Bünning Mareike, Huxhold Oliver
German Centre of Gerontology, Berlin, Germany.
Innov Aging. 2024 Nov 2;8(12):igae101. doi: 10.1093/geroni/igae101. eCollection 2024.
This study investigates whether the association between supplementary grandchild care and grandparents' subjective well-being-measured as life satisfaction, perceived stress, and loneliness-is moderated by the contextual environment. We use the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic as an example of contextual differences. Drawing on role theory, we argue that the costs and benefits of grandparenting may have differed between pandemic and prepandemic times. On the one hand, providing grandchild care during the pandemic may have been particularly stressful, prompting more negative effects on well-being. On the other hand, grandchild care may have been particularly relevant for enhancing well-being, as it protected grandparents from social isolation. Moreover, the association between grandparenting and well-being may have differed by gender.
Using unbalanced panel data from the German Ageing Survey (DEAS) 2014 ( = 3,619), 2017 ( = 2,458), and 2020 ( = 2,021), we applied maximum likelihood structural equation modeling (ML-SEM)a method that combines dynamic panel modeling with fixed-effects analysisto examine whether there were differences in the relationship between grandchild care and grandparents' well-being when comparing pandemic and prepandemic times and by grandparents' gender.
Grandchild care was associated with lower loneliness for both grandmothers and grandfathers. For grandfathers, this association was even stronger during the pandemic. Grandmothers experienced higher life satisfaction when taking care of grandchildren during the pandemic, but there was no evidence that grandchild care increased perceived stress for either grandmothers or grandfathers.
In line with role enhancement theory, this study highlights that supplementary grandchild care can be beneficial for grandparents' well-being. Moreover, the context in which grandchild care takes place shapes the costs and rewards associated with it. Our results suggest that supportive policies and programs facilitating grandchild care can enhance grandparents' well-being, especially in challenging contexts.
本研究调查了孙辈照料与祖父母主观幸福感（以生活满意度、感知压力和孤独感来衡量）之间的关联是否受到情境环境的调节。我们以冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行作为情境差异的一个例子。基于角色理论，我们认为在大流行时期和大流行之前，祖父母角色的成本和收益可能有所不同。一方面，在大流行期间提供孙辈照料可能特别有压力，对幸福感产生更多负面影响。另一方面，孙辈照料可能对提升幸福感特别重要，因为它使祖父母免于社会隔离。此外，祖父母角色与幸福感之间的关联可能因性别而异。
我们使用了来自2014年（n = 3619）、2017年（n = 2458）和2020年（n = 2021）德国老龄化调查（DEAS）的不平衡面板数据，应用最大似然结构方程模型（ML-SEM）——一种将动态面板建模与固定效应分析相结合的方法——来检验在比较大流行时期和大流行之前以及按祖父母性别分类时，孙辈照料与祖父母幸福感之间的关系是否存在差异。
孙辈照料与祖母和祖父的孤独感降低相关。对于祖父来说，这种关联在大流行期间甚至更强。祖母在大流行期间照顾孙辈时生活满意度更高，但没有证据表明孙辈照料会增加祖母或祖父的感知压力。
与角色增强理论一致，本研究强调补充性的孙辈照料对祖父母的幸福感有益。此外，孙辈照料发生的情境塑造了与之相关的成本和回报。我们的结果表明，促进孙辈照料的支持性政策和项目可以提升祖父母的幸福感，尤其是在具有挑战性的情境中。
