What are the social consequences of beginning or ceasing to care for grandchildren? Evidence from an asymmetric fixed effects analysis of community dwelling adults in Germany

Intensity and changes in grandparental caregiving: Exploring the link to loneliness in Europe

This study investigates the impact of the overall intensity and changes in grandparental caregiving on loneliness in grandparents in European countries. Data from waves 5 to 8 of the Survey on Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) were used (Nindividuals = 30,896 and Nobservations = 48,562). We included grandparents (aged 50 years and over) with at least one grandchild at the beginning of the study. The analyses reveal that any intensity of grandparental care decreases the risk of loneliness. When looking at changes in grandparental care the results show that stable caregiving roles appeared to reduce loneliness, while starting to provide grandparental care makes grandparents more vulnerable to loneliness. In conclusion, our findings underscore that consistent grandparental care is important for grandparents in mitigating loneliness, highlighting the importance of sustained caregiving roles over fluctuations in caregiving intensity.

Keeping Us Young? Grandchild Caregiving and Older Adults' Cognitive Functioning

Objective

This study investigates longitudinal associations between providing care to grandchildren and cognitive functioning. It also examines heterogeneity in these relationships.

Background

Grandchild caregiving may support older adults' cognitive functioning by providing social engagement and emotional meaning. However, studies caution that time- intensive or custodial grandchild caregiving can take a toll on grandparents. The cognitive health implications of grandchild caregiving may thus depend on contexts including time spent providing care and living arrangements. They may also vary across sociodemographic groups and have greater effects on older adults who are more vulnerable to cognitive decline.

Method

Data came from the 1998-2016 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and represented over 11,000 U.S. adults age 50+. Using linear growth curve and dynamic panel models, the analysis explored relationships between level of grandchild care and cognitive functioning over time and across sociodemographic, family, work and health characteristics.

Results

Those providing 100-199, 200-499 or 500+ hours of care to grandchildren had better cognitive functioning than non-caregivers regardless of whether they lived with grandchildren. Positive links between grandchild caregiving and cognition were stronger for lower income, non-working, and unpartnered adults and grew with age and functional limitations.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that providing care to minor grandchildren may help support cognitive functioning as adults age. They also support the hypothesis that more vulnerable or isolated groups of older adults may benefit the most from grandchild caregiving.

Activity Patterns and Loneliness in Later Life: The Mediating Effects of Social Support and Attitudes Toward Aging

Studies have documented the inconsistent influences of activity participation on health. However, the underlying mechanisms connecting activity patterns to loneliness are relatively understudied. Using data on 8,545 respondents aged 60 or older from the 2014 China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey, we used latent class analysis to identify the patterns of participating in eight activities and path analysis to examine the mediating effects of formal support, informal support, and aging attitudes in the relationship of activity patterns and loneliness. Three meaningful patterns of activity (high activity, low activity, and working caregivers) were identified. Working caregivers and low activity groups, compared to high activity, showed higher levels of loneliness in later life. Informal support, rather than formal support, and attitudes toward aging mediated the relationship between activity patterns and loneliness in later life. This study highlights the importance of fuller engagement in diverse political, economic, and community activities to prevent loneliness. Additionally, intervention programs that facilitate joint support from family, community, and government and shape scientific understanding of aging are critical for alleviating loneliness in later life.

Caregiving, volunteering, and loneliness in middle-aged and older adults: a systematic review

OBJECTIVES

Older adults contribute vast amounts of care to society, yet it remains unclear how unpaid productive activities relate to loneliness. The objective of this systematic review is to synthesise the evidence for associations between midlife and older people's unpaid productive activities (i.e., spousal and grandparental caregiving, volunteering) and loneliness.

METHODS

Peer-reviewed observational articles that investigated the association between loneliness and caregiving or volunteering in later life (>50 years) were searched on electronic databases (Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, PsychInfo and Global Health) from inception until July 2021. Studies were analysed using narrative synthesis and assessed for methodological quality applying the Newcastle Ottawa Scale.

RESULTS

A total of 28 articles from 21 countries with 191,652 participants were included (52.5% women). Results were separately discussed for the type of unpaid productive activity, namely, general caregiving (N = 10), spousal caregiving (N = 7), grandparental caregiving (N = 7), and volunteering (N = 6). Risk of bias assessments revealed a moderate to high quality of included studies. Loneliness was positively associated with spousal caregiving but negatively associated with caregiving to grandchildren and volunteering.

