Grandparenting Roles and Volunteer Activity.
OBJECTIVE
We examine whether grandparenting roles are related to formal volunteering among older adults.


METHODS
Logistic regression is used to examine the likelihood of volunteering based on grandchild care using data from the 2004 wave of the Health and Retirement Study (n = 13,785). Longitudinal analyses utilize treatment effects models to examine changes in volunteering for grandparents who begin nonresidential grandchild care between the 2004 and 2008 waves (n = 10,811).


RESULTS
Results show that grandparents raising coresidential grandchildren have lower odds of volunteering than grandparents providing no regular grandchild care. However, grandparents who provide nonresidential grandchild care are more likely to volunteer than grandparents not providing grandchild care and those raising a coresidential grandchild. Grandparents who provide nonresidential care for grandchildren engage in more volunteering before assuming grandchild care, and their volunteerism increases after becoming a caregiver for a grandchild.


CONCLUSIONS
Consistent with resource theory and the accumulation of roles, providing nonresidential grandchild care may draw grandparents into formal volunteer activity. The lower human capital resources evidenced by grandparents raising coresidential grandchildren may play a role in their lower likelihood of formal volunteering.
Department of Sociology & Gerontology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. bulandjr@miamioh.edu.
Jennifer Roebuck
JR
Bulanda
Department of Sociology & Gerontology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.
Margaret Platt
MP
Jendrek
D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002654:Child Care / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D000066502:Grandparents / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D012919:Social Behavior; D058992:Social Participation / Q000523:psychology*; D014838:Volunteers / Q000523:psychology*
Civic engagement; Grandchildren; Grandparents; Volunteerism