IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v134y2015icp12-22.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Doubling up: A gift or a shame? Intergenerational households and parental depression of older Europeans

Author

Listed:
  • Aranda, Luis

Abstract

The Great Recession has brought along a rearrangement of living patterns both in the U.S. and in Europe. This study seeks to identify the consequences of a change in intergenerational coresidence on the depression level of the elderly. Using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and a difference-in-difference propensity score matching approach, this study finds robust evidence of a positive effect of coresidence on the mental health of the older generation in those European countries historically marked by a Catholic tradition. In contrast with previous literature, the present program evaluation setup accounts for non-random selection bias and heterogeneous treatment effects. Though heterogeneous across Europe, the results highlight that, in a time marked by increasing demographic aging, intergenerational living arrangements can lead to significant improvements in the quality of life of older individuals.

Suggested Citation

  • Aranda, Luis, 2015. "Doubling up: A gift or a shame? Intergenerational households and parental depression of older Europeans," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 12-22.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:134:y:2015:i:c:p:12-22
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.03.056
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953615002099
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.03.056?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Erich Battistin & Agar Brugiavini & Enrico Rettore & Guglielmo Weber, 2009. "The Retirement Consumption Puzzle: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Approach," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(5), pages 2209-2226, December.
    2. A. Smith, Jeffrey & E. Todd, Petra, 2005. "Does matching overcome LaLonde's critique of nonexperimental estimators?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 125(1-2), pages 305-353.
    3. James J. Heckman & Hidehiko Ichimura & Petra E. Todd, 1997. "Matching As An Econometric Evaluation Estimator: Evidence from Evaluating a Job Training Programme," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 64(4), pages 605-654.
    4. Michael Lechner & Ruth Miquel & Conny Wunsch, 2011. "Long‐Run Effects Of Public Sector Sponsored Training In West Germany," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 742-784, August.
    5. Sourafel Girma & Holger Görg, 2016. "Evaluating the foreign ownership wage premium using a difference-in-differences matching approach," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES AND HOST COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT Volume 53: World Scientific Studies in International Economics, chapter 2, pages 17-32, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    6. Black, Dan A. & Smith, J.A.Jeffrey A., 2004. "How robust is the evidence on the effects of college quality? Evidence from matching," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 121(1-2), pages 99-124.
    7. Hau Chyi & Shangyi Mao, 2012. "The Determinants of Happiness of China’s Elderly Population," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 167-185, March.
    8. Greg Kaplan, 2012. "Moving Back Home: Insurance against Labor Market Risk," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 120(3), pages 446-512.
    9. Silverstein, Merril & Bengtson, Vern L., 1994. "Does intergenerational social support influence the psychological well-being of older parents? The contingencies of declining health and widowhood," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 38(7), pages 943-957, April.
    10. Marco Caliendo & Sabine Kopeinig, 2008. "Some Practical Guidance For The Implementation Of Propensity Score Matching," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 31-72, February.
    11. Okabayashi, Hideki & Liang, Jersey & Krause, Neal & Akiyama, Hiroko & Sugisawa, Hidehiro, 2004. "Mental health among older adults in Japan: do sources of social support and negative interaction make a difference?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(11), pages 2259-2270, December.
    12. Charles, Kerwin Kofi & DeCicca, Philip, 2008. "Local labor market fluctuations and health: Is there a connection and for whom?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 1532-1550, December.
    13. Giordano, Giuseppe Nicola & Lindström, Martin, 2011. "Social capital and change in psychological health over time," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(8), pages 1219-1227, April.
    14. Ruhm, Christopher J., 2003. "Good times make you sick," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 637-658, July.
    15. Michael Lechner, 2002. "Some practical issues in the evaluation of heterogeneous labour market programmes by matching methods," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 165(1), pages 59-82, February.
    16. Luo, Ye & Hawkley, Louise C. & Waite, Linda J. & Cacioppo, John T., 2012. "Loneliness, health, and mortality in old age: A national longitudinal study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(6), pages 907-914.
    17. Lee, David S., 2008. "Randomized experiments from non-random selection in U.S. House elections," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 675-697, February.
    18. John DiNardo & Justin L. Tobias, 2001. "Nonparametric Density and Regression Estimation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 11-28, Fall.
    19. Riumallo-Herl, Carlos Javier & Kawachi, Ichiro & Avendano, Mauricio, 2014. "Social capital, mental health and biomarkers in Chile: Assessing the effects of social capital in a middle-income country," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 47-58.
    20. Bryson, Alex & Dorsett, Richard & Purdon, Susan, 2002. "The use of propensity score matching in the evaluation of active labour market policies," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 4993, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    21. James Heckman & Hidehiko Ichimura & Jeffrey Smith & Petra Todd, 1998. "Characterizing Selection Bias Using Experimental Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 66(5), pages 1017-1098, September.
    22. Li, Lydia & Liang, Jersey & Toler, Amanda & Gu, Shengzu, 2005. "Widowhood and depressive symptoms among older Chinese: Do gender and source of support make a difference?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 637-647, February.