CONCLUSIONS

Grandparental caregiving and volunteering may be promising avenues for reducing loneliness in older age. Future studies will need to distinguish between different types of caregiving and volunteering and explore more complex longitudinal designs with diverse samples to investigate causal relationships with loneliness.

Childcare burden and psychological distress among elderly people involved in grandparenting: A study on local and migrant grandparents in Hangzhou, China

Grandparenting is known to impact psychological health in older people. However, the extent to which the effect is altered by migration-related and sociodemographic determinants is less clear. Therefore, we conducted this cross-sectional study to investigate whether the association between grandparenting and psychological distress differs between rural-urban migrants and local older adults from May to September 2019. A total of 373 rural-urban migrants and 602 local older adults involved in grandparenting in Hangzhou completed measurements assessing sociodemographic characteristics, childcare burden and psychological distress. In total, 22.2% of the grandparents reported psychological distress. Rural-urban migrant grandparents had a lower socioeconomic status (SES), a higher childcare burden (23.6 ± 9.2 vs. 20.7 ± 9.5, p < 0.001) and higher levels of psychological distress (29.8% vs. 17.4%, p < 0.001) than local grandparents. Childcare burden and pressure from adult children were the most significant predictors for psychological distress in both groups (ps < 0.05). Psychological distress was also significantly associated with self-rated health status (β = -0.276, p = 0.033) and willingness to participate in grandparenting (β = -0.659, p = 0.024) in migrant grandparents but associated with female gender (β = 0.346, p = 0.022), caring for children at night (β = 0.424, p = 0.011), conflict with adult children (β = 0.432, p < 0.001) and annual income (β = -0.237, p < 0.001) in local grandparents. Migrant status showed a statistically significant moderating effect between childcare burden and psychological distress. These results may be of assistance in comprehensively understanding the social determinants of mental health of grandparents involved in grandparenting.

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

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.

Grandchild care and loneliness among older Europeans: Longitudinal evidence from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe

OBJECTIVES

Restricted knowledge exists with regard to the association between grandchild care and loneliness among older Europeans. Hence, our goal was to investigate the association between the onset of grandchild care and loneliness in different European regions and stratified by sex longitudinally.

METHODS/DESIGN

Longitudinal data were taken from waves 5 to 6 of the 'Survey of Health Ageing, and Retirement in Europe' (SHARE) (n = 83,416 observations). Loneliness was assessed using the established three-item version of the Revised UCLA Loneliness scale. Transitions into grandchild care (= onset of grandchild care) served as key independent variable. It was adjusted for several covariates in regression analysis. Linear FE regressions with cluster-robust standard errors were used to mitigate the challenge of unobserved heterogeneity.

RESULTS

Linear FE regressions showed that the onset of grandchild care was significantly associated with an increase in loneliness levels among women (but not men) in Southern Europe (β = 0.28, p = 0.01), whereas the onset of grandchild care was not significantly associated with changes in loneliness levels in both sexes in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Northern Europe and Israel.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study emphasized the association between the onset of grandchild care and increases in loneliness among women in Southern Europe. Efforts (e.g., respite services) are required to support this group to avoid loneliness.

Does grandchild care affect ageing satisfaction? Findings based on a nationally representative longitudinal study

OBJECTIVE

This study seeks to explore the association between grandchild care and Attitudes Towards Own Ageing, assessing whether the commencement of, or ceasing, grandchild care is associated with changes in grandparents' perspectives on ageing.

METHODS

Longitudinal data were drawn from a population-based sample of community-dwelling individuals aged ≥40 years in Germany. The Attitudes Toward Own Ageing subscale of the Philadelphia Geriatric Center Moral Scale (PGCMS) was used to measure Attitudes Towards Own Ageing. To determine whether respondents provided grandchild care, respondents were asked "I'd now like to go on to learn more about your activities and pastimes. Do you supervise other people's children privately, e.g. your grandchildren, or the children of siblings, neighbors, friends or acquaintances?" Symmetric and asymmetric linear fixed effects regressions were used to assess within-person changes longitudinally.

