Is caring for older parents detrimental to women’s mental health? The role of the European North–South gradient

In the last decades, both the lengthening of life expectancy and an accentuated decline in birth rates have reduced the consistency of the younger generational cohorts. Due to an ageing population, the burden of caregiving is expected to intensify in the next quarter of the century in Europe, especi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Review of economics of the household 2016-12, Vol.14 (4), p.745-778
Main Authors: Brenna, Elenka, Di Novi, Cinzia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aging
Birth rate
Births
Caregivers
Economic analysis
Economic models
Economic statistics
Economic theory
Economics
Economics and Finance
Elder care
Families & family life
Households
Labor Economics
Life expectancy
Long term health care
Mental depression
Mental health
Microeconomics
Mortality
Older parents
Older people
Parents & parenting
Population
Population Economics
Social Sciences
Studies
Womens health
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Summary:In the last decades, both the lengthening of life expectancy and an accentuated decline in birth rates have reduced the consistency of the younger generational cohorts. Due to an ageing population, the burden of caregiving is expected to intensify in the next quarter of the century in Europe, especially for mature women. This paper investigates the impact of the provision of constant care for older parents on the mental health of adult daughters, between the ages of 50 and 75, living in different European countries. Data is drawn from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. Information on mental health status is provided by Euro-D depression scale, a measure of depression standardized across European countries. We focus on differences in the effects according to the North–South gradient: we test whether the relationship between informal caregiving and mental health differs across European macro-regions. Our results, robust under different specifications of the propensity score model, reveal a clear North–South gradient: the provision of informal care has a negative and significant impact on daughters’ mental health in the Mediterranean countries only, where the amount of resources allocated to the Long Term Care is minimal and the local system of health and social services for the elderly lacks the necessary structures to meet the increasing demand for eldercare.
ISSN:1569-5239
1573-7152
DOI:10.1007/s11150-015-9296-7