The Mortality Risk of Raising Grandchildren in the United States
February 2026
Working Paper Number:
CES-26-13
Abstract
In the United States, grandparents who live with and provide primary care to their grandchildren have emerged as a particularly vulnerable group since the 1990s. Using confidential data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Social Security Administration, this study linked individuals aged 50 years or older from the 2000 census long-form sample to their death records from 2000'2019 (weighted n = 64,027,000) and examined the longitudinal association between coresident grandparenting status and mortality for non-Hispanic Whites, non-Hispanic Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians. We found consistently higher rates of mortality for White coresident grandparents and lower rates for Asian coresident grandparents, regardless of the duration of primary caregiving, compared to their peers without coresident grandchildren. We also found increased risks of mortality among Hispanic long-term primary caregivers but reduced risks among Black short-term primary caregivers, compared to their peers without coresident grandchildren.
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minority,
ethnicity,
ethnic,
hispanic,
white,
racial,
generation,
medicaid,
intergenerational,
family,
mortality,
grandparent
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Internal Revenue Service,
Social Security Administration,
Current Population Survey,
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Medicaid Services,
Centers for Medicare,
Census Bureau Disclosure Review Board,
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Federal Statistical Research Data Center,
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