Grandparenting, education and subjective well-being of older Europeans

Abstract

We study whether grandparenthood is associated with older people's subjective well-being (SWB), considering the association with life satisfaction of having grandchildren per se, their number, and of the provision of grandchild care. Older people's education may not only be an important confounder to control for, but also a moderator in the relation between grandparenthood-related variables and SWB. We investigate these issues by adopting a crosscountry comparative perspective and using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe covering 20 countries. Our results show that grandparenthood has a stronger positive association with SWB in countries where intensive grandparental childcare is not common and less socially expected. Yet, this result is driven by a negative association between grandparenthood without grandparental childcare and SWB that we only found in countries where intensive grandparental childcare is widespread. Therefore, in accordance with the structural ambivalence theory, we argue that in countries where it is socially expected for grandparents to have a role as providers of childcare, not taking on such a role may negatively influence SWB. However, our results show that grandparental childcare (either intensive or not) is generally associated with higher SWB. Overall, we do not find support for a moderating effect of education. We also do not find striking differences by gender in the association between grandparenthood and SWB. The only noteworthy discrepancy refers to grandmothers being often more satisfied when they provide grandchild care.

Transition to Grandparenthood and Subjective Well-Being in Older Europeans: A Within-Person Investigation Using Longitudinal Data

“…The between-person models indicated the results across participants, that is, between grandparents and nongrandparents; we found that the group of grandparents reported a higher quality of life and life satisfaction than the group of nongrandparents. Thus, these between-person results correspond with prior studies, which have detected that grandparents have better subjective well-being than nongrandparents (e.g., Arpino et al, 2018;Powdthavee, 2011; but see Danielsbacka & Tanskanen, 2016). Moreover, we found no striking sex differences in the between-person models.…”

“…In addition to within-person regressions, we ran betweenperson models that compare self-rated life satisfaction, quality of life scores, and depressive symptoms among grandparents and non-grandparents. Here, we present the between-person results to allow comparison of our findings with those of previous studies that have analyzed differences between the two groups: grandparents and non-grandparents (e.g., Arpino et al, 2018;Danielsbacka & Tanskanen, 2016;Powdthavee, 2011). This also establishes whether the between-person association exists in this sample before the within-person analysis is conducted.…”

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

“…For example, Danielsbacka and Tanskanen (2016) showed that being a grandparent is not associated with either higher or lower happiness among older Finns. Arpino et al (2018) reached similar conclusions for life satisfaction, using data on several European countries. Christiansen (2014) found a higher mortality risk for grandfathers (but not grandmothers) as compared to their grandchildless counterparts in Norway.…”

“…In particular, grandmothers on average provide more grandchild care than grandfathers. Although little has been done to explain such a gender gap (an exception is the work by Leopold and Skopek 2014), as highlighted by Arpino et al (2018), it is more and more relevant to shed light on the grandparent-related gender gap in view of the increasing grandmothers' participation in the workforce that will make women more likely than men to experience competing roles in later life.…”

“…As a consequence of the socio-demographic changes in terms of increasing longevity, decreasing fertility, and postponement of childbearing, the role of grandparents has become more and more a central feature of later life (Leopold/Skopek 2015;Margolis 2016). Its benefits have been shown, in line with the active ageing framework (WHO 2002;Zaidi et al 2013), mainly in terms of engagement in grandchild care as an activity that positively affects health and subjective wellbeing (e.g., Arpino et al 2018;Arpino/Bordone 2014;Di Gessa et al 2016). In this study, we extend the knowledge in this field by investigating whether the broader concept of grandparenthood (including becoming a grandparent, having additional grandchildren, and changes in the engagement in grandchild care) affects older people's mental health.…”