With living to older ages becoming more common in the United States, Americans may have an increased opportunity to form a relationship with their grandparents. Relationships with others, and the social support they provide are important for mental well-being, and are an important area to consider when understanding individuals’ mental health. Relationships with parents and peers have received a large amount of research attention, and have been found to influence the mental health of college students. Despite the increased opportunity to form meaningful relationships with grandparents, there has been much less research directed at this potential source of social support. Of the research conducted, the relationship individuals have with their grandparents tends to be reported positively, which suggests that additional research is warranted. Additionally, even less research has examined the use of remote methods of communication, which may be important ways to stay in contact when people don’t cohabitate, or have greater geographic distance between them, both of which are relatively common characteristics of college students and their grandparents. The present study seeks to remedy this gap on the importance of grandparents for college students’ mental well-being by asking about the relationships they have with grandparents and other support systems. The present study included 167 Eastern Michigan University students who answered questions about social support from friends, peers, and their closest grandparent, as well as questions about all of their living grandparents. The results of the study indicated that the relationships college students have with grandparents may be useful for mental well-being, with the findings adding to the body of literature about the value of social support and the unique ways that college students interact with their grandparents using remote methods.
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