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KMID : 1159920090100020087
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Korean Journal of Women s Health
2009 Volume.10 No. 2 p.87 ~ p.112
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Impact of Rearing Grandchildren on Women’s Health - Physical and Mental Health -
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Baek Kyung-Heun
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Abstract
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This study aims to investigate how experiences of rearing grandchildren affect women’s health condition both physically and mentally. While grandmothers’ caring support is preferred as a safe and reliable choice by working mothers who struggle with deficient public support, the impact of caring work on grandmother’s health condition has not been studied. In this study, Korea Labor Institute’s 2006 KLoSA(Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing) data is used and only female respondents older than 55 are analysed. According to the amount of time invested in caring respondents are divided into three groups: "non-caring group", "light caring group" and "heavy caring group". Following are key findings.
First, socio-economic and demographic characteristics comparison reveals social and economic insecurity of ‘heavy caring group.’ ‘Heavy caring group’ shows the most unstable marriage status and records the lowest income and education level among three groups. Second, in chronic disease analysis, ‘heavy caring group’ demonstrates the highest rates in lung disease, cardiac disorder, and arthritis and rheumatism among three groups. Third, degree of pain was examined by body parts. Except for shoulder and wrist, ‘heavy caring group’ shows the highest degree of pain in eleven body parts. In particular, 46.6 percent of ‘heavy caring group’ women respond that they experience physical difficulties in everyday lives. Finally, in mental health analysis, substantially high number of ‘heavy caring group’ women have depression problem compared to the other two groups: one out of five suffers from serious depression feelings. And ‘heavy caring group’ records the lowest level of subjective satisfaction for the quality of their lives including health and economic condition, and their relationship with spouses and children.
In the end, the results prove that caring work for grandchildren have meaningful influences on the health conditions of grandmothers both physically and mentally. In addition, ‘heavy caring group’ women are most likely to depend on their children economically. That means their economic vulnerability may encourage them to rely on their children through the caring work for grandchildren. Thus, future examination on the economic condition in relation to caring work and health problems is needed.
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KEYWORD
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caring work, grandmothers health, depression
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