Grandparents' Role in Spanish Families' Work/Life Balance Strategies

Bibliographic Data

ID2968038
AuthorsGerardo Meil (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), Gerardo Meil Landwerlin (0000-0002-4880-5137, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), Jesús Rogero-García (0000-0001-8813-2929, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), Pedro Romero-Balsas (0000-0003-2497-7927, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)
Year2018
Volume49
Issue2
Pages163-177
Publication date2018-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Comparative Family Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-2328 • E-ISSN: 1929-9850
PublisherUniversity of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.3138/jcfs.49.2.163
OpenAlexW2911487053
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited16

In recent years, grandparental childcare has been instrumental to Spanish parents' ability to engage in paid work. At the same time, the use of formal childcare services, paid domestic assistance and parental leave-taking have also intensified. The objectives of this study are: (1) to estimate the scope of the support received from grandparents in caring for children; and (2) to assess the impact of the diversification of childcare resources on highly frequent grandparental childcare in two-parent families. The sample covered the 2304 parents with at least one child under 13 interviewed on the occasion of the Survey on the Use of Parental Leave in Spain, 2012. Three types of factors were analysed: (1) use of external childcare resources; (2) time devoted by parents to childcare and paid work; and (3) control factors measuring grandparents' availability, childcare needs and income. The findings suggested that international comparative studies based on the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) underestimate the scope of grandparental childcare. Two-parent families with higher incomes resorted less frequently to grandparental childcare. In addition, formal childcare services, paid domestic work and parental leaves are associated with less frequent grandparental involvement. Overall, the findings suggest that more diversified deployment of the available resources may contribute to reducing grandparental childcare

Business · Demographic economics · Developmental psychology · Diversification (marketing strategy · Economics · Family life · Grandparent · Scope (computer science · Socioeconomics · Work (physics · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Migration, Aging, and Tourism Studies · Psychology

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