an In The Media Appearance
"How to Have a Fun, Multigenerational Family Vacation" - New York Times. 07/17/2021
Madonna Harrington Meyer, a member of the Syracuse Center for Aging and Policy Studies (CAPS) was interviewed in the New York Times article, “How to Have a Fun, Multigenerational Family Vacation.” In discussing who pays for what on family trips, she has found in her research that, “there is very little money flowing uphill” to the older generation. Grandparents often default to picking up the tab, especially when children are visiting, but grandparents may be near or in retirement. Hosting costs can increase with each in-law and grandchild.
Dr. Harrington Meyer’s current research, which sits squarely in the two CAPS signature themes of health and well-being and family and intergenerational supports, emphasizes how grandparent care work shapes grandparent health and well-being. Her work intersects with all three cross-cutting themes as well, in that she emphasizes how various social policies shape grandparent care work for grandchildren, how those impacts vary by place such as state variations in Medicaid coverage, and how those impacts vary for specific populations, such as when grandparents are performing care work while also working or when grandchildren have disabilities. She is the author of “Grandmothers at Work.”