Grandparental Childcare and Subjective Well-Being: The Role of Activities and Reasons for Care

Giorgio Di Gessa, University College London
Karen F. Glaser, King's College London

No studies have yet examined the impact of activities grandparents undertake with their grandchildren and reasons for care on well-being. We address this gap using waves 8 (2016/2017) and 9 (2018/19) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing and between-within regression models. Results show that positive associations between grandparental childcare and subjective well-being are largely due to variations between grandparents, not within grandparents over time. Within-grandparent analyses show a detrimental health impact, particularly when grandparents have grandchildren staying overnight or are cared for when sick. For reasons for providing grandparental childcare, findings are more nuanced with poorer mental health for grandparents who find it difficult to refuse grandchild care or provide it to give parents a break, but better quality of life for those who care to feel engaged with young people. Overall, our findings highlight the need for more detailed information on grandparent-grandchild interactions and motivations for examining well-being outcomes.

Keywords: Older Adults and Intergenerational Relations, Longitudinal studies , Health and Morbidity

See paper.