This study consisted of three components. The first two were to develop a Performance Rating Scale and Interview Protocol to assess performance in the grandparent social role. The third component of this study was to implement the Performance Rating Scale and Interview Protocol, to provide further evidence of instrument validity, and to assess the performance results.
The Performance Rating Scale and Interview Protocol were developed with the aid of the USF Social Roles Research Team and five expert panels in a sequence of review/revision/review. Q-sort techniques and qualitative assessment were used to develop and content validate the Performance Rating Scale and Interview Protocol. The USF Social Roles Research Team and the Pilot panel were involved in the construction of the Performance Rating Scale and Interview Protocol. The Validation and Verification panels evaluated the Rating Scale descriptors and Protocol questions for language clarity and completeness.
A field test was conducted using the two instruments. Inter- and intra-rater estimates of reliability were estimated. Further revisions were made to both instruments to enhance language clarity and completeness.
The Confirmation and Affirmation panels assessed the overall combined effectiveness of the two instruments prior to their administration on the sample. Data were gathered by implementing the Interview Protocol with a quota sample of 120 participants selected on the basis of age, gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and race/ethnicity. Two samples were drawn: one, n = 100, for comparability with the other USF Social Roles Project studies; the other, n = 60, to investigate differences in role performance by race/ethnicity. Gender, age, and/or SES-based performance patterns were sought in the comparability subsample; race/ethnicity-based patterns of performance were examined in the second, smaller sample. Main effects for SES and gender were found in the comparability subsample, with no interaction effects of significance. The disenfranchised and working SES levels performed at lower levels than the other levels. The race match subsample evidenced statistically significant main effects for differences in performance by race/ethnicity, providing partial support for the research hypotheses. Recommendations for future study include examination of grandparenting within non-traditional family structures, and the interaction between distance and SES in grandparent performance.
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