dr. V. (Vera) de Bel

NWO-VENI project: “The more the merrier? The role of step-grandparens in complex family networks”

In the 1990s, the Netherlands experienced a peak in divorces. Now, 30 years later, divorced parents have often found new partners, and their adult children have established their own families. As a result, families can now consist of four biological grandparents and additional step-grandparents, potentially resulting in “eight-grandparent families”. By utilizing registers that document the kinship networks of the Dutch population, it is examined to what extent having step-grandparents can be a benefit or a burden for the younger generations. Additionally, new data is collected about step-grandparent relationships to understand under what conditions relationships with step-grandparents can thrive.