All in the family: The impact of caring for grandchildren on grandparents' health
All in the family: The impact of caring for grandchildren on grandparents' health
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DOI：
10.1093/geronb/62.2.s108
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发表时间：
2007-03-01
影响因子：
6.2
通讯作者：
Luo, Ye
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hughes, Mary Elizabeth;Waite, Linda J.;Luo, Ye
目标.本研究旨在探讨照顾孙辈对老年人健康行为和身心健康的影响。使用来自健康和退休研究的12，872名年龄在50岁至80岁之间的祖父母的样本，我们检查了各种类型的孙子护理和随后的健康之间的稳定性和变化之间的关系，控制协变量和早期健康。我们没有发现任何证据表明，照顾孙子孙女对祖父母的健康和健康行为有显着和广泛的负面影响。我们发现有限的证据表明，在隔代家庭中照顾孙子孙女的祖母更有可能在健康行为、抑郁和自我评估健康方面经历负面变化。我们还发现了一些祖母照顾孩子的好处的证据。OAR的研究结果表明，以前在祖父母照顾者中发现的健康劣势来自祖父母的先前特征，而不是提供照顾的结果。由于照顾孙子而导致的健康下降似乎是例外而不是规则。这些发现是重要的，因为继续依赖祖父母的日托和越来越多的依赖祖父母的监护照顾。然而，研究结果应该被承认，对于少数祖父母，共同居住的孙子照顾可能会损害健康。
Objectives. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of caring for grandchildren on health behaviors and mental and physical health among older adults.Methods. Using a sample of 12,872 grandparents aged 50 through 80 from the Health and Retirement Study, we examined the relationship between stability and change in various types of grandchild care and subsequent health, controlling for covariates and earlier health.Results. We found no evidence to suggest that caring for grandchildren has dramatic and widespread negative effects on grandparents' health and health behavior. We found limited evidence that grandmothers caring for grandchildren in skipped-generation households are more likely to experience negative changes in health behavior, depression, and self-rated health. We also found some evidence of benefits to grandmothers who babysit.Discussion. Oar findings suggest that the health disadvantages found previously among grandparent caregivers arise from grandparents' prior characteristics, not as a consequence of providing care. Health declines as a consequence of grandchild care appear to be the exception rather than the rule. These findings are important given continuing reliance on grandparents for day care and increasing reliance on grandparents for custodial care. However, the findings should be tempered by the recognition that for a minority of grandparents, coresidential grandchild care may compromise health.