IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aph/ajpbhl/19998991384-1389_5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The health of grandparents raising grandchildren: Results of a national study

Author

Listed:
  • Minkler, M.
  • Fuller-Thomson, E.

Abstract

Objectives. This study sought to compare the functional and self-rated health of grandparents raising grandchildren with that of noncaregiving grandparents. Methods. A secondary analysis of data from the 1992 to 1994 National Survey of Families and Households was conducted. Bivariate and logistic analyses compared 173 custodial and 3304 noncustodial grandparents in terms of functional health limitations, self-rated health, and satisfaction with health. Results. Custodial grandparents were significantly more likely to have limitations in 4 of the 5 activities of daily living (ADLs) examined, with more than half reporting some limitation in 1 of the 5 ADLs. A logistic regression analysis indicated that caregiving grandparents had 50% higher odds of having an ADL limitation. Caregivers were significantly more likely to report lower satisfaction with health, and a statistical trend indicated that the caregivers had lower self-rated health. Conclusions. Further research is needed to determine whether the differences observed reflect artifacts or actual differences in functional abilities and other health measures. The need for policies that support rather than penalize grandparents raising grandchildren is stressed.

Suggested Citation

  • Minkler, M. & Fuller-Thomson, E., 1999. "The health of grandparents raising grandchildren: Results of a national study," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 89(9), pages 1384-1389.
    • Handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:1999:89:9:1384-1389_5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lee, Eunju & Clarkson-Hendrix, Michael & Lee, Yeonggeul, 2016. "Parenting stress of grandparents and other kin as informal kinship caregivers: A mixed methods study," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 29-38.
    2. Elizabeth T Cafiero-Fonseca & Andrew Stawasz & Sydney T Johnson & Reiko Sato & David E Bloom, 2017. "The full benefits of adult pneumococcal vaccination: A systematic review," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(10), pages 1-23, October.
    3. Cuddeback, Gary S., 2004. "Kinship family foster care: a methodological and substantive synthesis of research," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(7), pages 623-639, July.
    4. Mirkka Danielsbacka & Lenka Křenková & Antti O. Tanskanen, 2022. "Grandparenting, health, and well-being: a systematic literature review," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 341-368, September.
    5. Linda Kridahl, 2017. "Retirement timing and grandparenthood: A population-based study on Sweden," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 37(31), pages 957-994.
    6. Luciano Fanti & Luca Gori, 2014. "An OLG model of growth with longevity: when grandparents take care of grandchildren," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 13(1), pages 39-51, April.
    7. Bruno Arpino & Valeria Bordone & Nicoletta Balbo, 2018. "Grandparenting, education and subjective well-being of older Europeans," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 251-263, September.
    8. Harden, Brenda Jones & Clyman, Robert B. & Kriebel, Dawn K. & Lyons, Mary E., 2004. "Kith and kin care: parental attitudes and resources of foster and relative caregivers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(7), pages 657-671, July.
    9. Janina Reinkowski, 2013. "Should We Care that They Care? Grandchild Care and Its Impact on Grandparent Health," ifo Working Paper Series 165, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    10. Taehyun Ahn & Kyong Duk Choi, 2019. "Grandparent caregiving and cognitive functioning among older people: evidence from Korea," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 553-586, June.
    11. Ice, Gillian H. & Sadruddin, Aalyia F.A. & Vagedes, Amy & Yogo, Jaja & Juma, Elizabeth, 2012. "Stress associated with caregiving: An examination of the stress process model among Kenyan Luo elders," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(12), pages 2020-2027.
    12. Goodman, Catherine Chase, 2012. "Caregiving grandmothers and their grandchildren: Well-being nine years later," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 648-654.
    13. Zachary Zimmer & Emily Treleaven, 2020. "The Rise and Prominence of Skip‐Generation Households in Lower‐ and Middle‐Income Countries," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 46(4), pages 709-733, December.
    14. Esme Fuller-Thomson, 2005. "Grandparents Raising Grandchildren in Canada: A Profile of Skipped Generation Families," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 132, McMaster University.
    15. Janina Reinkowski, 2014. "Empirical Essays in the Economics of Ageing and the Economics of Innovation," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 53.
    16. Xue Yang & Doudou Yin, 2022. "The Protective Effect of Caring for Grandchildren on the Mental Health of the Elderly: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-15, January.
    17. Sofia Gimenez-Serrano & Marta Alcaide & Maria Reyes & Juan J. Zacarés & Montserrat Celdrán, 2022. "Beyond Parenting Socialization Years: The Relationship between Parenting Dimensions and Grandparenting Functioning," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-13, April.
    18. Dolan, Melissa M. & Casanueva, Cecilia & Smith, Keith R. & Bradley, Robert H., 2009. "Parenting and the home environment provided by grandmothers of children in the child welfare system," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(7), pages 784-796, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:1999:89:9:1384-1389_5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Christopher F Baum (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.apha.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.