This project will study the prevalence and consequences of multigenerational child care and living arrangements.
Its aims are fourfold: (1) to study the prevalence of grandchild care and co- residence with grandchildren among grandmothers of different ages, ethnicity and socioeconomic status; (2) to study the mental health, physical health, employment and income consequences of such arrangements for the grandmothers; (3) to study the prevalence of receiving care from grandparent and residing with grandparents among children of different ages, ethnicity and socioeconomic status categories; and (4) to study the cognitive, developmental and behavioral outcomes of these arrangements for children. Three different data sets will be used to achieve these aims. The National Survey of Families and Households will allow the estimation of national prevalence rates and making models of consequences of assuming child care responsibilities for grandmothers. The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth will allow the estimation of these prevalence rates for children of the survey others, born between 1958 and 1965. The Baltimore study is a small 20-tear longitudinal study of a Black urban sample, which will allow us to examine the long term consequences of multigenerational arrangements throughout the life course. Findings will have implications for 1) issues related to development during early childhood; (2) correlates of mental, physical and economic well being of women in late adulthood; (3) understanding of alternative living arrangements in U.S. that emerged simultaneously with decreasing mortality and marital stability, increasing non-marital childbearing and women's participation in the labor force; and (4) developing policies concerned with optimizing the care of children at risk.
