The Effect of Grandparenting on the Depression and Life Satisfaction among Middle-Aged and Older Chinese Adults

Lijuan Chen, Yiang Li and Qiuyue Yang ()
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Lijuan Chen: The High-Quality Development Evaluation Institute, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing 210003, China
Yiang Li: Division of the Social Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Qiuyue Yang: School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 17, 1-12

Abstract: Given the prevalence of depressive mental health symptoms among Chinese adults of grandparenting age in recent decades, a better understanding of how depression and life satisfaction among middle-aged and older adults in China are affected by their role as grandparents is called for. This study examines the relationship between grandparenting and depression and life satisfaction among Chinese adults using multilevel regression models based on a multilevel matching dataset formulated from the 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) and the 2018 China City Statistical Yearbook . The results show that for adults who take care of their grandchildren, living with their children can significantly reduce depression. Meanwhile, whereas spending more time taking care of grandchildren can lower life satisfaction, taking care of more grandchildren is related to higher life satisfaction. The findings of this study should help policymakers improve the quality of life of Chinese adults through better-targeted approaches.

Keywords: grandparenting; well-being; life satisfaction; older adults; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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