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. 2024 Nov 1;79(11):gbae154.
doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbae154.

Worrying Across the Generations: The Impact of Adult Grandchildren's Problems on Grandparents' Well-Being

Robert T Frase  1 , J Jill Suitor  2 , Megan Gilligan  3 , Catherine Stepniak  4 , Destiny Ogle  2 , Karen L Fingerman  5
Affiliations

Worrying Across the Generations: The Impact of Adult Grandchildren's Problems on Grandparents' Well-Being

Robert T Frase et al. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. .

Abstract

Objectives: The intergenerational stake hypothesis and theories of the life course posit that older generations are invested in the well-being of younger generations. Consistent with this, previous research has shown that adult children's problems are associated with worse parental well-being. Because multigenerational ties have become increasingly important in the 21st century, we propose that adult grandchildren's problems may also impact grandparents' well-being. In this paper, we test this hypothesis and investigate the moderating effects of grandparents' race and maternal/paternal status.

Methods: The analytic sample includes 206 grandparents aged 65-95 who participated in the second wave of the Family Exchanges Study. Adult grandchildren's problems were operationalized as the proportions of adult grandchildren who experienced (1) physical-emotional problems and (2) lifestyle-behavioral problems.

Results: Main effects multilevel analyses suggested that adult grandchildren's problems did not predict grandparents' well-being. However, moderation analyses revealed that the association between grandparents' depressive symptoms and adult grandchildren's physical-emotional problems was larger among Black than White grandparents, and maternal than paternal grandparents. Adult grandchildren's lifestyle-behavioral problems did not predict grandparents' depression, and these effects were not conditioned by race or maternal/paternal status.

Discussion: These findings expand research on the importance of grandparent-adult grandchild relationships and contribute to research on multigenerational relationships and health by considering how problems experienced by members of younger generations affect the psychological well-being of older adults.

Keywords: Grandparenting; Intergenerational relations; Mental health.

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Conflict of interest statement

None.

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