Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/145156 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 10022
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We estimate the causal effects of regular and occasional grandchild care on the depression of grandmothers and grandfathers, using data from the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and an instrumental variables strategy which exploits the variation in the timing of interviews across individuals and the fact that childcare declines with the age of grandchildren. We find that 10 additional hours of childcare per month, a 31 percent increase with respect to the sample average, increases the probability of developing depressive symptoms by 3.0 to 3.2 percentage points for grandmothers and by 5.4 to 5.9 percentage points for grandfathers. These results suggest that policies that substitute informal with formal childcare can improve the mental wellbeing of grandparents.
Subjects: 
childcare
grandparents
depression
Europe
JEL: 
J13
I12
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
272.37 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.