Childcare engagement among older adults in Australia and subsequent physical, psychosocial, and behavioral health outcomes
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Date
2025
Authors
Htun, H.L.
Teshale, A.B.
Ryan, J.
Foong, S.H.
Oster, C.
Owen, A.J.
Freak-Poli, R.
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Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 2025; 59(1):kaaf082-1-kaaf082-12
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Htet Lin Htun, Achamyeleh Birhanu Teshale, Joanne Ryan, See Hang Foong, Candice Oster, Alice J Owen, Rosanne Freak-Poli
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Abstract
Background While intergenerational caregiving is increasingly prevalent among older individuals, longitudinal evidence on its associations with multidimensional health outcomes remains limited. Purpose This study examined the associations between childcare engagement in older adults and various health and behavioral outcomes at follow-up. Methods We analyzed data from a cohort of >12 000 (range: 12 124–12 896) community-dwelling adults aged 70+ years, categorizing childcare engagement as never, <weekly, and ≥weekly. Using an outcome-wide approach, we assessed 42 outcomes across physical, cognitive/major health events, psychological, social, and behavioral domains. Follow-up assessments occurred at ∼2 years for most outcomes, with extended follow-up (median 6–9 years) for time-to-event outcomes. We performed gender-disaggregated regressions, adjusting for multiple covariates. Results Participants were aged 70–95 years (mean: 75.2 ± 4.3) at baseline, and 54.5% were women. Childcare engagement was more common among women (46% vs. 40%). Key findings included: (1) social domain: both genders showed increased social contacts and community participation, with women additionally demonstrating reduced social isolation; (2) mortality: lower mortality was observed in men with a dose-response pattern, while only <weekly childminding was associated with lower mortality in women; (3) physical domain: men showed increased moderate-to-vigorous physical activity while women had higher pain reports and slower gait speed; and (4) null associations: most psychological outcomes, as well as certain physical and health events, showed no significant relationships. Conclusion Childcare engagement during older adulthood was linked to not only selected health outcomes, including notable social benefits and lower mortality, but also some physical trade-offs in women. These findings support considering intergenerational engagement in healthy ageing initiatives.
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© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Behavioral Medicine. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com