Does Transition to Retirement Promote Grandchild Care? Evidence From Europe

Tanskanen, Antti O.; Danielsbacka, Mirkka; Hämäläinen, Hans; Solé-Auró, Aïda

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.738117

Cited by 12 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Similar results are reported by Backhaus and Barslund (2021) and Zanasi et al (2020) for the European context. Tanskanen et al (2021) , focusing on retirement transition, found a positive effect on grandchild care both for grandfathers and grandmothers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Juggling Grandchild Care and Labor Force Participation: The Effect on Psychological Wellbeing of Older Women

Arpino

Bellani

2022

Front. Sociol.

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Although it is well-known that care responsibilities are strongly gendered also in later life, the consequences for older women of juggling work and care responsibilities are understudied. This study contributes to fill this gap by focusing on the wellbeing implications for older European women of combining work and grandchild care. The role strain and role enhancement theories guide our theoretical predictions. While the former predicts a lower wellbeing due to the double burden of grandchild care and paid work, the latter posits an increase in wellbeing through the accumulation of social identities or roles. By using longitudinal data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we investigate whether grandmothers who do and those who do not work experience different levels of quality of life, depressive symptoms and life satisfaction. Our statistical model consists in a fixed-effect regression that adjusts for the lagged outcome. Results show that, among grandmothers engaged in paid work, grandchild care is not significantly associated with any of the three outcomes considered. Instead, non-working grandmothers seem to benefit from provision of grandchild care, in terms of higher quality of life and lower number of depressive symptoms. As thus, the provision of grandchild care tends to be beneficial for grandmothers’ wellbeing only if they do not combine this activity with paid work. Juggling paid work and childcare to grandchildren may result in an excessive burden which eliminates the potential benefits of grandchild care on older women’s wellbeing.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Juggling Grandchild Care and Labor Force Participation: The Effect on Psychological Wellbeing of Older Women

Arpino

Bellani

2022

Front. Sociol.

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“…In addition, social family changes occurring in Spanish society and other countries showed a growing number of grandparents are now taking on the parenting role for their grandchildren, thus foregoing the traditional grandparent/grandchild relationship [ 32 , 33 , 34 ]. This often means taking on responsibility for the day-to-day maintenance of a home, schedules, meals, homework, and play dates [ 35 , 36 , 37 ]. This role could influence the time available for doing physical activity or good adherence to MD.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mediterranean Diet Adherence in Community-Dwelling Older Adults in Spain: Social Determinants Related to the Family

2022

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The Mediterranean diet (MD), a well-established quality diet model, and regular physical activity are associated with reducing the appearance or progression of several chronic diseases and reducing morbidity and mortality. However, reduction of these goals, adherence to the MD, and regular physical activity occur at all ages, including older individuals in Mediterranean countries such as Spain, where at least adherence to the MD is culturally rooted. Objective: To evaluate the degree of adherence to the MD and physical activity in older individuals. Methods: The sample comprises 679 older adults aged 60 and over who attended activities in municipal centers for older adults in Valencia. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet, frequency of physical activity, and anthropometric assessment were used. Results: High adherence (score ≥ 9) to MD was observed only in 23.7% of the study sample. Smoking habits or having meals in fast-food restaurants on a weekly basis were significantly (p < 0.05) associated with lower MD adherence. Age, BMI, marital status, and physical activity were not significantly associated with MD adherence. Physical activity was significantly (p < 0.05) lower in individuals who were divorced or widow/ers and in those taking care of their grandchildren several times a week. Conclusions: Adherence to the MD in a big Spanish city is low among older individuals. Socio-family factors seem to play a role. Public health and governmental strategies should reinforce adherence to the MD among older individuals as a gold standard for nutrition.

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“…Thus, retirement usually increases the amount of spare time one has, and may encourage older individuals to adopt compensatory productive roles in other fields of life. For example, the loss of the role as an employee in the labor market following retirement may lead to increased frequency of volunteering (Tanskanen et al, 2021a) and provision of intergenerational help (Tanskanen et al, 2021b).…”

Section: Who Provides Informal Help?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The profile of “super-helpers”? Findings from the Generational - Transmissions in Finland survey

Hämäläinen¹,

Tanskanen²,

Danielsbacka³

2022

Preprint

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This study considers “super-helpers,” namely older adults who help others in the private and public spheres. Although super-helpers can be important actors at individual, community, and social levels, only a few studies have evaluated their characteristics. We explored the profiles of super-helpers by drawing upon population-based data of older Finns (n = 2,174) and examined their provision of: 1) instrumental help (i.e., practical help or personal care) to friends and relatives; 2) financial aid to friends and relatives; and 3) public support (i.e., through volunteering or charitable giving). Of the respondents, 75% provided instrumental help, 44% provided financial aid, and 65% offered public support. Overall, 26% were considered super-helpers, that is, they were engaged in providing all three types of support. Having a partner, higher level of education, better perceived financial condition, being religious, and having a larger number of close relatives increased the probability of being a super-helper. The results are interpreted in light of opportunity structures and role extension approaches.

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Does Transition to Retirement Promote Grandchild Care? Evidence From Europe

Cited by 12 publications

References 49 publications

Juggling Grandchild Care and Labor Force Participation: The Effect on Psychological Wellbeing of Older Women

Juggling Grandchild Care and Labor Force Participation: The Effect on Psychological Wellbeing of Older Women

Mediterranean Diet Adherence in Community-Dwelling Older Adults in Spain: Social Determinants Related to the Family

The profile of “super-helpers”? Findings from the Generational - Transmissions in Finland survey

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