Caring and cajoling one’s grandchildren doesn’t have a negative effect on his own well-being, a new U.S. study says.
Researchers at the University of Chicago and three other universities challenged the conclusions of several earlier studies that pointed towards a degraded health of the grandparents who care for their grandchildren. Because it was thought that the exertion and stress of caring for children could have dire consequences on grandparents’ health.
But the new study conducted on almost 13,000 participants, concluded that the previous studies looked at comparatively small samples of grandparents, especially including such grandparents who cared for their grandchildren whose mothers were behind or addicted to drugs.
The new study found that 29 % of the grandmothers and 22 % of the grandfathers gave at least 50 hours of care annually for grandchildren who lived away from them.
Only 7% of grandmothers and 5% of grandfathers stayed with their children and grandchildren, and less than 3% of grandparents lived with grandchildren whose parents were not present. Only such grandparents who looked after their grandchildren, whose parents were not present reported initial decline in health, but as time passed by their health showed improvement, suggesting that the negative effect disappears as the arrangement continues.
Therefore, the study concluded that taking care of your beloved grandchildren would in no way take a toll on your health. Feel free to look after your grand kids.
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Via: Medicine Net