A systematic review of studies considering grandparenting, health, and well-being

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Whether grandparenting is associated with improved health and well-being among older adults is a salient question in present-day aging societies. This systematic review compiles studies that consider the health and well-being outcomes of grandparenting, concerning (i) custodial grandparent families, where grandparents are raising children without parental presence; (ii) three-generation households, where grandparents are living with adult children and grandchildren; and (iii) non-coresiding grandparents, who are involved in the lives of their grandchildren.Research Design and Methods: This systematic review was based on literature searches conducted in September 2019 via Web of Science, PubMed, PsycINFO, and Ebsco. We screened 3,868 abstracts across four databases, and by following the PRISMA guidelines, we identified ninety-two relevant articles (117 studies) that were published between 1978 and 2019.Results: In 68% of cases custodial grandparenting was associated with decreased health and wellbeing of grandparents. The few studies considering the health and well-being of grandparents living in three-generation households provided mixed findings (39% positive; 39% negative). Finally, in 69% of cases involvement of non-coresiding grandparents was associated with improved grandparental outcomes; however, there was only limited support for the prediction that involved grandparenting being causally associated with grandparental health and well-being.Discussion and Implications: The findings are discussed separately among these three groups of grandparents, including reference to possible causal relations between involved grandparenting and grandparental health and well-being. The article concludes by considering the scope for future studies.

The transition to grandparenthood: No consistent evidence for change in the Big Five personality traits and life satisfaction

“…We expected larger interindividual differences in grandparents because life events differ in their impact on daily life and in the degree to which they are perceived as meaningful or emotionally significant (Doré & Bolger, 2018;Luhmann et al, 2020). Another reason for expecting heterogeneity in the individual trajectories were the considerable differences between grandparents in the amount of grandparental investment (e.g., Danielsbacka et al, 2022) and competing role demands (e.g., Arpino & Bellani, 2022) present in our samples. Our results, however, indicated that interindividual differences were larger in the controls than the grandparents for many models, or not significantly different between groups.…”

“…Research on well-being and health has found evidence for both role strain theory and role enhancement theory depending on the degree of grandparental role investment (Danielsbacka et al, 2022;Kim et al, 2017). Whereas no investment or being a grandchild's primary caregiver are associated with adverse effects in most studies, there is evidence that moderate levels of grandchild care have beneficial life satisfaction and health effects for noncoresiding grandparents.…”

“…This provides preliminary support for the inverted U-shape between investment and utility proposed by Coall and Hertwig (2011). However, multiple authors have recently emphasized that the literature is still at an early stage and that prior studies often lack representativeness, longitudinal data, and appropriate control for selection effects (Coall et al, 2018;Danielsbacka et al, 2022;Kim et al, 2017).…”

“…Overall, evidence has accumulated that there is an association between having grandchildren and higher life satisfaction on the between-person level-especially for (maternal) non-coresiding grandmothers who provide grandchild care (Danielsbacka et al, 2011(Danielsbacka et al, , 2022Danielsbacka & Tanskanen, 2016)-but no within-person effect of the transition. The main reason for this divergence is the presence of selection effects.…”