Family histories and the demography of grandparenthood

Abstract

BACKGROUND Grandparenthood is an important phase of life for many individuals, and the grandparent role has consequences on younger generations and grandparents themselves. OBJECTIVE Despite the importance of the grandparent role, little is known about the demography of grandparenthood. In this study, we examine the variability of demographic aspects of grandparenthood (being a grandparent, number of grandchildren, having at least one young grandchild) according to family (partnership and fertility) histories. METHODS Using retrospective data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we employ sequence and cluster analyses to group individuals according to similar patterns of fertility and partnership histories observed between age 15 and 49. In a second step, we use logistic and Poisson regressions to quantify how demographic aspects of grandparenthood vary across the identified family clusters at different ages and by gender. RESULTS Family histories are greatly heterogeneous with respect to timing, quantum, and probability of experiencing certain events. This heterogeneity is reflected in a strong variability in the probability of having (young) grandchildren and their number at different ages across the clusters of family trajectories. CONTRIBUTION We provide a detailed profile of three demographic characteristics of grandparenthood that significantly influence the opportunity structure for the development of the

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

“…The transition to grandparenthood is a time-discrete life event-the beginning of one's status as a grandparent (Luhmann et al, 2012). In terms of characteristics of major life events (Luhmann et al, 2020), the transition to grandparenthood stands out in that it is externally caused (by one's children, see also Arpino, Gumà, et al, 2018;Margolis & Verdery, 2019), but also predictable as soon as children reveal their family planning or pregnancy. The transition to grandparenthood has been labeled a countertransition due to this lack of direct control over its timing (Hagestad & Neugarten, 1985; as cited in Arpino, Gumà, et al, 2018).…”

“…In terms of characteristics of major life events (Luhmann et al, 2020), the transition to grandparenthood stands out in that it is externally caused (by one's children, see also Arpino, Gumà, et al, 2018;Margolis & Verdery, 2019), but also predictable as soon as children reveal their family planning or pregnancy. The transition to grandparenthood has been labeled a countertransition due to this lack of direct control over its timing (Hagestad & Neugarten, 1985; as cited in Arpino, Gumà, et al, 2018). Grandparenthood is also generally positive in valence and emotionally significant if the grandparent maintains a good relationship with their child.…”

“…We also included the pre-transition outcome variables as covariates-as recommended in the literature (Cook et al, 2020;Hallberg et al, 2018;Steiner et al, 2010;VanderWeele et al, 2020), as well as wave participation count and assessment year in order to control for instrumentation effects and historical trends (e.g., 2008/2009 financial crisis, Baird et al, 2010;Luhmann et al, 2014). To match grandparents with the parent control group, we additionally selected covariates containing information on fertility and family history (e.g., number of children, age of first three children) which were causally related to the timing of the transition to grandparenthood (Arpino, Gumà, et al, 2018;Margolis & Verdery, 2019).…”

Digital Twins for Lighting Analysis: Literature Review, Challenges, and Research Opportunities

“…Their activity -actual or potentialgenerates interest in new research. The last decade has seen a rapid development of the grandparenthood demography (Arpino et al 2018;Margolis and Arpino 2019). An increasing number of grandparenthood demography studies found, inter alia, some positive psychological, social, demographic, and economic effects from grandparents' involvement in their grandchildren's lives (Arpino and Bordone 2014;Mahne and Huxhold 2015;Hilbrand et al 2017;Shubat and Shubat 2021).…”

The Effect of Grandparenting on the Depression and Life Satisfaction among Middle-Aged and Older Chinese Adults

“…Conversely, the “role strain” postulates that one’s mental health status and life satisfaction will be negatively affected when the caring obligations exceed their coping capacity [ 29 ]. Grandparenthood could be a counter-transition because it is a life change brought about by a child’s transition to parenthood [ 30 ]. Older adults tend to have little agency in deciding either the marital status of their adult children or the timing of when they will become grandparents and are sometimes required to entirely restructure their intergenerational relationships [ 31 ], which will affect their well-being on three core psychological, social, and physical fronts.…”