The Shape of Care: Patterns of Family Caregiving Among Chinese Adults in the Middle to Later Stage of Life

Due to the lack of institutional support, families have long been the primary caregivers in China. Most studies to date only focused on one single care activity during a particular life course stage. Nonetheless, older adults today are more likely to care for multiple family members concurrently or sequentially (serial caregivers). The studies on discrete snapshots of care activities failed to capture the patterns of family caregiving overtime. Utilizing four waves of longitudinal data from CHARLS (2011-2018, N=17,039), this study particularly focuses on care activities to grandchildren, parents, and spouse, and maps out the family caregiving patterns overtime. Using latent profile analysis, this study identifies five family caregiving patterns: 1). Light grandchild caregivers (27%), who on average provided 4.3 years’ grandchild care mostly; 2). Heavy grandchild caregivers (11%), who on average on provided 7 years’ grandchild care mostly; 3). Light caregivers for grandchildren and parents (7%), who sequentially provided 1-year care to grandchildren and parents; 4). Heavy serial caregiver (6%), who mostly provided care to spouse and grandchildren with higher overlapping years; 5). Overall light caregivers (49%), who on average provided less than one year of care to any recipient. The preliminary results suggest that heavy serial caregivers (6%) far worst in terms of depressive symptoms and more likely to report worsened self-rated health; and overall light caregivers (49%) have the lowest depressive symptoms and more likely to report good self-rated health.

Changes in Grandparenting During the Pandemic and Effects on Mental Health: Evidence From England

Policies aiming at reducing rates of hospitalisation and death from Covid-19 encouraged older people to reduce their physical contacts. For grandparents in England, this meant that provision of care for grandchildren was allowed only under very limited circumstances. To date, evidence on changes in grandparenting during the pandemic is scarce and little is known about whether and to what extent reduction in grandchild care provision impacted grandparents’ mental health. Using pre-pandemic data from Wave 9 (2018/19) and the second Covid-19 sub-study (November/December 2020) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, we first described changes in grandparenting since the start of the pandemic. Then, using regression models, we investigated associations between changes in grandparenting and mental health (depression, quality of life, life satisfaction, and anxiety) during the pandemic, while controlling for pre-pandemic levels of the outcome variables. Almost a third of grandparents reported that the amount of grandchild care during the pandemic reduced or stopped altogether, whereas 10% provided as much or more care compared to pre-pandemic levels, mostly to help parents while working. Compared to grandparents who provided grandchild care at some point during the pandemic, those who stopped altogether were more likely to report poorer mental health, even taking into account pre-pandemic health. A reduction in grandparenting was only marginally associated with higher depression. Although policies to limit physical contacts and shield older people reduced their risks of getting ill from Covid-19, our study shows the consequences of stopping childcare provision in terms of poorer mental health among grandparents.

Grandchild Caring and Late-Life Depression: A Comparative Longitudinal Study in China and Europe

The impact of grandparenting on the grandparents’ health has been relatively under-studied. This study examined country differences in the effects of grandchild care provision on the grandparents’ depression in Italy, Spain, China, Denmark and Sweden using the longitudinal Harmonised CHARLS and SHARE data collected between 2010–2015. Controlling for the grandparents’ depression in 2011, grandmothers providing non-intensive grandparental care in Sweden in 2013 reported lower depression score in 2015 compared to those who did not provide any care in 2013. Chinese grandfathers, Italian and Swedish grandmothers who provided intensive grandchild care reported lower depression score compared to their counterparts who did not provide any grandchild care. This study indicates that the Structural Ambivalence Theory can only partially explain the findings, suggesting further theoretical development in this area. Future research can focus on identifying the causal pathways between grandparenting and wellbeing, and the implications of such pathways for older persons’ wellbeing worldwide.

