Who’s On Call? The Role of Grandparents in Working Mothers’ Labor Market Participation and Well-Being

• In Event: Families and the Care Crisis

Abstract

A growing body of research examines grandparent-provided care across cultures and countries. However, this literature has largely been organized around a framework of intergenerational co-residence. We offer a complementary framework that focuses on non-cohabiting grandparents who provide regular or occasional childcare support—a pattern that likely reflects the experience of a large share of American families. Drawing on three waves of surveys and longitudinal interviews with 139 U.S. mothers, we examine how grandparental childcare shapes work and well-being across class lines. We show that non-college-educated mothers tend to experience grandparents as financially indispensable “safety nets” who step in during crises, while college-educated mothers rely on them as flexible, on-call backup that enables longer or more stable work hours. These class-differentiated patterns of grandparental care have distinct implications for labor-market inequality and work–family conflict.

Authors

• Shiya Wang, Columbia Business School

• Alicia Modestino

• Hannah Bowles, Harvard Kennedy School