RESULTS

No statistically significant association between providing care for grandchildren and Attitudes Towards Own Ageing was found. Significant associations were found between Attitudes Towards Own Ageing and employment status. Namely, retirement was associated with more positive Attitudes Towards Own Ageing (β = 0.57, p < .001), as was not being employed (β = 0.57, p < .001). A significant association between self-rated health and Attitudes Towards Own Ageing was also found (β = -0.06, p < .001), with poorer self-rated health associated with more negative Attitudes Towards Own Ageing.

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest that undertaking grandchild care does not shape Attitudes Towards Own Ageing. As our findings did not align with existing evidence on the associations between grandchild caregiving and measures of subjective ageing, further research is required.

Informal Caregiving, Loneliness and Social Isolation: A Systematic Review

Background: Several empirical studies have shown an association between informal caregiving for adults and loneliness or social isolation. Nevertheless, a systematic review is lacking synthesizing studies which have investigated these aforementioned associations. Therefore, our purpose was to give an overview of the existing evidence from observational studies. Materials and Methods: Three electronic databases (Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL) were searched in June 2021. Observational studies investigating the association between informal caregiving for adults and loneliness or social isolation were included. In contrast, studies examining grandchild care or private care for chronically ill children were excluded. Data extractions covered study design, assessment of informal caregiving, loneliness and social isolation, the characteristics of the sample, the analytical approach and key findings. Study quality was assessed based on the NIH Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies. Each step (study selection, data extraction and evaluation of study quality) was conducted by two reviewers. Results: In sum, twelve studies were included in our review (seven cross-sectional studies and five longitudinal studies)—all included studies were either from North America or Europe. The studies mainly showed an association between providing informal care and higher loneliness levels. The overall study quality was fair to good. Conclusion: Our systematic review mainly identified associations between providing informal care and higher loneliness levels. This is of great importance in assisting informal caregivers in avoiding loneliness, since it is associated with subsequent morbidity and mortality. Moreover, high loneliness levels of informal caregivers may have adverse consequences for informal care recipients.

Longitudinal impacts of grandparent caregiving on cognitive, mental, and physical health in China

OBJECTIVES

Although studies have documented the effects of grandparenting, little is known about grandparents' long-term health outcomes in terms of optimal engagement with grandchildren, and whether age, gender, or location make a difference. This study explores the longitudinal impacts of grandparenting on health, with considerations for subgroup differences.

METHODS

Using three waves of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, we used propensity score analysis combined with multilevel analysis to examine the longitudinal effect of grandparenting (no, low-, moderate-, and high-intensity) on health (self-rated health, mobility limitations, depressive symptoms, and cognition) among 4,925 grandparents with at least one grandchild, and how impact varies by age, gender, and urban/rural areas.

RESULTS

A nonlinear relationship between grandparenting and health was observed. Compared to those not providing care, grandparents who provided care at a low-to-moderate level were more likely to have fewer mobility limitations and depressive symptoms and better cognition. High intensity had no positive impacts on health. The effects of grandparenting on health operated differently across subgroups. Older grandparents showed better physical, mental, and cognitive health compared to their younger counterparts. Both genders had fewer mobility limitations if they provided care at a low-to-moderate level, although females reported better self-rated health. Rural grandparents reported better physical health; whereas urban grandparents reported better cognition.

CONCLUSION

Grandparenting could improve health in later life; however, there are complex interactions at play. Policies aimed at supporting grandparenting should consider optimal hours of care relevant to age, gender, and urban/rural contexts.

Extending understanding of grandchild care on feelings of loneliness and isolation in later life : A literature review

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic presents serious challenges across the world. Among these challenges are the possible negative implications for the mental health and well-being of older persons that ongoing social distancing measures may cause. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, a growing body of literature explored the associations between grandchild caregiving, loneliness and social isolation. We summarize the existing literature on this topic. An association between the provision of grandchild care and reduced feelings of loneliness was found in cross-sectional studies; however, a longitudinal study identified possible gender differences in the impact of grandchild care on feelings of loneliness, with the commencement of grandchild care linked to grandfathers feeling lonelier. At the conclusion of the summary, we highlight the need for further research in this field. Further research is of particular relevance given the drastic changes to the way families and older people interact socially, brought about by the COVID-19 global pandemic.