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

Abstract

Intergenerational relations have received close attention in the context of population aging and increased childcare provision by grandparents. However, few studies have investigated the psychological consequences of becoming a grandparent. In a preregistered test of grandparenthood as a developmental task in middle and older adulthood, we used representative panel data from the Netherlands ( N = 563) and the United States ( N = 2210) to analyze first-time grandparents’ personality and life satisfaction development. We tested gender, employment, and grandchild care as moderators. To address confounding, we employed propensity score matching using two procedures: matching grandparents with parents and nonparents to achieve balance in different sets of carefully selected covariates. Multilevel models demonstrated mean-level stability of the Big Five personality traits and life satisfaction over the transition to grandparenthood, and no consistent moderation effects—contrary to the social investment principle. The few small effects of grandparenthood on personality development did not replicate across samples. We found no evidence of larger inter-individual differences in change in grandparents compared to the controls or of lower rank-order stability. Our findings add to recent critical re-examinations of the social investment principle and are discussed in light of characteristics that might moderate grandparents’ personality development.

Using within-person change in three large panel studies to estimate personality age trajectories.

“…In adulthood, individuals are expected to commit to normative-conventional roles (e.g., as a romantic partner, parent, or employee; Lodi-Smith & Roberts, 2007) that, in turn, elicit personality development. However, the principle of social investment has been challenged, as the expected changes in personality after such role transitions have not emerged consistently across empirical studies (e.g., Asselmann & Specht, 2021; den Boer et al, 2019; Denissen et al, 2019; Deventer et al, 2019; Krämer et al, 2022; Specht et al, 2011; van Scheppingen et al, 2016; for an overview, see Bleidorn et al, 2018).…”

Longing for grandparenthood: Its association with life satisfaction in late middle adulthood.

“…A longitudinal approach is highly warranted, not only to further establish the hypothesized relationships between longing for grandparenthood, well-being, and possible moderators but also to grasp long-term well-being trajectories of longing for grandparenthood and its final (non) attainment (see Luhmann et al, 2014, 2021). This would ideally also include the time when a grandchild is actually born and the subsequent months (or even years) of being a grandparent for those who experience grandparenthood (e.g., Arpino, Bordone, & Balbo, 2018; Krämer et al, 2022; Tanskanen et al, 2019), as well as the time when the longing has become unattainable (i.e., an enduring nonevent) for those finally remaining without grandchildren.…”

Stability and Change of Spirituality following Childbirth: Longitudinal Evidence from Data of the Swiss Household Panel Using Multiple Propensity Score Matching Analyses

“…To disentangle birth-induced changes and age-related or missed event effects (Luhmann et al, 2021, p. 114) and to understand specific effects of individuals' first childbirth, first-time parents (treatment group; TG) were compared to the following two controls groups (CG) separately (see Bleidorn et al, 2020Bleidorn et al, , 2022Krämer et al, 2022;Krämer & Rodgers, 2020):…”