Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/307866 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research No. 1214
Publisher: 
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), Berlin
Abstract: 
How does informal care affect caregivers' well-being? Theories and existing research provide conflicting answers to this question, partly because the temporal processes and conditions under which different aspects of well-being are affected are unknown. Here, we used longitudinal data from Dutch, German, and Australian representative panels (281,884 observations, 28,663 caregivers) to examine theoretically derived hypotheses about changes in caregivers' life satisfaction, affective experiences, depression/anxiety, and loneliness. Overall, results provided evidence for negative well-being effects after the transition into a caregiver role, with more pronounced and longer-lasting well-being losses in women than men. We further found that well-being losses were larger with more time spent on caregiving, in both men and women. These results were robust across moderators of the caregiving context (care tasks, relationship with care recipient, and fulltime employment). Together, the present findings support predictions of stress theory and highlight lingering questions in theoretical frameworks of care-related well-being costs.
Subjects: 
informal care
caregiving
well-being
life satisfaction
affect
mental health
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.