Grandparents who provided childcare for their grandchildren scored higher on tests of memory and verbal fluency than those who did not, according to research published in the American Psychological Association’s journal *Psychology and Aging*. The study, based on long-running survey data in England, found the association held regardless of how often grandparents helped or what kinds of caregiving tasks they performed.
A study published in Psychology and Aging found that older adults who helped care for their grandchildren performed better on certain cognitive tests than grandparents who did not provide care.
Researchers analyzed data from 2,887 grandparents in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). All participants were over age 50, with a mean age of 67, and they completed surveys and cognitive assessments on three occasions between 2016 and 2022.
Participants were asked whether they had cared for a grandchild at any point during the previous year, as well as how often they provided care and what kinds of activities it involved. Reported caregiving included watching grandchildren overnight, caring for sick grandchildren, playing or doing leisure activities, helping with homework, driving grandchildren to school or other activities, preparing meals, and similar support.
Grandparents who reported providing childcare scored higher on measures of memory and verbal fluency than non-caregivers, and the differences remained after the researchers accounted for age, overall health, and other relevant factors. The study also found the pattern was consistent across different levels and types of care, suggesting that being involved as a caregiver may matter more than the specific tasks or the frequency of help.
The study found that grandmothers who provided care experienced less cognitive decline over time than grandmothers who did not.
“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.”
“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,” Chereches said.
She added that more research is needed to replicate the findings and to understand how family dynamics shape outcomes, noting that caregiving provided voluntarily in a supportive environment may have different effects than caregiving experienced as stressful or burdensome.
The paper was authored by Flavia S. Chereches, Gabriel Olaru, Nicola Ballhausen, and Yvonne Brehmer.
