As many as 40% of older people in the United States live long enough to become great-grandparents, yet little is known about the content of this role within the American kinship system. Great-grandparents (N=20) living in the South responded to a depth anthropological interview which explored their perceptions of great-grandparenthood as a kinship role as well as its social and emotional significance in their daily lives. Preliminary statements about the great-grandparent role resulted: grandparenthood provides the role model for great-grandparents; people relate to the small children in the same way they did their grandchildren, but the sense of obligation is much less binding; and great-grandparenthood is not a primary kinship role. It is important mainly for its emotional significance since most great-grandparents are not involved in the daily lives of their great-grandchildren. The results indicate that while older people value their descendants as evidence of family continuity, relationships with their own adult children are still of primary importance emotionally and socially. (Author/AG)