Korean J Fam Pract 2019; 9(6): 560-567  https://doi.org/10.21215/kjfp.2019.9.6.560
Association between Raising Grandchildren and Depression in Korean Adults
Woo Geun Kim, Dae Hyun Kim*, Young Sung Suh, Seung Wan Hong, Min Jin Lee, Sung Hee Chang
Department of Family Medicine, Keimyung University School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea
Dae Hyun Kim
Tel: +82-53-258-7701, Fax: +82-53-250-7071
E-mail: dhkim@dsmc.or.kr
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7313-2384
Received: September 3, 2019; Accepted: November 22, 2019; Published online: December 20, 2019.
© The Korean Academy of Family Medicine. All rights reserved.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background: Several contradictory studies exist on the relationship between raising grandchildren and the grandparent's health. The present study identified the association between raising grandchildren and depression among Korean grandparents.
Methods: The wave 1 (2006) and wave 2 (2008) databases of the Korean longitudinal study on aging (KLoSA) were analyzed. T-test and chi-square test were used to compare the demographics and health condition variable between the two groups based on the presence or absence of raising grandchildren. Logistic regression analysis, including demographics and health conditions, was conducted to identify the relationship between depression and raising grandchildren. Depression was assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale (CES-D-10).
Results: In all, 4,784 participants (4,636: not raising grandchildren; 148: raising grandchildren) were examined. Significantly lower CES-D-10 scores (3.34 vs. 4.35, P<0.001), and therefore, lower depression (25% vs. 39.9%, P<0.001) was found among grandparents raising grandchildren than those who did not raise grandchildren. After adjusting the confounding variables through logistic regression analysis, the odds ratio of depression when raising grandchildren was 0.57 (95% confidence interval=0.37–0.89), which indicates significant relevance.
Conclusion: The results show lower depressive symptoms among grandparents raising grandchildren. Even after adjusting the variables, the results presented a lower risk of depression among them.
Keywords: Depression; Raising Grandchildren; Korean Longitudinal Study on Aging; Aging

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