This article examines the structural forces influencing the enactment of grandparent visitation rights statutes. Cox regression is used to analyze demographic changes, social change, state litigiousness, and regional proximity as factors affecting timing of first enactment. States with higher proportions of people of grandparent age, of minor grandchild age, and higher levels of urban residence were more likely to enact than were other states. States with higher divorce rates and higher numbers of neighboring states that previously had enacted or enacted during the same year were less likely to enact than were other states. This project illustrates the need for more empirical testing of the influence of structural variables on the enactment of family policy.
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