The Older Population Living With and Providing Care to Grandchildren, by Nativity: 2013-2017

• In Event: 2266 - Family Section Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 2. Coresidential Grandparents

Abstract

The U.S. Census Bureau’s earlier reports on grandparents living with grandchildren mostly focused on the background characteristics of all grandparents without classifying them by nativity. In a recently released infographic, however, the Census Bureau presented both for the native- and foreign-born older populations the likelihood of living with and be responsible for their grandchildren under the age of 18. Based on the 2012-2016 American Community Survey (ACS) data, the infographic reported that among people aged 65 and older, the foreign-born were more likely than the native-born to live with grandchildren. Overall, 14.4 percent of the older foreign-born lived with their grandchildren compared to 3.6 percent of the older native-born. This pattern held in all the age groups 65-69, 70-74, 75-79, 80-84, and 85+.

On the other hand, a contrasting pattern emerges when grandparents’ responsibility for coresident grandchildren was compared by nativity. Among coresident grandparents, 32.2 percent of the native-born were financially responsible for their grandchildren, compared with 11.3 percent of the foreign-born.

That infographic presented no other details about the older population that lived with and provided care to their grandchildren. Using the 2013-2017 ACS data, this study attempts to expand on the infographic by further analyzing the background characteristics that could impact both the native- and foreign-born grandparents’ arrangement to live with their grandchildren. We also examine grandparent responsibility and its duration by select characteristics. Logistic regression techniques were used to examine the impact of background variables on the likelihood of living with and providing care to grandchildren.

Authors

• Bashiruddin Ahmed

• Andrew Roberts, U.S. Census Bureau

• Matthew Spence, U.S. Census Bureau

• Wan He

• Laquitta Walker, U.S. Census Bureau