title: Do Grandchildren Influence How Old You Feel?
abstract: Guided by the acknowledged importance of measures of aging alternative to chronological age, we explored the association between subjective age, on the one hand, and having grandchildren and provision of grandchild care, on the other, by gender and age groups.
  
  
  
  Data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS; N = 1,701 men and 2,395 women aged 50-85) and linear regression models were used to test two hypotheses.
  
  
  
  Grandparents feel older than their grandchildless counterparts at younger ages, but such association is reversed in later life if they look after their grandchildren. A cumulative negative association between subjective age and both having grandchildren and providing grandchild care holds for older women.
  
  
  
  This study extends prior research by examining age and gender differences in factors associated with subjective age. The findings suggest that grandparenthood is central in shaping the personal experience of aging. Future studies should address the causality of the factors analyzed.
authors.affiliation: Wittgenstein Centre (IIASA, VID/ÖAW, WU), International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria bordone@iiasa.ac.at.
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bordone
authors.affiliation: Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Arpino
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D016901:Intergenerational Relations; D008297:Male; D012179:Retirement; D012737:Sex Factors
keywords: Health and Retirement Study (HRS); grandchild care; grandparents; intergenerational relationships; subjective age