Blessing or Burden: Transitions into Eldercare and Caregiver Mental Health

• In Event: 3523 - Family Section Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 min): Table 1: Intergenerational Caregiving

Abstract

Objectives: Evidence suggests that caring for one’s parents or in-laws can have either negative or positive effects on one’s mental health. Motivated by the expansionist perspective on role accumulation, we suspect that these mixed findings reflect unexamined variations in caregiving arrangements and caregiver resources. The key insight of the expansionist perspective is that although taking on a new role can lead to negative outcomes, under the right circumstances, it can lead to neutral or even positive outcomes.

Methods: To examine the conditions under which caregiving can be a blessing or a burden, we use panel data from the Household Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. We separate caregivers by gender and divide them into four groups based on their responsibility (main vs. secondary caregiver) and the location of the care recipient (inside or outside the caregiver’s household). We then use fixed effects models to examine if transitions into each type of caregiving are associated with different mental health outcomes. We also examine how caregivers’ experiences are moderated by the level of social support they have.

Findings: We find that, on average, people who take on eldercare responsibilities do not experience a decrease (or increase) in mental health. Integrating information about social support, however, reveals contrasting and gendered outcomes. Being the main caregiver for a resident parent/in-law is associated with declines in mental health among women with low social support. Being the main caregiver for a non-resident parent/in-law is associated with improved mental health among men with low social support. These results provide modest support for the expansionist perspective by highlighting how the conditions of caring matter.

Authors

• Jeremy E. Reynolds, Purdue University

• Katie James, University of Southern Mississippi