Is caring for older parents detrimental to women's mental health? The role of the European North-South gradient
Is caring for older parents detrimental to women's mental health? The role of the European North-South gradient
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DOI：
10.1007/s11150-015-9296-7
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发表时间：
2016-12-01
影响因子：
5.1
通讯作者：
Di Novi, Cinzia
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Brenna, Elenka;Di Novi, Cinzia
在过去的几十年里，预期寿命的延长和出生率的急剧下降都降低了年轻一代的一致性。由于人口老龄化，预计在未来25年，欧洲的护理负担将会加剧，尤其是对成熟女性而言。本文调查了生活在不同欧洲国家的年龄在50至75岁之间的成年女儿，为年长父母提供持续照顾对她们心理健康的影响。数据来自欧洲健康、老龄化和退休调查。有关心理健康状况的信息由Euro-D抑郁量表提供，这是一种在欧洲各国标准化的抑郁衡量标准。我们根据南北梯度关注影响的差异：我们测试了非正式护理与心理健康之间的关系在欧洲宏观区域之间是否存在差异。我们的研究结果在倾向得分模型的不同规范下显示出明显的南北梯度：仅在地中海国家，提供非正式护理对女儿的心理健康有负面和显著的影响，在这些国家，分配给长期护理的资源数量很少，当地的老年人卫生和社会服务系统缺乏必要的结构来满足日益增长的老年人护理需求。
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.