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Becoming a Grandparent and Its Effect on Well-Being: The Role of Order of Transitions, Time, and Gender

OBJECTIVES: Although the majority of older people are grandparents, little is known on whether and how the transition into grandparenthood affects their well-being. Moreover, evidence on whether the order of the transition, the time since grandchild’s birth, and the sociodemographic characteristics...

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Autores principales: Di Gessa, Giorgio, Bordone, Valeria, Arpino, Bruno
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7664312/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31628843
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbz135
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author Di Gessa, Giorgio
Bordone, Valeria
Arpino, Bruno
author_facet Di Gessa, Giorgio
Bordone, Valeria
Arpino, Bruno
author_sort Di Gessa, Giorgio
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVES: Although the majority of older people are grandparents, little is known on whether and how the transition into grandparenthood affects their well-being. Moreover, evidence on whether the order of the transition, the time since grandchild’s birth, and the sociodemographic characteristics of the offspring modify the grandparental well-being is scarce. Taking into account these factors, our study examines the association between becoming a grandparent and subsequent well-being. METHODS: Our study is based on grandparents aged 50 and older from Waves 4–6 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. Using longitudinal analyses, we investigate associations between becoming a grandparent and subsequent life satisfaction, positive affect, and depression controlling for demographic and socioeconomic factors as well as health and well-being at baseline. Furthermore, we explore the role of modifying factors such as whether the grandchild was first-born, the time since transition, and sociodemographic characteristics of the offspring who became a parent. RESULTS: Becoming a grandparent has a positive effect on well-being only among women who became grandmothers for the first time and via their daughters. Moreover, this effect is particularly strong in the proximity of the birth of the grandchild. No effects were found among first-time grandfathers. Having an additional grandchild does not affect well-being of grandparents, regardless of the offspring’s characteristics. DISCUSSION: Transitioning to grandparenthood per se does not affect well-being. More research is needed to further investigate if interpersonal relationships and changes in roles triggered by becoming a grandparent could help promote well-being in later life.
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spelling pubmed-76643122020-11-18 Becoming a Grandparent and Its Effect on Well-Being: The Role of Order of Transitions, Time, and Gender Di Gessa, Giorgio Bordone, Valeria Arpino, Bruno J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci The Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences OBJECTIVES: Although the majority of older people are grandparents, little is known on whether and how the transition into grandparenthood affects their well-being. Moreover, evidence on whether the order of the transition, the time since grandchild’s birth, and the sociodemographic characteristics of the offspring modify the grandparental well-being is scarce. Taking into account these factors, our study examines the association between becoming a grandparent and subsequent well-being. METHODS: Our study is based on grandparents aged 50 and older from Waves 4–6 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. Using longitudinal analyses, we investigate associations between becoming a grandparent and subsequent life satisfaction, positive affect, and depression controlling for demographic and socioeconomic factors as well as health and well-being at baseline. Furthermore, we explore the role of modifying factors such as whether the grandchild was first-born, the time since transition, and sociodemographic characteristics of the offspring who became a parent. RESULTS: Becoming a grandparent has a positive effect on well-being only among women who became grandmothers for the first time and via their daughters. Moreover, this effect is particularly strong in the proximity of the birth of the grandchild. No effects were found among first-time grandfathers. Having an additional grandchild does not affect well-being of grandparents, regardless of the offspring’s characteristics. DISCUSSION: Transitioning to grandparenthood per se does not affect well-being. More research is needed to further investigate if interpersonal relationships and changes in roles triggered by becoming a grandparent could help promote well-being in later life. Oxford University Press 2019-10-30 /pmc/articles/PMC7664312/ /pubmed/31628843 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbz135 Text en © The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com
spellingShingle The Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences
Di Gessa, Giorgio
Bordone, Valeria
Arpino, Bruno
Becoming a Grandparent and Its Effect on Well-Being: The Role of Order of Transitions, Time, and Gender
title Becoming a Grandparent and Its Effect on Well-Being: The Role of Order of Transitions, Time, and Gender
title_full Becoming a Grandparent and Its Effect on Well-Being: The Role of Order of Transitions, Time, and Gender
title_fullStr Becoming a Grandparent and Its Effect on Well-Being: The Role of Order of Transitions, Time, and Gender
title_full_unstemmed Becoming a Grandparent and Its Effect on Well-Being: The Role of Order of Transitions, Time, and Gender
title_short Becoming a Grandparent and Its Effect on Well-Being: The Role of Order of Transitions, Time, and Gender
title_sort becoming a grandparent and its effect on well-being: the role of order of transitions, time, and gender
topic The Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7664312/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31628843
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbz135
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