Several studies in the past have emphasized the mental and physical health benefits for people who care for their grandchildren. But a common thread in those studies is researchers did not talk to the same grandparents before and after their caregiving period.
The researchers of the latest study tried to join this missing link by talking to the grandparents before and after. It was found that caring for grandchildren did not make grandparents feel any younger than their actual age, according to ‘Is There a Rejuvenating Effect of (Grand) Childcare? A Longitudinal Study.
“This is the first study to look at the same people before and after taking up grandparental childcare in terms of the effects on subjective age,” said Dr. Valeria Bordone, co-author of the study.
The age people think they are in contrast to their actual age on paper is considered a strong indicator of their mental and physical wellbeing. Sometimes it is even considered as a direct predictor of psychological and health-related outcomes, including risk of death.
In a previous study done in 2016, ‘Do Grandchildren Influence How Old You Feel?’, which Bordone co-authored, it was found that people over 65 years of age who take care of grandchildren feel at least two years younger than their age. For men aged between 74-85 years, it rises up to 2.6 years.
The 2016 study had asked adults who care for their grandchildren, how young and healthy they felt. In the latest study, however, researchers questioned the same 7,730 adults of age 50-85 years before they started with childcare. After a period, researchers returned to the 21% who started providing childcare and asked the same question. Those who never provided childcare remained in the control group.
The new findings in the latest study have changed Bordone’s course of thought. She now believes that attributing a causal effect between childcare and feeling younger is wrong.
According to The Guardian report, she said, “It may well be that personality traits and family values that mean grandparents already have a young, subjective age are overrepresented among individuals who provide care to others.”
In short, childcare was never making grandparents feel young, it’s the grandparents who feel young already are doing more childcare.
However, the recent research came up with an unexpected finding. Bordone mentions that providing care to unrelated children does bring a rejuvenating effect on youth without reminding grandparents of their old age that their grandchildren may do. “Grandparenthood is a powerful reminder of a person’s aging and as such, it is likely to affect subjective age,” she said.
