Grandmothers who are Prime Caretaker of Grandchildren more Likely to Develop Depression

Taking up the role of a primary care giver and bringing up grandchildren without any help can place grandmothers at increased risks of depression, researchers say.

A team of researchers from the Case Western Reserve University's Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing analyzed the mental and physical status of grandmothers who played a major role in raising their grandchildren.

According to the background information provided by the authors, over one million American grandmothers are actively involved in bringing up their grandkids. Parents of most of these kids do not stay in the same family with the grandmothers.

For the study, Dr. Carol Musil and colleagues followed 240 grandmothers over a period of nearly seven years. All the participants were of 57.5 years at the beginning of the study and had the responsibility of taking care of at least one grandkid aged below 16 years.

According to their caregiving status, the participants were divided into three groups- fulltime caregivers of grandkids, multigenerational households and finally those who did not take care of grandchildren.

During the study period, researchers recorded information about the grandmothers' physical and mental health.

At the end of the study, researchers found that grandmothers who were taking complete care of grandchildren carried symptoms of depression and family stress.

"Although we expected the primary caregiver grandmothers raising grandchildren would have more strain and depressive symptoms, " Musil said in a news release, adding , "we were surprised at how persistent these were over the years examined in the study."

According to the authors, receiving proper support and intervention can be helpful for the grandmothers. They recommended an intervention program known as resourcefulness training to help the grandmothers manage their mental condition.

"They need support from others," Musil said, "but the most important thing is to maintain and perhaps develop new cognitive and behavioral skills and approaches for handling some very challenging family issues."

Findings of the study have been reported in the journal of the American Academy of Nursing and the Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science- Nursing Outlook.

The findings come at a time when kinship culture or putting children under the care of relatives and grandparents has gone up considerably across the country. A national report released in May 2012 found an 18 percent increase in the trend in the last decade. According to the report, at present more than 2.7 million children in America are under the care of grandparents or relatives.