Family plays a core role of Chinese cultural values. Social expectations towards childbirth, parenthood, and grandparenthood are still prevalent in Chinese society (Xu & Chi, 2015). However, older people are less likely to be a grandparent or have as many as grandchildren nowadays than previous times. This phenomenon is partly due to the decreasing fertility rate. For instance, the total birth rate in Hong Kong dropped from 1.9 to 1.4 children per woman in 2014 (Chen & Yip, 2017). In mainland China, even though the one-child policy has been lifted to allow the birth of the second child, studies have found that fertility intention is low among young people (Jiang & Liu, 2016). Fertility intention is an important predictor of childbirth behaviors. In Hong Kong, the traditional ideal image of ‘two-child family’ has been waning (Chen & Yip, 2017). Women’s increasing levels of education are associated with delayed marriage and childbirth (Choi, 2018; Marphatia et al., 2020). High costs of child rearing also prevent some young people from having children (Basten & Jiang, 2015; Min & Taylor, 2018). Influenced by rising individualism, young people have more motivation to embrace a childless lifestyle and to delay childbirth (Keizer, Dystra, & Poortman, 2011). The lower probability of the birth of grandchildren may prevent older people from enjoying the benefits of grandparenthood, especially in cultural contexts where family closeness and intergenerational solidarity are salient.
The findings from this study showed that among the three groups of older people, those who did not expect to be grandparents generally reported the lowest level of health and well-being. These findings echo previous research on the relationships between grandparenting and health and wellbeing. For example, using national survey data from the UK, research has shown that having grandchildren can be beneficial to one’s life satisfaction (Powdthavee, 2011). A study using data from 11 European countries also reported that entering grandparenthood is associated with increased quality of life and life satisfaction (Tanskanen, Danielsbacka, Coall, & Jokela, 2019). A recent American study of older Chinese adults noted that feelings of closeness to one’s next generation are positively linked with subjective well-being (Lai et al., 2019). Our findings align with this previous research and expand knowledge about the benefits of being grandparents into an Asian context in Hong Kong.
The findings in this study align with previous scholars’ views on the variety of mechanisms to rationalize the benefits of grandparenthood in enhancing older people’s well-being. For instance, being a grandparent could be interpreted as a sign of generativity of older people who are able to illustrate concern for and care of future generations as a legacy of the self (Schoklitsch & Baumann, 2012). Interaction with grandchildren is an important source of interpersonal satisfaction and positive affection for older people. Timberlake (1981) summarized eight benefits of grandparenthood including but not limited to the provision of stability, a goal, excitement, sense of achievement, an opportunity to help to one’s life (also Fung, Siu, Choy, & McBride-Chang, 2005). Entering into grandparenthood is also associated with a sense of continuity and immortality (Powdthavee, 2011; Tanskanen et al., 2019). A previous study of Hong Kong Chinese older people found, based on social emotional selectivity theory, that grandparenthood can provide interpersonal warmth to older people, especially those who perceive limited future time (Fung et al., 2005), which could also be reason for the findings identified in this study.
While extending understandings of the effects of grandparenthood on health and wellbeing, this study carries some limitations. First, the study is a cross-sectional study so no causal relationships can be drawn between, for example, the positive relationship between grandparenthood and better health and well-being. Multi-wave longitudinal studies and experimental designs should be adopted in the future to further investigate these relationships. Second, the study adopted a limited number of controlling variables so that there may be other unobservable variables that simultaneously influence grandparenthood and health outcomes variables. Future studies should include more controlling variables in more domains. Third, the current study did not capture specific experiences and perceptions of grandparenting, and further research should examine the specific effects of different types and experiences of grandparenting activities on health and wellbeing.
Despite these imitations, this study offers some implications for policy-making and elderly services planning. The World Health Organization’s Healthy Ageing Framework has identified health services, long term care, and environments as crucial domains for supporting healthy aging (Beard et al., 2016). However, healthy aging is not only achieved through health care, social services, and long term care, although they are indispensable to the wellness of the ageing adults, particularly those facing different challenges, barriers, and vulnerabilities. The development of both physical and social environments to promote capacity-enhancing behaviours is essential to sustain ageing people. The finding that being a grandparent can contribute health and wellbeing benefits provides an excellent entry point for social and community health intervention by offering appropriate support to grandparents as a strategic approach to promote capacity-enhancing behaviors. Further detailed examination of the specific characteristics of different types of grandparents or grandparents-to-be would be helpful to identify what can be done to further support these older people in their later life.
On the other hand, as older people who are not going to be grandparents may face extra risks associated with lower resilience and life satisfaction, policies and practices should aim to identify and address their specific vulnerabilities. Other types of active aging programs and interventions should be developed to compensate for the potential challenges associated with interpersonal relationships and sense of loss due to not being a grandparent. Moreover, attention should be paid to social norms, with efforts to challenge and minimize stigmatization associated with not having grandchildren, in order to contribute to supportive sociocultural environments for different groups of older people.