Becoming a grandparent is often a joyful and momentous occasion, and new research shows that caring for grandchildren helps fend off cognitive decline.
Grandparents who helped take care of their grandchildren scored higher on tests of memory and verbal fluency than people who were not involved in caring for their grandchildren, the study found. Grandmothers, in particular, showed less cognitive decline.
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Overall, it didn't matter how often grandparents looked after grandchildren or what types of caregiving responsibilities the grandparents had. The study was published by the American Psychological Association.
"What stood out most to us was that being a caregiving grandparent seemed to matter more for cognitive functioning than how often grandparents provided care or what exactly they did with their grandchildren," said lead researcher Flavia Chereches of Tilburg University in the Netherlands.
The idea that being involved with grandchildren may help older adults is not new. For instance, findings from a U.S. national poll released last year showed that people who frequently spent time with their grandchildren reported better mental health and less isolation than people who did not have grandchildren or who saw theirs on a less regular basis.
For the new study, researchers looked at data from 2,887 grandparents, ages 50 and older, in England.
The participants completed surveys about how often they took care of grandchildren and the types of duties they had, such as watching grandchildren overnight, playing with them and caring for sick grandchildren. They also took three cognitive tests between 2016 and 2022.
"More research is needed to replicate these findings, yet, if there are benefits associated with caregiving for grandparents, they might not depend on how often care is provided, or on the specific activities done with grandchildren, but rather on the broader experience of being involved with caregiving," Chereches said.
Statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor's Women's Bureau show that 2.33 million children – more than 3% of all children in the country – are being raised by grandparents.
About 6.7 million adults over 30 were living with their grandchildren in 2021, and about 32% of them were responsible for their grandchildren's care, according to a 2024 U.S. Census Bureau report.