The Health Impact of Intensive and Nonintensive Grandchild Care in Europe: New Evidence From SHARE

Abstract

Objectives:Grandparents are an important source of childcare. However, caring for grandchildren may affect grandparents’ health in both positive and negative ways. Our study examines the association between grandparental childcare and grandparents’ health at 2- and 4-year follow-up.Method:Our study is based on grandparents aged 50 and older from Waves 1–4 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Using multivariate analyses, we investigated associations between intensive and nonintensive grandparental childcare at Wave 2 and subsequent health (self-rated health, depressive symptoms, and disability) controlling for covariates and health at baseline. Associations between changes over time in grandparental childcare and health at follow-up were also explored. Multiple imputation techniques and sensitivity analyses were undertaken to investigate possible biases arising from sample attrition.Results:Grandparents looking after grandchildren, whether intensively or nonintensively, experienced some health benefits. Associations strengthened when attrition was accounted for, particularly if it is assumed that those who dropped out of the study were in poor health.Discussion:Our results show better health among grandparents who provided grandchild care in the European countries studied. These results are important given the widespread provision of grandchild care in Europe.

The effect of childcare activities on cognitive status and depression in older adults: gender differences in a 4.4‐year longitudinal study

“…Thirty‐seven percent of our participants were involved in childcare activities, a figure that was consistent with data regarding the Italian population as a whole (40%) (ISTAT, ) and just below the mean prevalence estimated for European countries (44%) (Di Gessa et al, ; Di Gessa et al, ).…”

“…found that grandparents involved in childcare had fewer depressive symptoms than those who were not (Tsai et al, ). Di Gessa and colleagues, analyzing the data from a European study on aging and retirement, confirmed that finding, although they noted a weaker association (Di Gessa et al, ). Other studies have, instead, reported elevated levels of depressive symptoms in caregiving grandparents, especially in those involved in high‐intensity assistance or living with their grandchildren, such as custodial grandparents (Minkler et al, ; Blustein et al, ).…”

Fertility Histories and Health in Later Life in Italy

“…One possible explanation for the latter result may be because younger fathers become grandfathers earlier in life and this role has beneficial consequences on men's mental health (Di Gessa et al 2015). This result may suggest that the association of fertility behaviour and psychological health is not as strong for women compared to the other health indicators used in this chapter, as found in other previous studies (Hank and Wagner 2013).…”

The impact of intensive grandchild care on depressive symptoms among older Koreans

“…Previously, the association between grandchild care and depressive symptoms was mixed and did not differentiate among various groups of grandparents (Ehrle and Day, ; Gattai and Musatti, ; Giarrusso et al ., ; Di Gessa et al ., ). Our study provides evidence of the beneficial impact of grandchild care on depressive symptoms.…”

“…Another study found no significant association between grandchild care and depressive symptoms. However, because of data constraints, possible gender differences in the association between intensive childcare and depressive symptoms were not discussed (Di Gessa et al ., ), even though gender may influence how grandparents perform grandchild care and what they expect from participation (Stelle et al ., ). Meanwhile, a previous study showed that receiving financial support as a reward from adult child was related to decreased psychological burden from grandparenting.…”