    23. Emily E. Wiemers, 2014. "The Effect of Unemployment on Household Composition and Doubling Up," Working Papers 2014_05, University of Massachusetts Boston, Economics Department.
    24. James J. Heckman & Hidehiko Ichimura & Petra Todd, 1998. "Matching As An Econometric Evaluation Estimator," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 65(2), pages 261-294.
    25. Emily Wiemers, 2014. "The Effect of Unemployment on Household Composition and Doubling Up," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(6), pages 2155-2178, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gil-Moltó, Maria José & Hole, Arne Risa, 2024. "The impact of adult children living at home on the well-being of Spanish parents: Evidence from panel data," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    2. Tosi, Marco & Grundy, Emily, 2018. "Returns home by children and changes in parents’ well-being in Europe," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 99-106.
    3. Zi-qing Yuan & Xian Zheng & Eddie C. M. Hui, 2021. "Happiness Under One Roof? The Intergenerational Co-residence and Subjective Well-Being of Elders in China," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 727-765, February.
    4. Su Y. Jang & Anna Oksuzyan & Frank J. van Lenthe & Mikko Myrskylä & Silvia Loi, 2024. "Living arrangements and chronic disease accumulation among native-born and immigrant older adults in Europe," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2024-032, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    5. Marco Tosi & Marco Albertini, 2019. "Does Children’s Union Dissolution Hurt Elderly Parents? Linked Lives, Divorce and Mental Health in Europe," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 35(4), pages 695-717, October.
    6. Courtin, Emilie & Avendano, Mauricio, 2016. "Under one roof: The effect of co-residing with adult children on depression in later life," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 140-149.
    7. Shanwen Zhu & Man Li & Renyao Zhong & Peter C. Coyte, 2019. "The Effects of Co-Residence on the Subjective Well-Being of Older Chinese Parents," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-17, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Luis Aranda, 2013. "Doubling Up: A Gift or a Shame? Multigenerational Households and Parental Depression of Older Europeans," Working Papers 2013:29, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari", revised 2013.
    2. Marco Caliendo & Sabine Kopeinig, 2008. "Some Practical Guidance For The Implementation Of Propensity Score Matching," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 31-72, February.
    3. Feddersen, Arne & Maennig, Wolfgang, 2012. "Sectoral labour market effects of the 2006 FIFA World Cup," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 860-869.
    4. Guido W. Imbens & Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2009. "Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 5-86, March.
    5. Dettmann, E. & Becker, C. & Schmeißer, C., 2011. "Distance functions for matching in small samples," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 55(5), pages 1942-1960, May.
    6. Daniel Zaga, 2014. "The Impact of Three Mexican Nutritional Programs: The Case of Dif-Puebla," CFD Working Papers 09-2015, Centre for Finance and Development, The Graduate Institute.
    7. Dettmann, Eva & Becker, Claudia & Schmeißer, Christian, 2010. "Is there a Superior Distance Function for Matching in Small Samples?," IWH Discussion Papers 3/2010, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    8. Gudibande, Rohan Ravindra & Jacob, Arun, 2020. "Minimum wages for domestic workers: impact evaluation of the Indian experience," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    9. Eliasson, Kent, 2006. "How Robust is the Evidence on the Returns to College Choice? Results Using Swedish Administrative Data," Umeå Economic Studies 692, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    10. Christian Volpe Martincus & Jerónimo Carballo, 2012. "Export promotion activities in developing countries: What kind of trade do they promote?," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(4), pages 539-578, June.
    11. Seonho Shin, 2022. "Evaluating the Effect of the Matching Grant Program for Refugees: An Observational Study Using Matching, Weighting, and the Mantel-Haenszel Test," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 103-133, March.
    12. Carlos A. Flores & Oscar A. Mitnik, 2009. "Evaluating Nonexperimental Estimators for Multiple Treatments: Evidence from Experimental Data," Working Papers 2010-10, University of Miami, Department of Economics.
    13. Nguyen Viet, Cuong, 2012. "Selection of Control Variables in Propensity Score Matching: Evidence from a Simulation Study," MPRA Paper 36377, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Marco Caliendo, 2009. "Start‐up subsidies in East Germany: finally, a policy that works?," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(7), pages 625-647, November.
    15. Volpe Martincus, Christian & Carballo, Jerónimo, 2010. "Export Promotion: Heterogeneous Programs and Heterogeneous Effects," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 3176, Inter-American Development Bank.
    16. Eliasson, Kent, 2006. "College Choice And Earnings Among University Graduates In Sweden," Umeå Economic Studies 693, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    17. Kodjo Adandohoin & Vigninou Gammadigbe, 2022. "The revenue efficiency consequences of the announcement of a tax transition reform: The case of WAEMU countries," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 34(S1), pages 195-218, July.
    18. Richard K. Crump & V. Joseph Hotz & Guido W. Imbens & Oscar A. Mitnik, 2006. "Moving the Goalposts: Addressing Limited Overlap in the Estimation of Average Treatment Effects by Changing the Estimand," NBER Technical Working Papers 0330, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Stefanie Behncke & Markus Frölich & Michael Lechner, 2010. "Unemployed and their caseworkers: should they be friends or foes?," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 173(1), pages 67-92, January.
    20. Gao, Qin & Zhai, Fuhua & Garfinkel, Irwin, 2010. "How Does Public Assistance Affect Family Expenditures? The Case of Urban China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(7), pages 989-1000, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:134:y:2015:i:c:p:12-22. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.