Caregiving grandmothers and their grandchildren: Well-being nine years later

Abstract

Abstract This longitudinal study addressed change in grandmothers' and grandchildren's well-being over a nine year period. Fifty grandmothers previously studied in 1998–1999 when raising school-aged grandchildren were interviewed again in 2008. For the grandmothers, relationships at time-one with their grandchildren and their adult sons or daughters—the grandchildren's parents—impacted gains in life satisfaction later, but not mental health. Change in the grandchildren's behavior, as rated by the grandmothers, was predicted by their grandmothers' mental health nine years earlier. Furthermore, development of greater closeness in the grandmother–grandchild relationship was associated with improvement in the grandmother's mental health and grandchild's behavior over the nine years. These results demonstrate that quality of relationships during school years is important for the grandmother's evaluation of her life well into the future; the quality of the grandmother–grandchild relationship is central for the well-being of both; and fostering the grandmothers' mental health early-on could contribute to her grandchild's well-being as a young adult.