Grandparenthood, grandchild care and depression among older people in 18 countries

Abstract

Due to the increasing central role of grandparenthood in later life, sound knowledge about its effects on older people’s health is more and more important. This paper examines the impact of becoming a grandparent, having more grandchildren, and engaging in grandchild care on depressive symptoms. Moreover, based on the structural ambivalence theory, we expect that such effects differ across contexts as (grand)childcare is differently organised across Europe. Taking advantage of the longitudinal structure of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we estimate fixed-effects models. Our results show that women face a decline in depressive symptoms when becoming grandmothers, but neither an increase in the number of grandchildren nor changes in grandchild care are associated with changes in depressive symptoms. The analyses by country highlight differences across Europe, without, however, drawing a clear pattern. Our results show that depression consequences of grandparenthood also vary between countries characterised by similar roles of grandparents. This suggests the need to make available more refined questions about grandparenthood in surveys on older people.

Gender differences in depressive symptoms of rural Chinese grandparents caring for grandchildren

“…Grandmothers provided more hours of grandchild care than did grandfathers, in line with their Spanish peers [ 43 ]. They were also more likely to give grandchild care at high intensity than were grandfathers, similar to recent studies in China [ 9 ] and elsewhere in Europe [ 37 ]. This obvious gender-based gap presents an disparity of care assignment in rural Chinese society [ 72 ].…”

“…They play significant social roles in caring for grandchildren [ 53 ]. In a study of Israel and 17 European countries, nearly half of grandparents provided grandchild care [ 37 ]. In the US, 25% of children under the age of 5 have been cared for by grandparents [ 71 ].…”

“…However, a reduction in care intensity was associated with an increase in life satisfaction in the middle-aged and elderly population in China [ 36 ]. Moreover, less intensive grandchild care was demonstrated to have an association with a reduction in depressive symptoms for grandparents in France [ 37 ]. Meanwhile increasing grandchild care to an intensive level increased depressive symptoms among grandmothers in Poland, Spain and Sweden [ 37 ].…”

“…Moreover, less intensive grandchild care was demonstrated to have an association with a reduction in depressive symptoms for grandparents in France [ 37 ]. Meanwhile increasing grandchild care to an intensive level increased depressive symptoms among grandmothers in Poland, Spain and Sweden [ 37 ]. The association between intensity of grandchild care and depressive symptoms of caregivers is seen across Western countries.…”

“…Empirical evidence on the association between grandchild care and grandparents’ mental health suggests that grandmothers who provide grandchild care are not only at lower risk of depression than those who do not [ 20 ], but also experience a higher level of life satisfaction [ 9 , 44 ] than do grandfathers. Another study using the longitudinal structure of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) showed a reduction in depressive symptoms in grandmothers who became caregivers [ 37 ]. Based on previous evidence around the grandparental role in grandchild care, and depressive symptoms of grandparents caring for grandchildren (considering gender difference), we therefore hypothesize that grandmothers had more depressive symptoms than grandfathers, and grandmothers rather than grandfathers caring for grandchildren are significantly associated with depressive symptoms in rural China.…”