Grandparents in the blues. The effect of childcare on grandparents’ depression

We estimate the effect of grandchild care on the depression of grandmothers and grandfathers, using data from the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and an identification strategy which exploits both the random variation in the timing of interviews across individuals and the fact that the demand for childcare declines with the age of grandchildren. We find that more childcare increases depression. The estimated effect is sizeable: ten additional hours of childcare per month increase the probability that complying grandmothers and grandfathers develop depressive symptoms by 3.2 to 3.3 percentage points and by 5.4 to 6.1 percentage points respectively.