• 한국노년학
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.299-313
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• 2014

Recently, an interest on parenting stress and depression of grandparents raising grandchildren is rising according to the increase of working couple and divorce. Discussing around developmental task of elderly, one of the influencing factors on increase of grandparents' parenting stress and depression is leisure restriction. However, this factor has received far less rigorous analysis. Thus, the purpose of this article is to offer an analysis of the effect of leisure activities on depression in grandparents raising grandchildren. The data was collected from 172 grandparents raising their grandchildren in 2011 national survey results on the elderly life conditions. Their analyses were composed of descriptive statistic and multiple regression analysis. The study generated several findings. First, grandparents participated in activities for exercise and religion at a high rate and their mean score of depression was 7.1 of 15 what suggests middle level of depression. second, multiple regression analysis showed that the factor of exercise, travel experience, leisure activities satisfaction and other special leisure activities were statistically significant predictors of depression. Implication for social welfare services and programs to improve the mental health of grandparents raising their grandchildren to have positive self-awareness and attitude about life in their position and living condition for help prevent depression were discussed.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.491-518
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to compare with qualitative research articles on the grandparents' parenting experiences of grandchildren between those with primary responsibility and those with partial responsibility in Korean Journals since 2000. For the purpose of the study, this study analyzed research of 43 qualitative research articles(19 grandfamilies, 24 custodial grandparents), with respect to their objectives, basic annual trends, methodology, subject, category of content. The major findings are as follows. Firstly, the annual number of articles of grandfamilies are on an decreasing trend, while those of custodial grandparents are on an increasing trend. Secondly, the phenomenology and interview are frequently used in research of the two types of family. Thirdly, 6~10 participants were the most frequent number of participation in all of the family. However, demographics, caring circumstances, physical circumstances were significantly different in two types of family. Fourthly, caring categories of contents(the meaning, positive factor, conflict factor and resolution of conflicts) were also similar, while these were significant diffent in specific psychological experiences in all of the family. Based on the findings of this comparative study, suggestions for pratical services and implication for future study were proposed.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.1-23
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• 2016

This study analyzes the effects of caring for grandchildren on Korean grandparents' health, using the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging from 2006 to 2012. We investigate how caregiving is provided and analyze the effects of caregiving on grandparents' physical health, mental health, and health-related behaviors. As elderly people's health is generally frail, it is unclear whether the provision of childcare affects their health negatively. We control for the endogeneity of caregiving by an individual fixed effect (FE) model and instrumental variable-fixed effect (FE-IV) models. Using these models, we determine the endogeneity of caregiving and show that the significant effects of caregiving on health disappear as we control for endogeneity in the FE and FE-IV models. Even after controlling for endogeneity, we find that caregiving increases the probability of feeling pain as well as the number of different types of pain. Furthermore, caregiving increases the probability of restrictions on daily activities because of pain. On the other hand, caregiving reduces the symptoms of depression. In relation to health-related behaviors, caregiving reduces the probability of physical exercise and regular meals. Our results imply that although caregiving has a positive effect on mental health, the increase in physical pain and in non-healthy behaviors may lead to a deterioration of the caregiver's long-term health, which in turn may increase the medical costs of the elderly. Potential policy alternatives are discussed in the paper.