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Caring for one's grandchildren has become a more common experience for individuals partly as a result of a longer overlap between the lives of grandparents and their grandchildren. Existing research shows that around 50 per cent of grandparents engage in some grandparental child care in most European countries, however, this proportion is higher among older people with a migrant background, partly due to greater economic necessity among migrant families. Research has also highlighted ethnic differences in parents' child-care selection, even after controlling for their socio-economic status. Building on these strands of work, this paper investigates the differences in the use of (grandparental) child care among parents from different Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups in the United Kingdom, using data from Understanding Society. The results show that parents from Other White, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and African communities are less likely to use child care than White British parents, while the opposite is true for Caribbean parents. However, among parents using child care, individuals from the Other White, Caribbean and African groups are less likely than the White British majority to be using grandparental child care as a supplement to other child-care types, or on its own. Ethnic differentials in the use of child care per se and grandparental child care in particular, have significant policy implications, and may mask other kinds of ethnic differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ageing is going to be a major problem in Bangladesh given its population size, scarce resources, existing poverty, insufficient health facilities and lack of a social security system. This paper examines how many years older people expect to be in good health, and what are the correlates of self-rated health (SRH). The data used in this study come from 896 older people aged 60 years and above from Rajshahi district in Bangladesh and from United Nations’ projected population figures. Results show that individuals at age 60 expected about 41 per cent of their remaining life to be in good health, while individuals at age 80 expected only 21 per cent of their remaining life to be in good health. Having exercised during the six months prior to the survey was the single most important correlate of SRH (odds ratio=5.49; confidence interval 4.03–7.47; without any adjustment). While rural–urban differentials and some health decline in old age are inevitable, four factors (exercise behaviour, sufficiency of income, physical limitations and facing abusive behaviour) are to a certain extent modifiable and therefore provide the potential for improving SRH and healthy life expectancy in Rajshahi district, Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this study is to examine whether the co-residence of spouses and children affects self-reported general health among older men and women in a rural area of Bangladesh. Binary logistic regression has been used to explore the impact of spouses and children on self-reported health, with particular attention to the gender of children and interactions with chronic disease. The data are from the Matlab Health and Socio-Economic Survey. A sample of 765 women and 979 men aged 6o or more years with at least one surviving child was available. The principal result is that for an older woman, optimum self-reported health is most likely when a spouse and at least one son and one daughter are present. Any deviation from this family pattern (either no spouse or children of only one sex) leads to a significantly increased risk of poor self-reported health. On the other hand, among older men there were no differences in self-reported health among the various spouse-child combinations. The relationship between a balanced gender distribution of children and optimum self-reported health among older women may explain the levelling out of fertility at roughly three children per women despite intensive family planning promotion in the area. Further reductions in fertility (an important policy concern) may depend on improving the substitutability of sons and daughters in the support of their elderly mothers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the availability and sources of material, practical and emotional support in urban and rural areas in Bangladesh. Important sources of emotional support for elderly men and women; Influence of the socio-cultural dynamics of the society on provision of support; Mutuality in the provision of support between older people and family members.