D4 Published development or research report or study

Entry into grandparenthood and subjective well-being among older Europeans




AuthorsDanielsbacka M., Tanskanen A.O., Coall D.A.

PublisherTurku Center for Welfare Research

Publishing placeTurku

Publication year2017

Series titleWorking Papers on Social and Economic Issues

Number in series6

Web address http://wpsei.utu.fi/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/TanskanenDanielsbackaCoall-6_17.pdf

Self-archived copy’s web addresshttps://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/28772529


Abstract

The birth of a grandchild is often assumed to increase subjective well-being of older adults. Previous studies, however, have been both scarce and methodologically limited. Here, associations between grandparenthood and subjective well-being (measured by self-rated life satisfaction and meaning of life scores) were investigated using data from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). SHARE is a longitudinal study of individuals aged 50 years and above from 16 countries, including five follow-up waves between 2004 and 2015 (n = 67,110 person-observations from 41,123 persons). Within-person regressions focusing on each participant’s variation in subjective well-being over time were applied to detect changes longitudinally. Becoming a grandparent was associated with increased meaning of life scores among participants. However, similar effects were not found in the case of self-rated life satisfaction. The results are discussed in relation to studies examining whether entering parenthood is associated with subjective well-being.


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