaine use of their children; and, (2) grandparents raising their grandchildren for reasons other than the substance use of their children. After meeting eligibility criteria, one testing session will be done which will take approximately two hours. Participants will be interviewed and asked to fill out standardized questionnaires. The scales were chosen to capture the sociodemographics, roles and activities, and health and well-being of the grandparents. Multiple regression analyses will be used to draw conclusions and path analysis for presentation purposes. Demographic characteristics such as age of the grandparent, number of children cared for, and ages of the grandchildren will be adjusted in the regression analyses. The proposed study differs from most caregiving studies which examine the role of caregiving on persons taking care of older individuals; this study focuses on the growing problem of grandparents who have primary caregiving responsibilities for children. Therefore, this would be an opportunity to examine caregiving in an emerging context. Each participant will be tested in a neutral location chosen by the interviewer and the participant. Therefore, the performance sites will most often be one of the following: the participant's home, an office at Duke University Medical Center, or the participant's place of employment. The interviews will all be conducted in North Carolina in one of the following cities: Raleigh, Greensboro, Durham, Burlington, Chapel Hill, Cary, Carrboro, High Point and Winston Salem (these cities comprise the Triangle and Piedmont areas of North Carolina).
