Psychosocial Health of the Sandwiched Chinese Grandparents

Hongwei Xu , Queens College, City University of New York (CUNY)

Grandparents have become an important source of grandchild care in both developed and developing countries. Previous research has examined the health implications for grandparents care for grandchildren. Due to increased life expectancy and decreased child mortality, extended Chinese families that comprise four generations, co-residential or not, are no longer rare. This study aims to examine the psychosocial health of the sandwiched Chinese grandparents who care for grandchildren, great-grandparents, or both. Drawing on data from three waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, this study will estimate individual fixed-effects models of the association between Chinese grandparents’ intergenerational caregiving and their psychosocial health, measured by life satisfaction and depressive symptoms.

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 Presented in Session 6. Health & Mortality & Aging