Grandparents are becoming an increasingly important source of childcare. However, caring for grandchildren may have negative health consequences particularly for grandparents with intensive ...commitments such as those with primary care responsibilities. To date most studies on this issue are based on cross-sectional data and do not take earlier life circumstances into account. Thus, it is not known whether (or to what extent) the relationship between grandparental childcare and health is due to cumulative advantage or disadvantage throughout the lifecourse or to the impact of grandchild care per se.
Employing data from waves 1–3 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe we investigated the longitudinal relationship between grandparental childcare (i.e. intensive and non-intensive) and health once cumulative histories of advantage or disadvantage are taken into account. We used latent class analysis to categorise respondents according to childhood socio-economic and health conditions drawing on life history information. Experiences in adulthood (e.g. periods of ill health) were also captured. We created a latent continuous physical health variable based on self- and observer-measured indicators. OLS regression was used to explore the association between physical health at wave 2 and grandparental childcare at baseline, controlling for conditions in childhood and adulthood, and for health and socio-economic characteristics.
We found a positive longitudinal association between grandchild care and health even after earlier life health and socio-economic conditions were taken into account. However, this significant association was found only for grandmothers, and not grandfathers. Our results suggesting the health benefits of grandchild care are important given the widespread provision of grandparental childcare in Europe. However, further research on underlying mechanisms and causal pathways between grandchild care and grandparent health, as well as on gender differences in the pattern of association, is needed.
•Early and later life health and socio-economic circumstances are associated with grandparenting.•Grandmothers providing childcare experience better physical health.•Grandparenting effect on health remains significant even in a life-course approach.
This paper examines the impact of raising the State Pension age on women's health. Exploiting a UK pension reform that increased women's State Pension age for up to 6 years since 2010, we show that ...raising the State Pension age leads to an increase of up to 12 percentage points in the probability of depressive symptoms, alongside an increase in self‐reported medically diagnosed depression among women in a lower occupational grade. Our results suggest that these effects are driven by prolonged exposure to high‐strain jobs characterised by high demands and low control. Effects are consistent across multiple subcomponents of the General Health Question and Short‐Form‐12 (SF‐12) scores, and robust to alternative empirical specifications, including “placebo” analyses for women who never worked and for men.
Longitudinal studies have generally reported poor outcomes in adulthood for the majority of individuals (c.50–60%) with autism. Several factors putatively predict outcome (e.g. IQ), but findings ...remain mixed. This paper presents an updated meta-analysis of autism outcome studies and extends previous findings with additional analyses (including meta-regression). A total of 4088 records was screened and 18 studies, involving 1199 individuals, were included in the quantitative analysis. Estimated percentages indicated that 20.0% of participants were rated as having a good outcome, 26.6% a fair outcome, and 49.3% a poor outcome. Meta-regression indicated that lower IQ in adulthood was predictive of poor outcome; other meta-regression models did not survive correction for multiple comparisons. Overall, outcomes for autistic people are on average poor, and higher IQ appears to be protective against having a poor outcome. The limitations of current constructs of outcome are discussed.
There is increasing recognition that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are associated with significant costs and burdens. However, research on their ...impact has focused mostly on the caregivers of young children; few studies have examined caregiver burden as children transition into adolescence and young adulthood, and no one has compared the impact of ASD to other neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., ADHD).
We conducted an observational study of 192 families caring for a young person (aged 14 to 24 years) with a childhood diagnosis of ASD or ADHD (n = 101 and n = 91, respectively) in the United Kingdom. A modified stress-appraisal model was used to investigate the correlates of caregiver burden as a function of family background (parental education), primary stressors (symptoms), primary appraisal (need), and resources (use of services).
Both disorders were associated with a high level of caregiver burden, but it was significantly greater in ASD. In both groups, caregiver burden was mainly explained by the affected young person's unmet need. Domains of unmet need most associated with caregiver burden in both groups included depression/anxiety and inappropriate behavior. Specific to ASD were significant associations between burden and unmet needs in domains such as social relationships and major mental health problems.
Adolescence and young adulthood are associated with high levels of caregiver burden in both disorders; in ASD, the level is comparable to that reported by persons caring for individuals with a brain injury. Interventions are required to reduce caregiver burden in this population.
Looking after grandchildren Di Gessa, Giorgio; Zaninotto, Paola; Glaser, Karen
Demographic research,
07/2020, Volume:
43
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Grandparents play a vital role in providing childcare to families. However, little is known about when grandmothers and grandfathers look after grandchildren, what they do with them, and why. Using ...novel questions on grandparenting, we first describe the periodicity of grandchild care, activities undertaken with/for grandchildren, and motivations for such care to then assess if there are gender differences. We used wave 8 (2016/17) of the nationally-representative English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. The extent to which the periodicity, activities, and motivations are gendered was assessed using logistic regressions. Analyses were carried out on the entire sample of grandparents who provide childcare as well as on coresiding grandparent couples where both grandparents provide grandchild care. More than 50% of grandparents looked after grandchildren, with the majority doing so throughout the year and about one in four during school holidays. Few gender differences were observed in the periodicity of grandchild care and reasons for looking after grandchildren, with almost two-thirds reporting that they wanted to help parents go to work and give them a break. However, when activities undertaken for/with grandchildren were analysed, clear gender differences emerged. Overall, grandmothers were more likely to report caring and helping activities (e.g., cooking, caring when sick, helping with homework, and collecting them from school) than grandfathers, even when they coresided.