Juggling grandchild care and labor force participation: the effect on psychological wellbeing of older women

Although it is well-known that care responsibilities are strongly gendered also in later life, the consequences for older women of juggling work and care responsibilities are understudied. This study contributes to fill this gap by focusing on the wellbeing implications for older European women of combining work and grandchild care. The role strain and role enhancement theories guide our theoretical predictions. While the former predicts a lower wellbeing due to the double burden of grandchild care and paid work, the latter posits an increase in wellbeing throughout the accumulation of social identities or roles. By using longitudinal data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we investigate whether grandmothers who do and those who do not work experience different levels of quality of life, depressive symptoms and life satisfaction. Our statistical model consists in a fixed-effect model that adjusts for the lagged outcome. Results show that, among grandmothers engaged in paid work, grandchild care is not significantly associated with any of the three outcomes considered. Instead, non-working grandmothers seem to benefit from provision of grandchild care, in terms of higher quality of life and lower number of depressive symptoms. As thus, the provision of grandchild care tends to be more beneficial for grandmothers’ well-being if they do not combine this activity with paid work. Juggling paid work and childcare to grandchildren may result in an excessive burden which eliminates the potential benefits of grandchild care on wellbeing of older women.

Gender differences in depressive symptoms of rural Chinese grandparents caring for grandchildren

Background Caring for grandchildren is regarded as one of the principle roles of middle- and old-aged adults, especially among rural Chinese grandparents. This study aims to examine the gender differences in depressive symptoms of rural Chinese grandparents caring for grandchildren, based on the gender differences in grandparental role engagement and the theories of role strain and role enhancement. Methods A total of 4833 rural citizens with one or more grandchildren were selected from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) conducted in 2015. Grandchild care was measured by continuous variable (duration) and categorical variable (no care, low intensity, moderate intensity, high intensity). Depressive symptoms were assessed by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). We used coarsened exact matching (CEM) to balance the covariates of caregivers and non-caregivers. Following CEM, 1975 non-caregivers and 2212 caregivers were identified (N = 4187). Multilevel linear regression was employed to examine the gender differences in depressive symptoms. We also tested for the moderating role of gender on the association between grandchild care and depressive symptoms. Results Grandmothers were more likely to provide grandchild care (54.42% vs 51.43%) at high intensity (61.46% vs 51.01%), with longer duration (39.24 h vs 33.15 h) than that given by grandfathers. Grandmothers suffered more from depressive symptoms than grandfathers, and such gap increased when grandparents were involved in high-intensity care. Grandmothers providing grandchild care, particularly at moderate intensity, were associated with fewer depressive symptoms (Coef. = − 0.087, 95%CI: − 0.163, − 0.010; Coef. = − 0.291, 95%CI: − 0.435, − 0.147), compared with non-caregivers. Grandmothers giving moderate intensity of grandchild care were also associated with fewer depressive symptoms (Coef. = − 0.171, 95% CI: − 0.313, − 0.029), compared with those with low-intensity care. However, such associations were not significant among grandfathers. Conclusions Our findings highlight the gender differences in depressive symptoms of rural Chinese grandparents caring for grandchildren. Grandparents should be encouraged to engage in grandchild care, but at moderate intensity. The health status of middle- and old-aged adults, particularly females, should be monitored closely. Humanistic care, preventive care and curative treatment strategies focusing on such populations should be developed and refined.

Does Transition to Retirement Promote Grandchild Care? Evidence From Europe

Evolutionary theory posits that grandparents can increase their inclusive fitness by investing in their grandchildren. This study explored whether the transition to retirement affected the amount of grandchild care that European grandparents provided to their descendants. Data from five waves of the longitudinal Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe collected between 2004 and 2015 from 15 countries were used. We executed within-person (or fixed-effect) regression models, which considered individual variations and person-specific changes over time. It was detected that transition to retirement was associated with increased grandchild care among both grandmothers and grandfathers. However, the effect of retirement was stronger for grandfathers than for grandmothers. Moreover, transition to retirement was associated with increased grandchild care among both maternal and paternal grandparents, but there was no significant difference between lineages in the magnitude of the effect of transition to retirement on grandchild care. In public debate retirees are often considered a burden to society but the present study indicated that when grandparents retire, their investment in grandchildren increased. The findings are discussed with reference to key evolutionary theories that consider older adults' tendency to invest time and resources in their grandchildren.

