The Effects of Grandparental Childcare on the Health of Urban and Rural Middle-Aged and Older Adults: Evidence from CHARLS

Abstract

Using four waves of CHARLS panel data from 2012 to 2018, this study examines how grandparental childcare affects the physical and mental health of middle-aged and older adults in urban and rural China, as well as the urban-rural heterogeneity of these effects. The empirical analysis adopts a causal identification strategy combining fixed effects and instrumental variables, with robustness checks based on alternative explanatory variables. The results indicate that caring for grandchildren significantly impairs both physical and mental health, with stronger adverse effects among rural grandparents. As grandparental childcare becomes increasingly common in both urban and rural families, improving access to public childcare services in rural areas and strengthening the urban public childcare system are important ways to promote active and healthy ageing among middle-aged and older adults and to narrow the urban-rural health gap among grandparents.