This thematic collection seeks to reflect and push forward the current state of the art in the study of grandparenthood and grandparenting in Italy in a comparative European perspective. Starting ...from the demography of grandparenthood, intergenerational transfers, contacts and living proximity between grandparents, parents and children and the characteristics of such exchanges are analysed. Furthermore, the consequences of grandparenting and especially of grandchild care provision in terms of fertility behaviour and work participation and well-being are investigated. The research articles aim to shed light on the complexity of factors which shape the effects of grandparents’ availability and the behaviour and well-being of each of the three generations involved.
The birth of a new grandchild may lead to role enhancement, positively affecting the wellbeing of grandparents. It may also lead to role overload and role conflict, resulting in negative effects. We ...examine how the transition to grandparenthood influences the health and well-being of older people in China.
Employing longitudinal data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, we estimate individual fixed-effects models to examine the impact of transitioning to grandparenthood on functional limitations, life satisfaction and depression.
Transitioning to grandmotherhood was associated with a higher probability of reporting one or more functional limitations of daily living, but transitioning to grandparenthood was associated with higher life satisfaction. Effects were similar for grandparents with a rural or urban hukou status.
Findings suggest that the combination of role enhancement and role strain may generate mixed impacts of transitioning to grandparenthood on older adults’ health and well-being.
•Transitioning to grandmotherhood was associated with a higher probability of reporting ≥1 functional limitations in ADLs.•Transitioning to grandparenthood was associated with higher life satisfaction.•Role enhancement and role strain may generate mixed impacts of transitioning to grandparenthood on older adults' health.
Background Given the current policy emphasis in many Western societies on extending working lives, we investigated the health effects of being in paid work beyond state pension age (SPA). Until now, ...work has largely focused on the health of those who exit the labour force early. Methods Our data come from waves 2–4 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, including the life history interview at wave 3. Using logistic and linear regression models, we assessed the longitudinal associations between being in paid work beyond SPA and 3 measures of health (depression, a latent measure of somatic health and sleep disturbance) among men aged 65–74 and women aged 60–69. Our analyses controlled for baseline health and socioeconomic characteristics, as well as for work histories and health in adulthood and childhood. Results Approximately a quarter of women and 15% of men were in paid work beyond SPA. Descriptive bivariate analyses suggested that men and women in paid work were more likely to report better health at follow-up. However, once baseline socioeconomic characteristics as well as adulthood and baseline health and labour market histories were accounted for, the health benefits of working beyond SPA were no longer significant. Conclusions Potential health benefits of working beyond SPA need to be considered in the light of the fact that those who report good health and are more socioeconomically advantaged are more likely to be working beyond SPA to begin with.
Empathy is the backbone of a positive physician-patient relationship. Physician empathy and the patient's awareness of the physician's empathic concern can lead to a more positive clinical outcome.
...The Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE) was completed by 36 physicians in the Family Medicine residency program at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, and 90 patients evaluated these physicians by completing the Jefferson Scale of Patient Perceptions of Physician Empathy (JSPPPE), and a survey about physicians' humanistic approaches to patient care.
A statistically significant correlation was found between scores of the JSPE and JSPPPE (r=0.48, p<0.05). Significant correlations were also obtained between scores of the JSPE and patients' assessments that their physician was concerned about their feelings (r=0.55, p<0.01), and that the physician took their wishes into account in making treatment decisions (r=0.48, p<0.05). A negative correlation was observed between scores of the JSPE and patient's perception that their physician was in hurry (r=-0.50, p<0.01).
These findings provide further support for the validity of the JSPE. Implications for the assessments of empathy in the physician-patient relationship as related to clinical outcomes are discussed.
We examine whether socioeconomic inequalities in home-care use among disabled older adults are related to the contextual characteristics of long-term care (LTC) systems. Specifically, we investigate ...how wealth and income gradients in the use of informal, formal, and mixed home-care vary according to the degree to which LTC systems offer alternatives to families as the main providers of care ("de-familization").
We use survey data from SHARE on disabled older adults from 136 administrative regions in 12 European countries and link them to a regional indicator of de-familization in LTC, measured by the number of available LTC beds in care homes. We use multinomial multilevel models, with and without country fixed-effects, to study home-care use as a function of individual-level and regional-level LTC characteristics. We interact financial wealth and income with the number of LTC beds to assess whether socioeconomic gradients in home-care use differ across regions according to the degree of de-familization in LTC.
We find robust evidence that socioeconomic status inequalities in the use of mixed-care are lower in more de-familized LTC systems. Poorer people are more likely than the wealthier to combine informal and formal home-care use in regions with more LTC beds. SES inequalities in the exclusive use of informal or formal care do not differ by the level of de-familization.
The results suggest that de-familization in LTC favors the combination of formal and informal home-care among the more socioeconomically disadvantaged, potentially mitigating health inequalities in later life.
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