Grandparents are most common child care providers in the US, U-M survey finds

The National Poll on Healthy Aging has released new findings about the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren and the link between mental health and loneliness.

Kate Bauer is an associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She spoke with WDET about the survey’s results and the changing roles grandparents are playing in their grandchildren’s lives.

Listen: Survey finds grandparents are most common child care providers in US

“Grandparents today [are] younger than ever before. They’re healthier than ever before, and they’re really involved in their grandchildren’s lives in lots of different ways,” Bauer said.

The survey looks at the different ways grandparents and grandkids connect. Bauer says grandparents are providing more care for their grandkids than any other form of child care, largely in part due to child care services closures during COVID.

“One of the first findings is that we identified that individuals with grandchildren and those who saw their grandchildren more often were less likely to say that they felt isolated and they reported stronger mental health,” she said.

Bauer says child care is expensive in Michigan and across the U.S. and grandparents are filling a critical need as child care providers — sometimes as their primary caregivers, especially in Southeastern Michigan and Detroit.

“Twenty percent of all grandparents with grandchildren under 18 are providing regular child care for their grandchildren, and 8% are providing daily or near-daily child care,” she said.

Bauer says it’s important to support grandparents and the changing nature of the roles they play in their grandkids’s lives — noting that it’s also important to not overly burden older adults.

“[We] want to make sure that we are supporting those grandparents right, and that it’s not an undue burden on them, that they’re taking care of their own needs, and maybe, you know, especially with grandparents who may have a spouse, they’re also watching after,” she said.

Studies found that 6% of Black and Hispanic grandparents live with their grandchildren.

Bauer says positive impacts of grandparents taking care of grandchildren include positive mental health and cognitive health. However, grandparents who watch their grandkids for 40 hours or more a week need more support and may be overburdened.

“There is one study from a few years ago that once those burdens of grandparent caregiving become too excessive, that grandparents’ risk of cardiovascular disease increases,” she said.

Finding a middle ground is ideal.

“I think there are policies and supports in the community that we can provide families to make sure that grandparents are providing the level of care that works for them, and it’s not an excessive burden,” she said.