Overview
- Analysis of 2,887 adults in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing found caregiving grandparents scored higher on memory and verbal-fluency tests than non-caregivers.
- The advantage appeared regardless of how often care was provided or which activities were performed with grandchildren.
- Grandmothers who provided care showed a slower decline on cognitive measures over the 2016–2022 follow-up.
- Researchers observed that participants with higher initial cognition tended to engage in more and more varied grandchild activities, raising the possibility of reverse causation.
- The study, led by Tilburg University and published January 26, 2026 in Psychology and Aging (DOI: 10.1037/pag0000958), calls for replication and closer examination of voluntary versus burdensome caregiving contexts.