The (In)Visibility of Grandparents in Family Leisure Research: A Call for Expanded Conceptualizations of “Family”

ABSTRACT

The continued focus on the individual as a unit of analysis, along with the privileging of the nuclear family over the past two decades of family leisure scholarship, has rendered grandparents virtually invisible in family leisure scholarship. In this commentary, I examine the position of grandparents in leisure research and suggest that the implicit acceptance of the status quo has been detrimental to the state of family leisure research. Drawing on literature from both leisure studies and family relations, I assert a more nuanced understanding of the complexities of diverse family forms is vital to the progression of family leisure scholarship.

KEYWORDS:

• extended family
• family leisure
• family systems
• grandparents
• older adults

Notes

1 The journals included in the analysis included the Journal of Leisure Research, Leisure Sciences, Leisure Studies, and Family Relations.