Recent evidence documents that grandparents raising grandchildren face a great risk of psychological distress associated with this caregiver role. Information we know about grandparent caregivers heavily relies on grandmothers. Although the caregiver's gender is an important contextual factor in shaping the stress process, often unnoticed are grandfathers who assume the caregiving responsibility for their grandchildren. Guided by the Caregiver Stress Process model, this study examines common and differential factors associated with the psychological health of grandfathers and grandmothers living with their grandchildren without the parents of the child. Based on the National Survey of America's Families, data on 209 grandfathers and 1,781 grandmothers were analyzed. Results indicate that factors related to a lower level of the psychological health of grandmothers include their younger age, poor health, not having high school diploma, not being employed, living in poverty, and caring for grandchildren with severe behavioral problems. On the contrary, factors associated with the poor psychological health of grandfathers include their living without a spouse, poor health, and caring for very young grandchildren (under the age of five) or grandchildren with severe behavioral problems. Active social participation (volunteer activities and religious services attendance) is directly associated with better psychological health only for grandmothers. Findings suggest that social policy and interventions to help grandparents raising grandchildren should be designed in consideration of the differential factors associated with mental health by the gender of caregiving grandparents. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

The findings point to the potential benefits of acquired cultural capital as a means to promote the life satisfaction of the baby boom generation.

Background Korean society has witnessed a rapid increase in the number of single-person households at risk for loneliness or solitary deaths. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of safety and care services (SCS) on the psychological outcomes and housing satisfaction of Korean middle-aged and older adults living alone. Methods This study was a randomized controlled trial on residents of public rental housing. A total of 40 people underwent a 3-month intervention. For the experimental group, a caring service IoT solution was installed in participants’ houses, and coordinators provided services using IoT information. The control group received only visits by coordinators. Results The experimental group showed significant positive changes in depressive symptoms. An interaction effect of time and condition was observed, indicating that the loneliness scores of the experimental group were significantly reduced, whereas those of their counterparts were negligible. Both groups showed significant decreases in suicidal thoughts. Housing satisfaction in both groups significantly increased over time, but group differences were observed. Conclusions This study demonstrated the positive effects of SCS on depressive symptoms, suicidal thoughts and housing satisfaction for people living alone, suggesting that technology can be a useful tool for helping vulnerable people.

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