IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsoctx/v13y2023i10p215-d1247796.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Custodial Grandchildren’s School Attendance and Academic Performance during COVID-19: The Role of Technology

Author

Listed:
  • Yanfeng Xu

    (College of Social Work, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA)

  • Theresa M. Harrison

    (College of Education, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA)

  • Athena C. Y. Chan

    (Department of Human Development & Family Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA)

  • Ashlee A. Lewis

    (College of Education, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA)

  • Sue E. Levkoff

    (College of Social Work, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA)

  • Gina M. Kunz

    (Independent Researcher, Spring, TX 77389, USA)

Abstract

Due to COVID-19, many schools switched to remote instruction, creating an urgency to address the technology needs of many families, including grandparent-headed families. Many grandparent-headed families (i.e., custodial grandparents) have limited access to digital devices and stable internet. Moreover, many of these grandparents lack the skills and confidence to use technology, which may affect both their grandchildren’s ability to attend school as well as their academic performance. This study investigates both the associations of grandfamilies’ access to technology and custodial grandparents’ comfort level with technology with their grandchildren’s academic attendance and performance during COVID-19. We analyzed cross-sectional survey data collected from grandparents raising grandchildren between March 2021 and February 2022 in the United States. Ordered logistic regression analyses were conducted using STATA. The key results suggested that grandfamilies’ more stable access to technology ( OR = 1.54, p = 0.048) and grandparents’ high comfort level with technology ( OR = 2.18, p = 0.003) during grandchildren’s remote learning were significantly associated with higher odds of grandchildren’s better school attendance. Similarly, more stable access to technology ( OR = 1.53, p = 0.048) and higher comfort level with technology ( OR = 1.67, p = 0.030) were significantly associated with higher odds of grandchildren’s better academic performance. The results imply the need to provide stable internet and digital devices to grandfamilies without access to these services or devices, as well as technical assistance and technical-related education workshops to custodial grandparents who are not tech-savvy.

Suggested Citation

  • Yanfeng Xu & Theresa M. Harrison & Athena C. Y. Chan & Ashlee A. Lewis & Sue E. Levkoff & Gina M. Kunz, 2023. "Custodial Grandchildren’s School Attendance and Academic Performance during COVID-19: The Role of Technology," Societies, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-13, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:13:y:2023:i:10:p:215-:d:1247796
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/13/10/215/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/13/10/215/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shovali, Tamar E. & Bright, Melissa A. & Emerson, Kerstin Gerst, 2020. "Children in care of grandparents and non-grandparents: Which have greater odds of high academic performance?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:13:y:2023:i:10:p:215-:d:1247796. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.