2003 AARP South Carolina Member Opinion Survey

Of the 447,808 AARP members in South Carolina, most have grandchildren, and roughly 45,766 provide care for them on a regular basis. There are some differences between those who provide regular care and those who do not.

• While most survey respondents consider it important for caregiving grandparents to have access to affordable child care services that would allow them time to do chores such as housecleaning and grocery shopping, caregiver grandparents are a little more likely to say it is very important.
  
  
• Caregiver grandparents tend to want information about fun things to do with their grandchildren, legal rights for grandparents, how to speak to grandchildren about issues, resources for grandparents raising grandchildren, and children's developmental stages. Grandparents not providing care are more likely to want information on keeping in touch long-distance.

The survey also dealt with members' priorities and found that South Carolina AARP members...

• are extremely concerned about making sure that their pension benefits or retirement savings are safe and secure; having access to affordable prescription drugs, and staying in their own homes as they age
• consider access to affordable prescription drugs and the availability, cost and quality of health care as top legislative priorities

This mail survey of 1,067 South Carolina AARP members was conducted from April 17 through May 15, 2003. The report was written by Cassandra Cantave Burton of AARP Knowledge Management. For questions about the report, please, contact Rachelle Cummins of AARP Knowledge Management at 202-434-6297. (35 pages)