Association between Raising Grandchildren and Depression in Korean Adults
10.21215/kjfp.2019.9.6.560
- Author:
Woo Geun KIM
1
;
Dae Hyun KIM
;
Young Sung SUH
;
Seung Wan HONG
;
Min Jin LEE
;
Sung Hee CHANG
Author Information
1. Department of Family Medicine, Keimyung University School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea. dhkim@dsmc.or.kr
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Depression;
Raising Grandchildren;
Korean Longitudinal Study on Aging;
Aging
- MeSH:
Adult;
Aging;
Confounding Factors (Epidemiology);
Demography;
Depression;
Epidemiologic Studies;
Grandparents;
Humans;
Logistic Models;
Longitudinal Studies;
Odds Ratio
- From:
Korean Journal of Family Practice
2019;9(6):560-567
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
BACKGROUND: Several contradictory studies exist on the relationship between raising grandchildren and the grandparent's health. The present study identified the association between raising grandchildren and depression among Korean grandparents.METHODS: The wave 1 (2006) and wave 2 (2008) databases of the Korean longitudinal study on aging (KLoSA) were analyzed. T-test and chi-square test were used to compare the demographics and health condition variable between the two groups based on the presence or absence of raising grandchildren. Logistic regression analysis, including demographics and health conditions, was conducted to identify the relationship between depression and raising grandchildren. Depression was assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale (CES-D-10).RESULTS: In all, 4,784 participants (4,636: not raising grandchildren; 148: raising grandchildren) were examined. Significantly lower CES-D-10 scores (3.34 vs. 4.35, P<0.001), and therefore, lower depression (25% vs. 39.9%, P<0.001) was found among grandparents raising grandchildren than those who did not raise grandchildren. After adjusting the confounding variables through logistic regression analysis, the odds ratio of depression when raising grandchildren was 0.57 (95% confidence interval=0.37–0.89), which indicates significant relevance.CONCLUSION: The results show lower depressive symptoms among grandparents raising grandchildren. Even after adjusting the variables, the results presented a lower risk of depression among them.
