The Influence of Caregiving on the Relation Between Marital Status and Psychological Health in a Grandparent Sample

Grandparent caregivers report poorer psychological and physical health, but relationship status has been shown to influence burden. The current study investigated depressive symptoms of 3288 grandparents who completed the third wave of the National Survey of Families and Households. The study found that those who are unmarried were more likely to be grandparent caregivers, and female participants reported higher depressive symptoms. Marital status and caregiving status were comparable predictors of depression, but marital status did not buffer the effects of caregiving status on depression. Caregiving status accounted for a significant amount of depressive symptom variance for depression, comparable to marital status and gender. There was a significant difference in depressive symptoms of married and unmarried grandparent non-caregivers but with a significantly lower baseline depression rate than grandparent caregivers. Future research should examine whether making social support options available to unmarried grandparent caregivers who lack informal support from a spouse may improve outcomes.