In a new study, researchers found caring for a grandchild may be linked to a lower risk of loneliness and social isolation in older people.
They found active grandparents have larger social networks, which include people who are important to them, than those who don’t have this role.
Previously research suggests that social networks may be a key factor in health and wellbeing, particularly at older ages.
Grandparents are increasingly taking on the role of childcare, often in a supplementary role, to help out parents when other forms of care aren’t available.
But to date, most of the research on grandparenting has focused on those who act as surrogates and parent their grandchildren, and none has explored how grandparenting might affect the size of that individual’s social network, with the potential implications for health and wellbeing.
To try and address this, the researchers drew on the information collected in wave 5 of the DEAS survey.
This has been surveying a nationally representative sample of older German adults (40-85) every three years since 1996.
The team found among the 3849 grandparents included in this wave of the survey, 1125 said they actively cared for a grandchild.
Active grandparenting was linked to lower scores on loneliness and social isolation, and a larger social network.
Among the active grandparents, whose average age was 66, the average loneliness score was 1.7, and the average social isolation score was 1.6, while the average number of people with whom they were in regular contact was 6.
Grandparents who didn’t have an active caring role had higher average loneliness scores (1.8) and were in regular contact with fewer people important to them (4-5, on average).
The team says assisting their families to balance work and family by providing supplementary grandchild care may boost grandparents’ self-esteem, and may also facilitate ongoing positive relationships with their children and grandchildren.
The study is published in the online journal BMJ Open.
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