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The Changing Demography of Grandparenthood
Author(s) -
Margolis Rachel
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of marriage and family
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.578
H-Index - 159
eISSN - 1741-3737
pISSN - 0022-2445
DOI - 10.1111/jomf.12286
Subject(s) - grandparent , childlessness , postponement , fertility , demography , affect (linguistics) , population , total fertility rate , psychology , gerontology , developmental psychology , research methodology , medicine , sociology , family planning , economics , operations management , communication
Demographic changes affect the time that individuals spend in different family roles. Mortality decline increases the time an individual can spend as a grandparent, but childlessness decreases the proportion of people who ever become grandparents, and fertility postponement delays when grandparenthood begins. This article examines changes in the length of grandparenthood at the population level and why it has changed in Canada over a 26‐year period. Using the Sullivan method, years spent as a grandparent are estimated by sex for 1985 and 2011. Results show that grandparenthood is coming significantly later to Canadians, in small part due to increased childlessness and in large part to fertility postponement of respondents and their children. The average length of grandparenthood decreased among women from 24.7 to 24.3 years but increased among men from 17.0 to 18.9 years. The changing timing and length of grandparenthood have implications for multigenerational relationships and intergenerational transfers.