We investigate (a) how the proportion of European grandparents providing childcare changed over a period of 15 years, (b) how these proportions differ by gender and education, and (c) how countries not covered in earlier analyses fit into previously identified regional patterns of grandparental childcare in Europe. Using data from Waves 1, 2, and 8 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), our descriptive analysis provides estimates of the prevalence and intensity of grandparental childcare in 26 European countries as well as of the changes therein over time and across socio-demographically defined groups. Overall, the prevalence and intensity of grandparental childcare in Europe has remained fairly stable over time, with minor increases. Proportions of grandparents providing any childcare strongly vary, however, across countries (from 24 to 60%). Grandmothers are generally more likely to provide childcare than grandfathers, while differences based on educational levels are less clear-cut. Central and southeastern Europe, representing the bulk of the ‘new’ countries in the analysis, exhibit patterns of grandparental childcare closely resembling those observed in Mediterranean countries. Our analysis revealed an overall stability over time rather than change in grandparents’ provision of childcare in Europe, with substantial variations across welfare state regimes and within countries when accounting for grandparents’ gender and educational levels. Including countries that had previously been excluded from other studies challenges the ‘narrative’ that has emerged around a negative macrolevel association between the provision of extensive and intensive grandparental childcare.

我们调查了 (a) 欧洲祖父母提供儿童保育的比例在 15 年间如何变化，(b) 这些比例如何因性别和教育程度而异，以及 (c) 早期分析中未涵盖的国家如何适应先前确定的区域模式欧洲的祖父母儿童保育。利用欧洲健康、老龄化和退休调查 (SHARE) 第 1 波、第 2 波和第 8 波的数据，我们的描述性分析提供了对 26 个欧洲国家祖父母育儿的普遍性和强度的估计，以及其中的变化时间和跨社会人口定义的群体。总体而言，欧洲祖父母育儿的普遍性和强度随着时间的推移保持相当稳定，略有增加。然而，不同国家的祖父母提供儿童保育的比例差异很大（从 24% 到 60%）。祖母通常比祖父更有可能提供儿童保育服务，而基于教育水平的差异则不太明显。中欧和东南欧代表了分析中的大部分“新”国家，其祖父母儿童保育模式与地中海国家观察到的模式非常相似。我们的分析显示，随着时间的推移，欧洲祖父母提供的儿童保育服务总体保持稳定，而不是发生变化，在考虑祖父母的性别和教育水平时，不同福利国家制度和国家内部存在巨大差异。包括以前被排除在其他研究之外的国家对围绕提供广泛和密集的祖父母儿童保育之间宏观层面的负面关联而出现的“叙述”提出了挑战。