Grandparenting and Children’s Health-Empirical Evidence from China

Evaluating the effects of grandparenting on children’s health are receiving increased interest. This study explores the impact of grandparenting on children’s health and draws on data from the 2012–2014 China Family Panel Studies. The indicators of children’s health include height-for-age z- score (HAZ) and the frequency of being sick in the past four weeks. Results show that grandparenting has a negative impact on children’s health generally; however, when the elderly provide partial child care, this impact declines and disappears in terms of HAZ and frequency of being sick respectively. The heterogeneity of the effect can be reflected from three perspectives. First, the negative effect of grandparenting on children’s health is more pronounced when both parents are absent; however, when children live with one parent, grandparenting exerts no noticeable effects on their HAZ and significantly lowers the frequency of being sick, suggesting that grandparents are important support system in the single-parent family. Second, children from urban and rural areas are differently affected by grandparenting, those from rural areas bear the brunt of the negative health consequences. Third, the impact of grandparenting differs slightly between school children and preschoolers, thus children’s reactions to family care at different age stages should be paid attention.