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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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All in the family
— the impact of caring for grandchildren on grandparents' health | | Author(s) | Mary Elizabeth Hughes, Linda J Waite, Tracey A LaPierre |
| Journal title | Journals of Gerontology: Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, vol 62B, no 2, March 2007 |
| Pages | pp S108-S119 |
| Source | http://www.geron.org |
| Keywords | Grandparents ; Health [elderly] ; Grandparents as carers ; Grandchildren ; Social surveys ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | The relationship between stability and change in various types of grandchild care and subsequent health was examined in a sample of 12872 grandparents aged 50-80 from the US Health and Retirement Study. No evidence was found to suggest that caring for grandchildren has dramatic and widespread negative effects on grandparents' health and health behaviour. Limited evidence was found that grandmothers caring for grandchildren in skipped generation households are more likely to experience negative changes in health behaviour, depression and self-rated health. Some evidence was found, too, of the benefits of grandmothers who babysit. These findings suggest that the health disadvantages found previously in grandparent caregivers arise from grandparents' previous characteristics, not a as a characteristic of providing care. Health declines as a consequence of grandchild care appear to be the exception rather than the rule. These findings are important given continuing reliance on grandparents for day care and increasing reliance on grandparents for custodial care. However, the findings should be tempered by the recognition that for a minority of grandparents, co-residential grandchild care may compromise health. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-070504251 A |
| Classmark | SW: CC: P6:SW: SW5: 3F: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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