Caring for grandkids may give grandparents’ brains a surprising boost.
Helping care for grandchildren may help protect thinking and memory skills in older adults, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. The findings suggest that staying involved as a caregiving grandparent could play a role in slowing age-related cognitive decline.
“Many grandparents provide regular care for their grandchildren – care that supports families and society more broadly,” said lead researcher Flavia Chereches, MS, of Tilburg University in the Netherlands. “An open question, however, is whether caregiving for grandchildren may also benefit grandparents themselves. In this research, we wanted to see if providing grandchild care might benefit grandparents’ health, potentially slowing down cognitive decline.”
Large Study of Older Grandparents
To explore this question, Chereches and her colleagues analyzed data from 2,887 grandparents who participated in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. All participants were over age 50, with an average age of 67. Each person completed surveys and cognitive assessments three times between 2016 and 2022.
Participants were asked whether they had cared for a grandchild at any point during the previous year. The survey also gathered detailed information about how often grandparents provided care and what that care involved.