Grandchild Care and Well-Being: Gender Differences in Mental Health Effects of Caregiving Grandparents

Objective The literature on the gendered differences of mental health as a result of grandchild care has shown mixed results. Research on grandchild care further suggests that nonresidential grandchild care improves mental health outcomes, while residential grandchild care arrangements decrease mental health outcomes in grandparents. The moderating or buffering role of social engagement remains understudied in the grandchild care-mental health relationship. The present study examines mental health effect differences between caregiving grandmothers and grandfathers, and the moderating effects of social engagement. Method Using 2002-2012 data from the HRS (Health and Retirement Study), a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults aged 50 and over, I examine the mental health effects of grandchild care and the moderating effect of social engagement in fixed effects models. Results Grandfathers experience particularly worsened mental health outcomes when providing grandchild care in a skipped-generation household. Both grandmothers and grandfathers experience mental health improvements from increased social engagement. Social engagement, particularly for grandmothers, serves as a buffer or produces role enhancement for grandmothers in skipped-generation care arrangements. Discussion Nonresidential and residential grandchild care affect mental health outcomes differently for grandmothers and grandfathers. However, social engagement consistently serves as a buffer or mental health improvement for all grandparents. Findings further encourage the continued study of social engagement and gender differences in older adults more broadly.

Work histories and provision of grandparental childcare among Italian older women

While the literature has widely shown that the provision of childcare by grandparents is often crucial for young mothers’ participation in the labour market, this work investigates the link between grandmothers’ participation in the labour market during adult life (between ages 18-49) and their provision of grandparental childcare later in life. Two contrasting theoretical arguments are plausible in this respect. On the one hand, lifelong homemakers could be more family-oriented and more likely to provide grandchild care in later life. On the other hand, ever-employed grandmothers could be more likely to have employed daughters, and provide grandchild care to support their working careers. With data from the Multipurpose surveys on Families and Social Subjects (2003, 2009, 2016), we estimate logistic regression models, considering various specifications of grandparental childcare, and measuring labour market attachment in three different ways (having ever worked, length of working career, employment interruptions for family reasons). Results show a positive association between grandmothers’ labor market attachment and grandparental childcare provision. A strong dualism emerges between grandmothers who ever worked and those who never did, with the former more likely to provide grandparental childcare, especially when parents are at work. Grandmothers who worked only a few years are more similar, in terms of grandchild care provision, to those who worked throughout their life, than to lifelong homemakers. Comparing Italian macro-areas strengthens our conclusions: differences between ever- and never-employed grandmothers are present in whole the country, but this holds especially in Northern regions, where the higher female participation to the labour market amplifies the need for grandparental childcare. Overall, we showed that intergenerational family solidarity is activated throughout the country, but it is evident that in a context of growing female labour force participation, couples cannot continue to count only on grandmothers to juggle family and work.

Grandparental partnership status and its effects on caring for grandchildren in Europe

Grandparents are important childcare providers, but grandparental relationship status matters. According to several studies, caregiving is reduced after grandparental divorce, but differential responses by grandmothers versus grandfathers have often been glossed over. To explore the effects of relationship status on grandparental care, we analysed data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) comparing four grandparental relationship statuses (original couple, widowed, divorced, and repartnered) with respect to grandmothers’ and grandfathers’ provision of care to their birth children’s children. When proximity, kinship laterality, and grandparents’ age, health, employment, and financial status were controlled, divorced grandmothers without current partners provided significantly more childcare than grandmothers who were still residing with the grandfather, those who had new partners unrelated to the grandchildren, and widows without current partners. Grandfathers exhibited a very different pattern, providing substantially less grandchild care after divorce. Grandfathers in their original partnerships provided the most grandchild care, followed by widowers, those with new partners and finally those who were divorced. Seemingly contradictory findings in prior research, including studies using SHARE data, can be explained partly by failures to distinguish divorce’s effects on grandmothers versus grandfathers, and partly by insufficient controls for the grandmother’s financial and employment statuses.