Few studies have examined how raising grandchildren influences the marital relationship of grandparent caregivers even though raising grandchildren may strain marital relationships. This study used nationally representative data from MIDUS to contrast perceptions of spousal relations for grandparents who had recently provided care for grandchildren along with their own young children (n=21), wi...

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Menopause is an evolutionary mystery: how could living longer with no capacity to reproduce possibly be advantageous? Several explanations have been offered for why female humans, unlike our closest primate relatives, such extensive post-reproductive lifespan. Proponents of the so-called “grandmother hypothesis” suggest that older women are able increase their fitness by helping care grandchild...

Two classes of explanation have been advanced to explain women’s long post-menopausal life span – that it is an epiphenomenon of increased longevity or an evolved adaptation. While there is no decisive evidence to choose between them, the latter appears more likely. Two mechanisms for the evolved adaptation have been proposed, the ‘mother effect’ and the ‘grandmother effect’. It is argued that ...

Using multivariate techniques, the authors investigate how age, family type, and race/ethnicity affect grandmother-headed families’ economic resources. The authors examine four grandmother-headed family types that are classified on the basis of two features: parents’ presence and the caregiving relationship of the grandmother and grandchild. Using data from the 2000 census (Public Use Microdata...

Usually animals reproduce into old age, but a few species such as humans and killer whales can live decades after their last reproduction. The grandmother hypothesis proposes that such life-history evolved through older females switching to invest in their existing (grand)offspring, thereby increasing their inclusive fitness and selection for post-reproductive lifespan. However, positive grandm...